made in Glasgow
This porcelain miniature beaker is decorated with the Coatbridge coat of arms. It was made for the souvenir market by the Nautilus Porcelain Company at the Possil Pottery in Glasgow and dates from between around 1900 and 1910.
Coatbridge's arms reflect the industries which used to be carried out in the area. The open blast furnace in the centre is surrounded by (from top clockwise) a beam steam engine, some angle and T iron, a pit head frame, a cogged wheel and chain, a section of mineral strata, an anvil, a monk holding a stone and finally, a pile of iron tubes. The Latin motto beneath the arms reads 'LABORARE EST ORARE'.
Crested china became the most important type of British souvenir between 1900 and 1930. Its invention is credited to William Henry Goss (1833-1906), the owner of the Falcon Works in Stoke-on Trent. The main producer of crested china in Scotland was the Nautilus Porcelain Company, at the Possil Pottery in Glasgow. Run by the china merchants MacDougall & Sons, of 77-79 Buchanan Street, the company produced 'Nautilus' miniatures between around 1900 and 1910. The pottery closed in 1911.
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