Beautiful and elegant early Mayer & Sherratt 'Melba China' pair of teacup and side plate trios and cake serving plate - gilded, hand painted

A very delicate and pretty vintage, bone china, two person afternoon tea set, comprising a pair of cups and saucers with matching tea plates and one larger cake serving plate. This lovely set was made in Staffordshire, England and is believed to date from the 1920's. The set is made of china and has been decorated with a combination of print and hand painting with brown, purple and green painted violets. The rims of all the items are decorated with a 'dusting' type style of golden coloured gilding, producing a speckled effect around the edges that catch the light.

There are quite a few manufacturing issues to point out that were common at the time they were made. The china has quite a few dark impurity specks in the clay that can be seen clearly in all items, they look like little black specks of tea. There are a few stray bits of brown pattern that have attached and adhered where they shouldn't, the most noticeable is inside on the bottom of one of the teacups. There are also smudges of colour and paint on the undersides of the plates and saucers. On the underside of one of the saucers there is a firing crack that formed when the saucer was fired. This is filled with glaze and is not damage but occurred at the time of manufacture. It does not go through the clay and cannot be seen from the face of the saucer. The china has a fluted and curved shape and some of these are little bit warped giving them a charming look. Overall the set looks charmingly vintage and is a delight and different. The gilding is designed to look like it has been dusted on but there are a few areas of minor wear on the rims when examined very closely, although this blends in well.

This beautiful set was made in Longton, Staffordshire under the trading name of Melba China and is marked with the brown crown and ribbon logo on the base of the cups along with a hand painted design number.

This set is vintage and sold as used. Other than the manufacturing issues already mentioned the set is in very good condition with no signs of post manufacture damage, nos signs of crazing or chips. I'm happy to send more photographs if requested.

The teacups are dainty and hold approximately 170ml.

The cups measure approximately 5.7cm tall, 10cm long (including the handle) and are 8.5cm wide across the top.
The saucers measure approximately 13.5cm in diameter and 2.2cm tall.
The tea plates measure approximately 18cm in diameter and 2cm tall.
The cake serving plate measures approximately 23.5cm in diameter and 2cm tall.

Please look at all of the photographs and the video carefully as these form part of the description and help to show condition, scale and colour.