This photo was taken in 1959 at the Spode factory in Stoke-on-Trent.
It illustrates something very special. But what's the story behind the photograph?
In 1959 the Spode company was owned by the Copeland family operating as W. T. Copeland & Sons Ltd.
In the photo you can see what was then a modern vehicle to be proud of. It is smartly painted in the Spode livery.
The same typeface was also used as part of Spode backstamps of the period as well as on printed material, such as the in-house magazine the 'Spode Saga'.
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Detail of lorry livery
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Backstamp c1960
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Cover, 'Spode Saga'
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Catalogue page 1959
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Also in the photo is a young man who I believe was the driver but sadly I have not found his name.
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Lorry driver
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But look, there's more. Look under the wheels.
This is a publicity stunt!
The lorry is balanced on four bone china cups. This is pottery showmanship at its best - showcasing the strength of Spode's bone china.
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Spode bone china cups under the wheels
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Bone china is a Big Thing in the Staffordshire pottery industry.
The qualities of bone china are:
- whiteness
- translucency
- strength
- resonance
Its manufacturing and design quality was hugely important to the top pottery manufacturers, and particularly to Spode, who laid claim to its invention and/or perfection in about 1799/1800. It is this bone china which took the Spode company to greatness in the early 1800s overtaking rivals who could not compete with the quality of this new product.
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Coffee cup, pattern 2812 c1820
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| Looking inside the cup showing translucency |
The photos above show a bone china coffee cup in pattern 2182 of about 1820. You can see the whiteness, the quality of both shape and pattern design, and the translucency.
So... in this marketing gimmick, what better way to show the strength of the then current Spode bone china than to balance something heavy on the product for a dramatic statement?
The lorry on four cups was the result. I love it!
I was lucky, whilst curator of the Spode museum, to have Robert Copeland (1925-2010) as my Spode mentor and colleague sharing his vast knowledge of the company history with me. At various times Robert was a partner in the firm and director as well as Historical Consultant. Conversations with him, whether formal or over a cuppa or lunch were always fascinating, often very amusing (we had the same sense of humour), and I used to scribble notes down, many of which are now preserved in the
Spode archive.
I mention this because, of course, Robert was full of information about the 'lorry on four cups' event as he was there at the time and instrumental in developing the idea.
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The author & Robert, deep in ceramic conversation 1998
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He told me that for this Spode 'show of strength' a new area of nice smooth roadway was prepared on the factory site. After the publicity photographs had been taken and the lorry removed Robert recalled, with a giggle, that the cups had sunk into the new soft roadway and couldn't easily be retrieved! |
Catalogue page bone china 1959
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The 1959 catalogue page from a bone china catalogue shows the style of ware available at the time. The cup shape might even be that used in the lorry stunt.
