RARE WWI WEDGWOOD LIBERTY QUEEN'S WARE CUP & SAUCER & PLATE c. 1917 ALLIES FLAGS

RARE WWI WEDGWOOD LIBERTY QUEEN'S WARE CUP & SAUCER & PLATE c. 1917 ALLIES FLAGS

Very Rare! Limited Production! Nearly 100 years old! From circa 1917 World War I, Private Order! 

Never Sold to the general public! Produced to support the War efforts, all proceeds went to war related charities. 

Set contains 1 Wedgewood bone china cup, saucer and 8 1/4" dessert-bread plate 

with the "Liberty" motif consisting of a center shield with the American Stars and Stripes 

surrounded by eleven Allied flags from World War I, including (from left to right) Cuba, 

Romania, Montenegro, Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, France, Russia, Japan, Portugal, and Serbia. 

Overall Nice Condition. No Chips or cracks. 

Each piece has a few factory flaws, areas on heavy glaze or Lin glaze and some dust specks? in the glaze  .  

There may be some fine and tight crazing, (mostly on the saucer), light glaze and surface scratches or scuffing and other light signs of wear consistent with age.

Inspect the pictures. Sold as shown, As-is. 

Here's the history:

Shortly after America entered World War I, American socialite Lillian Gary Taylor devised a unique fundraising strategy to support Allied charities and aid the war effort. She designed a porcelain china pattern called "Liberty China" and commissioned England's world famous pottery firm Josiah Wedgwood and Sons to refine and manufacture the pieces. The pattern, designed by Mrs. Taylor, contained the shield of the United States flanked by the flags of eleven Allied nations. The British and French flags are placed on either side of the Belgian flag. The other flags depicted are Cuba, Romania, Montenegro, Italy, Russia, Japan, Portugal, and Serbia. A narrow band of gold adorns the edges of these pieces.

The pieces were a “private order” and were never advertised or sold to the public so the numbers of this pattern that exist today are very limited. Sometime after the war ended, Frank H. Wedgwood destroyed the copper plate of the engraving at Mrs. Taylor's request to insure no more could be produced.

Select clientele who ordered and received Liberty China included President Woodrow Wilson, former President Theodore Roosevelt, King George V and Queen Mary of the United Kingdom, King Albert and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, General John Pershing, Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and Admiral and Mrs. William S. Sims.