Antique Victorian Nursery Plate Boys’ Basket Trick Verse c.1830–1850

Regular price: £35.00
Sale price: £35.00
Regular price

A characterful early Victorian nursery plate featuring a humorous scene of a group of boys playing a trick involving an empty basket. The central black transfer-printed illustration has been picked out by hand in rich red, green and yellow. It is surrounded by the playful verse:

“It will be such fine sport, we shall all of us grin,
To see how the fellow will stare,
When he opens the basket, and finds nothing in.
’Tis a famous fine plan, I declare.”

The plate has an attractive moulded floral or daisy-patterned border, giving the cream-glazed earthenware a wonderfully tactile finish.

Nursery plates such as this combined illustration with moral, educational or humorous verses intended to entertain children. Dating from around 1830–1850, this is an appealing example of early Victorian childhood and social history.

The reverse carries a small impressed rosette-style mark, but it is not sufficiently distinctive to attribute the plate to a particular manufacturer.

Product variants

Size/Dimensions

D: 18 cm

Condition

There is a large chip or section of loss to the rim, as clearly shown in the photographs. The plate also has overall glaze crazing, age-related staining, light surface wear and the minor manufacturing imperfections associated with early earthenware.

No obvious cracks are visible. The central transfer and hand-coloured decoration remain bright and appealing, and the complete verse is clearly legible. Despite the rim loss, the plate displays well and remains an interesting collectible example. Please study all photographs carefully, as they form an important part of the condition description.

Circa 1830-1850