Thursday, April 7, 2011

British Royal Commemoratives

              

The April issue of Romantic Homes did a short feature on the british royal commemoratives being issued to celebrate the upcoming wedding of prince William to Kate Middleton. I have been collecting British commemoratives for over 20 years and thought maybe you would like to see some of my favorites.

This is the messy cupboard most of them live in. Guess I should have straightened up the clutter............

Queen Victoria.............

To commemorate her Diamond Jubilee Year,  1897
                                                                              



I found this one in Canada,( one of my favorites)

                A pitcher issued in Memorium of King Edward VII
                                    born Nov 9,1841, died may 6,1910

  King George V                                                                      
             King George and Queen Mary..to commemorate their Silver Jubilee
                                                      1910-1935
                                                                          
   Edward, Prince of Wales, the coronation that never took place, however...the
   commemoratives had already been sold. (can you say Wallace!?)
  
King George VI                                                 

                              King George VI..."The Reluctant King"..coronation
                                                 May 12, 1937
                                                                               
                 Queen Elizabeth I                                  
                                  my personal favorite royal                         
                                                                    
                      Queen Elizabeth I ...... as a young girl                          
                                      (this is a newer mug)
                                                                            
                                 I like the ones with  Margaret on them

Queen Elizabeth II

                          Teapot  featuring Elizabeth when she was a child
                                                                         
             To commemorate Queen Elizabeths' coronation                                    
                                                     
A lot of these I have never seen before in antique stores or in researching them. I purchased some of these from an antique dealer that told me they had been in a storage unit in Canada for years and became available when the owner passed away. There were a lot more that I would have liked to have bought IF I would have had unlimited funds!!! For example....a Princess Margaret one....very simple, sort of a pottery like mug. I think I made the mistake of letting my excitement show.....all of the sudden it wasn't for sale.  LESSON LEARNED!!!

I have newer ones, one cute Charles cup(when he was a child) I unfortunately dropped and broke. Lots of Charles and Diana, Andrew and Fergie, etc.  To me the newer ones lack the charm of the old ones and are almost cheap looking. But that won't stop me from hunting down at least one William and Kate!!

Will you be staying up to watch the wedding? I know, corny, but I probably will. Nobody does pageantry quite like the Brits!!  ( I wonder if Rachell Ashwell is going to watch??)
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4 comments:

  1. A Wild ThingApril 8, 2011 at 2:01 PM

    I'm a huge fan too, mostly the Tudors through Victoria, such fascinating history, would love to go to England some day. The only relic I have is a small souvenir tin of Liz IIs' coronation 1953...my lil' piece of history. But what a great collection you have m'dear!!! And no I probably won't see it since I have no TV anymore(not a bad thing)!!!

    s

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  2. cconzApril 9, 2011 at 7:42 PM

    Wow what a collection, 20 years worth. I don't think i've ever seen any like these. Very cool, you should be proud of such a fine collection. All i know about the new bride to be is that she has a great smile.
    I haven't made my own jug yet, i feel alittle intimidated by Laurie. Her are so beautiful. I find that i don't have a lot of smalls. So I'm hunting and gathering things for 1st project. Looks like you have a few in your collection.

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  3. marilynApril 11, 2011 at 6:16 PM

    I love your Queen Victoria pitcher picture. She is so haughtily regal as she looks down her nose at the peasantry. And I love the curly-haired Queen Elizabeth as a child. Thank you for sharing these.

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  4. AnonymousMay 3, 2012 at 12:48 PM

    My mother has a huge collection of royal commemoratives and you have some really nice pieces. (I'm talking hutches and chests full) I noticed you like the ones with Margaret on them-any piece with both Elizabeth and Margaret on them are hard to find. You memoriam jug is not easy to find either. You scored on that one. Just wanted to tell you that it is a very nice collection.

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