Tea Cup Tuesday-Yea!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!
I am happy to share another tea cup with you as well as a little history behind tea and tea cups.
From a little research I have found out that the tea cup has developed in England in response to the newly available tea from China. Before this time, only coffee and chocolate were availabe (early to mid 1600's). King Charles II queen was from Portugal and already knew about tea, and talked her husband into finding a way to bring it to England. So tea came to England in the 1660's. Tea was very expensive and cost from 6 to 10 British Pounds per lb, and that was in the late 1680's! Imagine that!

The cup itself seems to have started out as handle-less cups and the saucers with tall sides. The British did not like this at all and eventually, developed a handled cup and a shallow saucer. But it wasn't until the 1740's that they developed a "soft paste" that could produce pottery anything like Chinese porcelain. By 1815 a "hard paste" had finally been developed that made fine white "bone China", by adding calcined animal bones. Adding to that, taxes on tea had been cut, making it possible for more people to afford it. Pottery factories grew and many of the companies we see backstamped on our antique cups sprang forth.

This is just a small snippet of the information that is out there about the history of tea and tea cups. I hope you enjoyed it.

Now, on to the cup!
My cup this week is new to my collection. I fell in love with the bold colors and the simple earlier version of the rose. I also really like the gold trim.

This cup has a really good feel, the handle and weight are just right. This may not be my most gorgeous cup, but it is really comfortable to drink from.

I just love the flowers on the plate. This is such a great springtime or summer cup and plate.

"It was William McKinley (the 25th president of the USA) who introduced the highly protectionist McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 - this imposed tariffs on many imports (including pottery) in order to make it easier for the American manufacturers to sell their products. It was a requirement of this Act that all such imports carried the name of the country of manufacture.
This provided well-known marks such as "Bavaria," "England," "Nippon," - indicating the country of manufacture".

"In 1921 the Act was amended to require the phrase "Made in" preceding the country of origin, The labeling at individual British potteries varies somewhat from the 1891/1921 dating requirements described above (e.g., Wedgwood adopted the "Made in
England" around 1908/10 and may have used it on some pieces as early as 1898)".
Reference-thepotteries.org General Guide To Pottery Trade Marks

If a backstamp includes "bone china" or "English bone china" it was made in the 20th century.

Using this information, I am guessing that my cup was made somewhere between 1900-1921.
It doesn't look that old at all!

Thank you so much for coming by for a visit today. I appreciate every single one of you!
Martha and I love to stop by and visit your place and see what tea cups you have to share.
Just fill in the two blanks below in Mr. Linky, and you will automatically be signed up. Please make your tea cup post first and then sign up. Thank you so much, and don't forget to visit Martha, she always has beautiful treasures to share as well as an interesting post.
Hugs to you all
Terri

p.s. If my friend Cheryl is reading this, my phone was not working in the mountains at all. I will hopefully reach you tomorrow : )