Past Imperfect, The Art of Inventive Repair

Victorian child’s mug features two small cottages rendered in pink lustre slip, sandwiched between a copper lustre decorated rim and base

Mug stands 3″ high and was made in England in the early 19th century

The charmingly naive decoration is appropriate for a child’s mug

It is not unusual to find children’s china with cracks, chips and missing pieces. So when the handle broke off, a “do-it-yourself” metal handle was attached

I imagine you could purchase these clip-on replacement handles at a hardware or dry goods store

Reino Liefkes, Senior Curator of the Ceramics & Glass Collection at the V&A Museum in London researched the patent number and discovered it belonged to Frederick Warren Wilkes of Birmingham, UK. The handle, dating to 1922, was named “Emergency Handle for Domestic Receptacles”. Please check out this post for more information.

Please check out the cup on the right, which has the same patented replacement handle, posted on March 22, 2010: “Pekin” pattern cup, c.1880

This mug, with the same form and similar pink lustre decoration as mine, sports its original unbroken handle

photo courtesy of Eron Johnson Antiques

English copper lustre child’s mug from the mid-1800s has a light blue enamel band with relief figures of children…

And cupid sitting on what appears to be a polka dotted goat!

This little mug measures 3″ tall and is 4-3/4″ long

The tin handle and straps at the top and bottom were attached to the body, enabling the mug to be functional again

The original handle might have looked something like this

Photo courtesy of Eron Johnson Antiques

The addition of a ceramic frog inside of a child’s mug was a great way to encourage a little boy or girl to drink their milk. This 5″ tall souvenir mug has pink lustre and multi-color hand painted decoration over a transferware design, and was made in the early 1800’s by Moore & Co in Sunderland, England.

Printed on one side of the mug: “West View of the Cast Iron Bridge Over the River Ware”,  completed in 1796. A verse about the sea is printed on the other side.

A simple tin handle with straps does the trick replacing the original, shattered after a fall.

Unfortunately, the ceramic frog also suffered from the fall and was never recovered. Wouldn’t it be great to see a “make do” frog inside of this mug?

An original frog inside of a mug which escaped the slippery fingers of a Victorian child.

Photo courtesy of Martyn Edgell Antiques