Loving cups

These rare and colorful pieces were produced for a brief period during the 1930s by Charles Noke and Harry Fenton, before the successful launch of character jugs. They were released in limited editions of only 300 to 1,000 pieces, some of which were never completed, making them highly collectable and difficult to find. These were the very first limited edition pieces produced by Royal Doulton.

Most of the loving cups produced featured many of the characters who were later portrayed as character jugs, many of which reflecting Noke's interest in literature, particularly the works of Dickens and Shakespeare. Folk heroes, whether real or fictitious, are inevitably colorful characters and thus eminently suitable as subject matter for these lively jugs. It is the attention to detail and overall presentation that enhances this range of prestige jugs, and together with skillfully modeled decoration and rich colors schemes, makes them admired among collectors today.