My preference is for plainer designs, but it was impossible to resist buying the elaborate cup and saucer for just a few pounds. Product demonstrations are also instrumental in breaking the monotony of buying and using the same product again and again. Different institutes offer different programs, which vary, but much of the aspects of product design are intrinsic. Both local and international manufacturers are working on their respective product ranges so the competition can be cut down. As expected, apparel manufacturers in countries such as Africa and Latin America whose ‘export competitiveness’ heavily relied on the quota system have lost market shares, whereas apparel manufacturers in countries such as India and China have gained appreciation. In the early 1800s many of the pottery manufacturers made similar patterns and sometimes even the same pattern. Further research finds it is recorded as pattern 1119 of about 1808. But even without this record the evidence is there to point to Spode manufacture.

There could be several reasons for this. But more often there would be a greater variation in the shapes from the different potters. You can page through an 1820 Spode Shape Book on line by clicking here and then select teawares to look at the different shapes. Two of the main shapes made in teawares were Bute shape and London shape made by most of the potters at this period. For Spode, London shape came in around 1813; prior to that Bute shape had been the most usual having been in production at the factory from 1800 or earlier. The unmarked cup shown here, decorated with a red border, is Bute shape; the particular detail of the handle strongly signifies it is Spode together with the style of gilding on the handle. The illustration here of the cup and saucer shows an elaborately decorated Spode London shape cup. The London shape coffee cup shown here is a favourite pattern – simple and elegant, recorded as pattern 2169. It has a broad, lavender, groundlayed band and simple gilded lines combined with Spode’s beautiful white bone china. Handpainted and gilded in the expensive combination of cobalt blue and gold together with voluptuous white roses it is actually a bit over the top!

It probably dates to around 1820. Many of Spode’s patterns of this period had the pattern painted inside the cup with gilding on the plain white of the outside or vice versa or sometimes the outside simply left white. The design here is decorated all over, inside and out. In the latter case the china is so translucent you can see the pattern inside through it. The pattern is actually a known Spode pattern originally produced as a blue printed pattern and called Love Chase. I was never able to find it recorded in the pattern books so it is possible it could have been made to match a service by another manufacturer who was perhaps no longer able to supply the customer. The process of broaching was invented in the 1850s or so, but it was only applied to making rifling after WW-I ended in 1918. Advances in broaching machines have made this method very competitive with other machining processes. The cost flow of direct costs (direct materials and direct labor) and indirect costs (overhead) are easily traced and assigned to individual Work In Process accounts for each job.

• Are there labor issues related to unions, skilled trade groups or others? There are complaints against them in other regions (Australia). If you are contemplating one of these amps, and you love that cool Fender vibe and some sweet tremolo, don’t even think twice. People worked on a line and rolled and glued the cigarettes one at a time. Some people would never be happy with an amp with very few controls, but this is right up my alley. And you’d be right to ask after such a glowing report. 200 years or so on collectors would like to know who made a plate, saucer or cup and look for clues as to who the manufacturer was in the absence of any markings. Collectors of antique Spode often look to the shape to confirm that the piece is indeed from the Spode factory in the absence of a backstamp.

To work out if an unmarked piece of this early period of the factory is Spode or not it is best to look at holloware for clues rather than flatware. You can find more out about Spode backstamps on my How Old is My Spode? Bone china (a type of porcelain) was invented at the Spode factory around 1799/1800 and Spode’s recipe produces one of the whitest bone chinas ever made. One of the things that caught my attention was this amp over in the corner of the vast Fender tradeshow sales room. I see that Fender has a new Pawn Shop amp or two out this year. It didn’t even have a Fender logo on it. But they just don’t have that same appeal to me as this Excelsior did from the moment I spied it. Cost: if you want to find the best lifestyle product photography provider for you, you have to do a research.