'Sunderland lustre' Agamemnon and Flying Cloud Boston plaques

As prices for common examples of Sunderland lustre (and Victorian pottery in general) slowly fall, strangely, the prices fetched by the reproduction ship plaques titled 'Agamemnon' and 'Flying Cloud Boston' appear to be on the rise. 

I blogged about these reproductions several times in the early days of this website, and added a page on reproductions.  Ian Holmes valiantly e-mails eBay sellers to tell them that the items are fakes and were made in the latter half of the 20th century. Some sellers defer to Ian's greater knowledge and change their listings, others argue that they purchased the plaques from 'a reputable auction house', and although other sellers' Flying Cloud Bostons and Agamemnons may be fake, their example is definitely 19th century.

Sad to say, if your plaque looks like the titled ship plaques above, it is, without any shadow of a doubt, a modern fake (even if it appears to have an old crackle to the glaze).  There are no known 19th century Sunderland lustre originals like these with these titles.

Here are a few recently listed: eBay number 390650457018 sold for £47.10; eBay number 181214125187 sold for £48.95; eBay number 290972418687 sold for £47.00; and eBay number 141044042847, which sold for a jaw-dropping £98.85. There's currently a Flying Cloud Boston, eBay number 350910531493, which is already at £52.00, but at least the seller has had the decency to publish a question about its authenticity, and has admitted his own ignorance of its age.

Interestingly, the entirely original plaque below sold on eBay for £27.  OK, it is far from being the best example of its kind (!), but at least it has some age to it.  Note, there is no title under the transfer.  The ship shown is actually the Marco Polo (see the common ships page for more details).

Ian glimpsed the pair of repros in the background of the set of the horror film, Holocaust 2000, filmed in England in 1977.  They do seem quite at home in the realm of horror (see below). So if we're looking to date them, the 1960s to mid 1970s seems about right. They were mass produced in thousands.

I have a cupboard full of these reproduction plaques (only a slight exaggeration), which were thrown into job lots by 'reputable auction houses' to make up the numbers. Ian says he has a box of them too.  So if you'd like to purchase a pair of repros for £80, please drop me a line.  You'll be doing me a huge favour!