LUCY AND ELEPHANTS ON TRANSFERWARE

Elephants, the largest land mammal, hold a special place in my heart.  This is probably true for many of us.  Loren Zeller and I wrote an article about elephants for the Transferware Collectors Club Bulletin,  Elephant Tracks: Tracing Britain's Fascination with Elephants on Transfer-Printed Wares c. 1790-1850, Part 1.  I have also written about elephants for this blog,  Transferware Elephants.  I love to visit the elephants at the zoo, and one of my favorite children's films is "Dumbo."  But I had forgotten about Lucy until my friend Ted sent me a photo (after he read my article about elephants).   Ted grew up in Margate, New Jersey, the home of Lucy.  He thought I would like to know about an elephant big enough to walk inside.  I did know about her.  I spent the summer I was ten in Margate where Lucy was then known as the Elephant Hotel.  I always wanted to stay in her.

Lucy Today

Circa 1950s postcard of the Elephant Hotel aka Lucy

For more information about Lucy, here is a link to an excellent blog post.

Since this is a blog about transferware, I thought I'd show a few transferware elephant patterns.

"Elephant" child's mug ca. 1840

"Elephant And Keeper" child's plate, ca. 1840

Alphabet child's mug ca. 1840

Filled-in transferware jug with elephant, ca. 1820

"Elephant" child's plate ca. 1840

Elephants on a tiny plate (2.5 in.) advertising "Mangoena"/I am not sure what kind of drink this is.  It does appear to be alcoholic!