Swansea Baroness Burdett Coutts Plates

We recently came across two very rare porcelain plates in Alfies. Both pieces are part of a large Swansea service made for the banker Thomas Coutts in 1815. The dinner plates are part of a collection of 320 porcelain pieces. Two of these beautiful plates can be found at Chris Janes Antiques on the ground floor.

The plates were part of a service which belonged to Angela, Baroness Burdett-Coutts who died in 1906.
Angela Burdett-Coutts was a 19th century philanthropist and the daugther of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and the former Sophia Coutts, daughter of banker Thomas Coutts. In 1837 she became the wealthiest woman in England when she inherited her grandfather's fortune.

The service was sold at Christie's on 9th May 1922, where it was noted the service had been ordered by the banker Thomas Coutts from Mortlocks in 1816, in celebration of his marriage to the actress Harriet Mellon.

It has been said that the Queen also owns a plate from the same service!