Fairylite Foreign Cup of Knowledge Green Plain
From Mystic Tea Room
Fairylite was a British importer of Asian-made novelties during the post World War Two era. They dealt in paper goods, playing cards, toys, and other small gift and game products. Depending on the nature of the merchandise, these items are either marked "Fairylite Foreign" or "Fairylite Empire Made."
Fairylite fortune telling tea cups were made in Japan for export to Great Britain during the 1950s, and the pieces were marked "Foreign," to signify non-English origin. The Cup of Knowledge made by Fairylite was an illegal knock-off or patent infringement of the original Cup of Knowledge pattern from England. Specifically, this cup is a close copy of the Aynsley Mint Green Cup of Knowledge.
Both the Fairlylite Mint Green Cup of Knowledget and the B. Shackman Plain Green Cup of Knowledge were made at the same pottery in Japan and were intended for export. They can be told apart because British law at the time required the "Foreign" backstamp under the glaze, while the United States, where B. Shackman only insisted upon a paper label, and once the label the label was washed off, there was no visible backstamp at all. Thus all of the sets marked "Fairlyite Foreign" went to Great Britain and all of those with paper labels, many of with now present as unmarked, went to the United States.
Here's how to tell the Fairylite set apart from others:
- Pieces are backstamped "Fairylite Foreign" rather than "Aynsley" or being left with a paper backstamp or no backstamp.
- The colour of the Fairylite and B. Shackman clay body is slightly greyish, typical of Japanese ware, but unlike British bone china, which is a bright white.
- The quality of the transfers of the Fairylite and and B. Shackman playing cards is muddier than the English originals, with a yellowish tinge inside the cards.
- Despite the attempt to closely copy a British tea cup shape, the feett of the Fairylite and and B. Shackman cups areamusingly Japanese, in a classic six-petal scallop shape.
- The handle of the Fairylite and the Shackman cups are a simple Cshape with an inward curl; the Aynsley cup handle is in the more elaborate Doris pattern.
- Although the Fairylite Foreign Mint Green Cup of Knowledge has metallic gold pinstriping around the cup and saucer rims, the Fairylite has a mustard-yellow pin-line around the center of the saucer. If it were an Aynsley Cup of Knowledge Mint Green|Aynsley Mint Green]] cup, that pin-line would also be gold.
- The instruction booklet of the Fairylite Foreign Cup of Knowledge is a straight-out copy of the Aynsley Cup of Knowledge instruction booklet of its era. It can only be told apart from the Plain Green B. Shackman Cup of Knowledge instruction booklet, which was also [[{Category:Made in Japan]],because it has the words "Fairylite Foreign" printed at upper left on the front.
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catherine yronwode
curator, historian, and docent
The Mystic Tea Room