Dishes - Thrown

Dish or charger. Orange body with trailed and jewelled slip decoration over a cream-coloured slip coat. The pattern comprise a trellis border with a mermaid holding a comb and mirror in the centre, and is accompanied by the inscription on the rim 'THOMAS TOFT'.

Although the cut-off date for the wares in this volume is 1950, it was felt appropriate to include an image of this dish as it was almost certainly made to deceive, and had made its way into the antiques market where it was recognised for what it was, a modern fake. The pattern occurs on a dish in the Burnap Collection in Kansas City which bears the name of Ralph Toft, but is reproduced here without any of the original vitality. Overall, the dish is well-made -too well-made -and the colours of the slips are not quite those that we see on early dishes.

20th century. Diameter 440mm. Acquired by the Potteries Museum as an example of a modern fake.

Accession number 1990 P467.

The pattern occurs on a dish in the Burnap Collection in Kansas City which bears the name of Ralph Toft, but is reproduced here without any of the original vitality.