You might think this sounds like gibberish or something out of fishing book, but Flow Blue Transferware is one of the most sought after patterns in Porcelain and Fine China collecting. The term “Flow Blue” was a bit surprising to me, as I really had never even heard of it before.
I have been collecting Blue Willow now for 2 years, and you may have seen my previous posts, the latest one here: My Latest Blue and White (Blue Willow) Display! Yes, 2 years is not a long time, but thankfully I have lots of time to keep collecting! I had never come across Flow Blue in my years of thrifting and collecting.
Collecting has been a great diversion for me as I have recently retired and have always had a passion for antiques and collectibles 🙂 It was a bit of a surprise to learn so much about Blue Willow and all of the different origins, patterns, makers and colors in this lovely china.
I recently found and added a Large Blue Willow Coffee pot to my collection! Sometimes you go out thrifting and consignment store shopping and you never know what your are going to find…jackpot! I found both the Coffee Pot and the Cream/Sugar set at the same consignment store on two different occasions!
Here they are:
Which leads me to Flow Blue. I had already started finding out about Flow Blue when I bought my Welsh Dresser. The lady selling the Dresser asked if I wanted these two blue and white plates, because she heard I was collecting Blue and White. She threw them in for free!
Well this got me thinking. What has she given me. These are another example of Blue Transferware. So I looked up the mark on the back, which says “Clarissa”, by Johnson Bros, or Johnson Brothers. Turns out this is not the most expensive Flow Blue Porcelain, but not bad for free!! And she gave me two!
What is Flow Blue?
Here they are in my hutch. At this point I still didn’t really know what Flow Blue was. Here is the Wikipedia definition: “Flow blue (occasionally ‘flown blue’) is a style of white earthenware, sometimes porcelain, that originated in the Regency era, sometime in the 1820s, among the Staffordshire potters of England. The name is derived from the blue glaze that blurred or “flowed” during the firing process.”
Last Christmas my husband saw that I was interested in Flow Blue China, so he bought me this book from Amazon. A good authority on Flow Blue collecting: (Note: the link below is an affiliate links and I may earn a small commission off of the sale of these products, but the price you are charged is not affected.)
So now I was very interested. I went back to the same consignment store in February and found this amazing Flow Blue Platter! I couldn’t believe it! Here is the lovely Flow Blue Platter that I found.
The platter has the following marking on the back, which says Grindley England. It turns out to be a W.H. Grindley Flow Blue in the Marachai pattern! This one is worth more. I found a comparable on ebay for $295USD. I didn’t pay anywhere close to that!
Here they are all three together!
I have added these Flow Blue transferware pieces to my Welsh Dresser display and love the color! Here is the full display! Note: I apologize for the other gold and other tea set patterns on the shelves. I was taking photos of them recently and haven’t had time to take down yet.
Flow Blue is a definitely something I am going to keep my eye out for now that I know more about it. What is your passion for collecting? I would love to hear about it.
YouTube video for this display
Don’t forget to visit my other blog pages on my other collections and collectibles. You might want to view my previous post on my My Welsh Dresser!
My latest Blue and White display is found here: Blue Willow and White Ironstone Display.
If you enjoyed this post on Flow Blue Transferware, please leave me a comment below.
😉 Bonnie