What’s in the Box? Souvenir Crested China

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Here’s the latest story from our What’s in the Box display.

Do you recognise this china? These miniature porcelain models, with their crests of British seaside towns, were once hugely popular souvenirs. In 1910 most people in Britain owned one of these ornaments. W H Goss Ltd were the most popular makers but others, such as Arcadian, also produced the china.

There were a wide variety of designs including lamps, lighthouses, water bottles, swans, vases, lobster-pots, cannons, oars and hats. Many of the models were based on ancient objects, which had usually been found in different places than the towns represented on the crests. You might be able to spot ones for Brighton and Hove when you visit Hove Museum!