A Son of the Rock

The Empire Exhibition of 1938 spawned many items of memorabilia. Various versions of the Tower of Empire (this category, passim) were made from china, metal or plastic; there were handkerchiefs with pictures of the Exhibition buildings, as well as the artist painted coloured ones many sepia photographic postcards were produced, leather items embossed with the Tower or the Exhibition lion, playing cards, matchbooks, commemorative glass tumblers, jigsaws, innumerable tins, all sorts of stuff.

Among these was a set of china cups, plates, dishes etc in deco style made by Carlton Ware and featuring a picture of Tait’s Tower in shades of green, brown and cream. For these the sole seller was Treron of Glasgow, a department store located in Sauchiehall Street (now of course no more.) The legend “supplied by Treron of Glasgow” was stamped on the base of each.

The dish shown below, with its angular lugs, is perhaps the most deco of these in feel.