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Click above to join our Facebook Group for English Rose Collectors! For those who are interested I also maintain online references to 3 other china patterns which you can jump to via the links below: Royal Winton Tiger Lily/Honey Lily Royal Winton Roses Transfer Ware Royal Doulton Rosslyn or join the Facebook Group here
Welcome to my Virtual Museum! I'm attempting to one day document here a full collection of photos of all pieces produced by Royal Doulton in their stunning English Rose pattern, D6071. This is a true labour of love for me - I was lucky enough to inherit my personal collection from my maternal grandmother (you can also see my collection of Royal Doulton Rosslyn which I inherited from my paternal grandmother here!) in 2001, and have been slowly adding to it since then, filling in the gaps of missing plates and cups that had been broken over the years, and acquiring new and rarer pieces that weren't a part of her original set. My grandmother used pieces of her set right up until the day she died, and I think of her with love every time I lay eyes upon my china cabinet. For my personal tastes, I can think of no more beautiful pattern of china that's ever been produced. The main body of each piece is off-white, and it's patterned with pink and yellow roses, smaller blue flowers, and green foliage. Each piece is also trimmed in gold (gilded). My aim here is also to help fellow collectors simply become aware of the more rare or unusual pieces that are in existence - something I'd have loved to have had access to when I started collecting as I honestly didn't know what I was looking for beyond the basic cups and plates. Since I began my hunt I've befriended a number of other collectors with really unusual pieces, and to them I owe a huge debt of gratitude both for knowledge they've shared with me and also access to their collections for the purpose of some of these photographs. While the bulk of these photos are of my own set, there are still many, many pieces I don't yet own so thank you to all who have contributed. So please, enjoy! I hope this site helps you with your collection and brings you as much joy and pleasure and it's brought me in creating it. To begin, here are a few things I've learnt along the way: English Rose was manufactured from 1939 - 1963. In order to work out the history of (and sometimes date) your piece, begin by turning it over! There are a number of different back stamps you will see:
A Green Royal Doulton mark with Blue print reading English Rose D.6071 Regd. In Australia. I've been told that the Regd. In Australia was added in an attempt to stop the Japanese from copying the pattern during wartime. You will also find pieces actually stamped "Made in Australia".
A Brown Royal Doulton mark with Green print, reading English Rose D.6071 - I have been told from one reliable source that this indicates a whiter coloured china than the more creamy colour you find with the green stamp. But another very reliable source says the colour of the back stamp really isn't indicative of anything other than it just happened to be the paint colour they had on hand at that time! Will leave it to you to decide but from what I've seen the china colour theory does have some credence to it.
A Green Royal Doulton mark with Green print, reading English Rose D.6071 (sometimes also Regd. In Australia as shown below). I was once told that the large A to the left of the crown means that particular piece was Made in Australia but I have since discovered this is an Urban Myth and that the A relates instead to a particular type of porcelain being used for that piece and the fact that it required a certain time/treatment in the kiln. I found that quite interesting! The 8344 stamp you can see indicates the shape/style number of the piece (see below for more about that).
Sometimes you will also see a tiny number near the crown - for example the 12 above. Simply add this number to the year 1927 and you'll know the exact year of production - in the case of this Square Bon Bon dish it's 1939 (the first year it was introduced). This is also stamped (actually into the china, not printed) with 8015 which is the style number of that design - 8015 indicates the large 11cm Square Bon Bon Dish, 8015A is the next size down (10cm) and 8015B is the smallest of the trio (9cm). This is the same for all Doulton patterns, not just English Rose - I also have an 8015A in the Roses (D5533) pattern which is the same Square Bon Bon Dish shape. This one above is also stamped "11 39" at the bottom which dates it precisely to November 1939 (I love that!).
And in the case of this Pin dish it's 1940 (1927 + 13) 
Another interesting fact - the number of roses on a piece can vary between 10 and 12. I was once told that 12 roses was rarer, but I'm not sure if that's true or not. Take the case of the two saucers above (click on the link to open the full-sized image in a new page). As you can see, the first saucer on the left has the 12 roses, and the second only has the 10 (I can see you all scurrying to count the roses on your own plates now!). Okay - without further chat, it's now time to come to the main part of the website - please click below to view all the pieces I've managed to obtain photographs for so far (and again please excuse my descriptions - I'm by no means an expert and if anyone knows that I've misnamed a particular piece I would love to hear from you via the Facebook group and stand corrected!) Please feel free to contact me through the Facebook page - link at the top of this page. I have now disbanded the email-me option due to having far too many people email to ask me how much their collection is worth, sorry! If you do need to know, then you'd honestly be best speaking to a professional Valuer or Antiques Dealer as the prices can vary insanely, depending on the piece you have and also where you would choose to sell it (eBay prices vs private auction houses for example are simply worlds apart). After the GFC, the prices on eBay specifically dropped dramatically meaning pieces that I personally paid close to $1000 for (eeeek) are now trading for only a few hundred - devastating but true, and just a reflection of every other industry really. If you hold onto your pieces obviously the market will pick up again eventually but for now if you're looking to sell immediately, then either do a quick amount of research on previous/closed eBay auctions, make Google your best friend, or check with a reputable dealer. Thanks for your understanding and I hope the website continues to bring much pleasure to many!
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