The mug was made to commemorate the beginning of production at Wedgwood’s Barlaston site and it is thought to be the last piece that Ravilious designed for the factory because at this time he was already an official war artist and he died in 1942. It is not known how many of the mugs were produced but given that this was wartime, the run could have been quite small.
Consigned for sale at Mallams on January 8 with a £40-60 estimate, it got the new year off to a good start when it was competed on the telephones to £1150 (plus 15 per cent buyer’s premium).
Wedgwood Ravilious Coronation mug
Following the £620 sale of three Wedgwood Ravilious Coronation mugs in November, Tom Delaney of Mallams in Cheltenham recalled seeing a similar mug in a local house – this much rarer example transfer printed with a brick kiln together with a silhouette portrait of Stoke-on-Trent’s most famous son and the inscription Josiah Wedgwood Barlaston 1940 Etruria 1730.
