Souvenir plate serves a heaping helping of history

By Florida Weekly Staff | on December 07, 2022

This Rowland & Marsellus souvenir plate made in England to be sold in Mexico measures about 10 inches. SCOTT SIMMONS / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Did you inherit a kitschy souvenir plate from your grandmother?

First, thank Grandma.

Then thank Patrick Palmer-Thomas.

He was a 19th-century Dutch-English nobleman whose plates featured transfer designs commemorating picturesque locales or special events.

Palmer-Thomas is widely accepted as the father of the commemorative plate.

Travel in the 19th century was a big deal — unless they were wealthy, most people typically didn't leave their town or county.

The advent of steam engines, along with the railroad and steamships — both coming as a result of the Industrial Revolution — began to change all that.

Travelers always like to buy something to commemorate their journey, no matter how long or short. Wealthy people may well have purchased fine art as part of the "grand tour" of the day.

A middle-class traveler may have bought something like this plate.

Think about it: This also was before the day of amateur photography — cameras of the 19th century were large, cumbersome affairs. So souvenir plates and such offered a tantalizing glimpse of other lands.

Scott SIMMONS

They also were a way to show that you’d been somewhere and that you had the means to travel.

This plate also is downright attractive.

There are few things more eye-catching than the deep blue indigo blue of the design against a stark white background.

And that's what initially caught my eye when I spotted this blue and white transferware plate depicting scenes from Mexico priced at a whopping $3 on the shelves of a Hospice Resale Shop.

The name transferware comes from potters’ use of tissue to transfer the design from a printing plate to the pottery itself. When the technique was developed in mid-18th century England, it enabled potters to mass-produce dinnerware and other pieces, opening a market to consumers other than the wealthy.

When used to create souvenir plates, it offered an opportunity to educate people who never traveled far beyond their homes about different cultures and regions.

This particular plate, made in England by Rowland & Marsellus & Co. of Staffordshire,

England, depicts Mexican President Porfirio Diaz, who served seven terms as president off and on between 1876 and 1911.

The British potteries cornered the market on these plates back in the day, turning out millions of souvenirs that were shipped for sale around the globe.

It's possible this plate was made to commemorate a visit to Mexico in 1909 by U.S. President William Howard Taft. It was only the second time a sitting U.S. president had left the country.

Around the portrait of Diaz, the rim depicts five scenes from across Mexico.

Online sources suggest that Diaz is an unusual subject for a souvenir plate by Rowland & Marsellus — most of the company's wares tend to depict U.S. presidents and scenes.

I’d never heard of Diaz — his tenure was noted for ending political instability and helping the country achieve growth after decades of economic stagnation.

While Googling Diaz, I learned that he was forced out in 1911 and went into exile in Paris, where he died in 1915 at age 84.

After more than a century, these souvenir plates continue to educate. ¦

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