Product Details

A sweet copper lustre Tea Leaf creamer with a gleaming gilt leaf, wavy rim, and gold trimmed scroll handle. Decorated by the Cumbow china studio of Abingdon, Virginia, the family workshop that registered the Tea Leaf motif with the US Patent Office. A charming piece of Virginia folk pottery. SPECS: Approximate dimensions: ~4 in tall (measured) - Color and body: white glazed body with copper lustre Tea Leaf motif and gilt trim, paneled body, scroll handle Maker: Cumbow China Decorating Co, Abingdon Virginia - Base mark: Tea Leaf, Cumbow, Abingdon VA, Pat Pend - Date: c.1930s to 1960s HISTORY: Cumbow China Decorating Company ran in Abingdon Virginia from 1932 to about 1970, founded by Jacob and Mabel Cumbow Ruskin in their home. Mabel was the decorator, buying plain American and English china blanks and hand finishing them in copper and gold lustre. Of special note to Tea Leaf collectors, Mabel registered the Tea Leaf motif with the US Patent Office, which is the pat pend you see on the base. The classic Tea Leaf look, a simple copper leaf sprig on white, was a Victorian favourite that Cumbow carried into the 20th century as Appalachian folk pottery with a devoted following.