made in Glasgow
This porcelain miniature pill box is decorated with the coat of arms of Gravesend in Kent. 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.
The arms consist of an heraldic shield emblazoned with a tower or turret and an animal's head, with the Latin motto 'DECUS ET TUTAMEN' underneath.
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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