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My sister sent me a beautiful Paragon tea cup.  I'm guessing it is from the 1930's.  After doing a little research, I learned that the ones marked "By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen" are the extra-cool ones.  Paragon is funny; some of their patterns are marked with a letter & number scheme, and others are given a name, like "Devonsbury" or "Whittersham."  (Just made those up.)  The saucer has yellow markings on the underside:  A3939/18 with a 4 underneath.  That must be the pattern name.  I like this pattern because it looks like fountain pen flourishes, and the black and gold colors are rather masculine.  I'm not a pink flowers and kitties kind of person.  Spode has a Heather and pheasant pattern that I like, but they tell me that Spode is no longer manufactured in England, so that's out of the question.  Porcelain (made with "white China clay" hence the name "China") should be from Limoges, Luxembourg, or London.  Meaning, it's made by Bernadoud, Villeroy & Boch, or somebody like Paragon.  Gee, I don't know if there are any Irish porcelain factories.  Must remember to ask about that.


Thank you Mistress Tempura!  Your Teacup kung fu is righteous.  Whooo-aaaahh...