’Tis strange but true; for truth is always strange—Stranger than fiction.
Lord Byron, Don Juan, 1823

Now and again one comes upon pots with strange tales to tell. A pearlware loving cup made for John and Lydia Vickers in 1787 is such an example (4). The Picasso-like figure on the back appears to resemble a female space alien whose flying saucer has landed in a swamp. It turns out, however, that this is a copy in pearlware of an earlier Longton Hall porcelain design known to collectors as the “wind-swept” pattern (3).

The Bow porcelain tea bowl (2), decorated in overglaze enamels and made for Anne Target in 1754, is distinguished by its bizarre recent history. A friend of the Noël Humes discovered it being used ignobly as an ashtray in Williamsburg in 1958. Sometime later, collector Clifford Larson acquired a matching “Anne Target 1754” milk jug in a mid-western antique shop. He expressed the hope that one day the two pieces would be reunited (1). Thanks to Dr. Larson’s widow, his wish has now been fulfilled.