'My Mother's Tea Set'

​My mother had a favourite tea set.  This was Royal Albert crown china made in England.  It has a fine china cup which she preferred to many of the more modern sets that were quite thick which she did not like.  It has a very pretty pink rose pattern.  The pattern was called American Beauty.  Apparently 'American Beauty' is a deep pink rose, bred by Henri Lédéchaux in France in 1875, and was originally named 'Madame Ferdinand Jamin'.

Mum used this tea set for her cup of tea every day for many years.  They were not kept only for special occasions.  With such constant use a number were broken over the years, but she always took the effort to find replacements.  The newer ones have changed the pattern very slightly, although using the same pattern name with the same pink roses.  Or maybe it is just that they are newer. 

In looking at them today, many of the cups have faded, with the gold trim almost invisible around the edge of the older cups.  The saucers are slightly less faded and the plates still seem to have most of the gold trim.  I think that they were only pulled out when there were guests.

This set has not been used for over twenty years now, but I cannot bring myself to pass them on!

​Joy Shirley

*This story was submitted in response to an 'Ideas Piggy Bank' writing prompt.