CERAMIC VALENTINES

Moore & Co. "Love Me Always" 19th century 5 inch plate with a molded daisy border. 

 

I have been treated to flowers, chocolates, and cards on Valentine's Day.  These were heartfelt gifts, but were very ephemeral.  How wonderful to find earthenware patterns for Valentine's gifts.  Although the plates share the size and molded borders usually associated with children's pottery, the small plate above and the plates below were probably intended as love tokens.

"Love the Giver" 19th century 5.5 inch plate with a molded daisy border.

"Kiss Me Quick" 19th century 4.75 inch plate with a molded floral border.

The plate below is also a love token.  The pattern is in the form of a lover's knot.  You need to know where to begin, so look at the enlargement of the center of the pattern (below this photo).

Lover's Knot 19th century 5.5 inch plate with a molded floral border.  The poem is a love puzzle!

   If you haven't figured it out, here is a clue.  Find the words "Ah Woe is me..." 

I like the pattern so much that I own three of them!

In case you haven't figured out the poem, here it is:

 

"Ah woe is me my tender heart, is pierced by Cupid's fatal dart, Long time against its point I strove, But oh how strange to strive against Love, The wound I have is almost through, And only can be healed by you, Loving true like the Dove, An endless round of blameless love."  Not very good verse, but it is the thought, they say, that counts.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!