Highly Attractive Antique Colonial Virginia and 49 similar items

Highly attractive because it is highest quality manufacture. The Williamsburg set is marked as a Staffordshire, England manufacturer on both pieces. The Jamestown set is not marked but does also appear to be English. Jamestown cup about 2 3/4" tall and the Williamsburg about 2 7/8". Someone's grandmother bought them as souvenirs most likely in the 1930's and I am not breaking up the set. Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown are all near each other and they built a nice brick paved parkway you can take to visit them all and it is a beautiful drive by itself. The artists rendition of the Governor's Palace (both sets have the same artwork on both pieces) is rather unique and telling as it shows the palace as it only existed for short time in the 1930's. Yes they still have reproduction horse carriages there. In fact the Palace itself is a reproduction, the original having burned down long before. Colonial Williamsburg was reconstructed in the 1930's and that is when they built the current Palace. This rendition shows neither the side buildings nor most importantly, the brick fence and gate in front. In fact I could not find a single other image with the wood post fence as shown here. It is possible the artist was working from the plans in advance of the opening. I don't expect they would have kept this version on sale long before replacing it with an image that was what people remembered seeing. That and the English manufacture suggest to me that this set is 1930's. Jamestown souvenirs can go back farther in time as there was much celebration for the tricentennial, but it was when they did Williamsburg in the 1930's that the area began to draw serious numbers of tourists on a regular basis. Both sets in Very Good or better condition. The Williamsburg cup has some very shallow scallops in the pattern, you might look at them at first and wonder if there is a chip or worn spot there, but they are smooth and at regular intervals and it is just part of the way the cup is modeled. See shipping calculator for rates to your address.