Roberts & Belk - Plain Pine - Rd 798068

[dognose]

Roberts & Belk - Plain Pine - Rd 798068

In 1934 the White Star-Cunard liner, the 'RMS Queen Mary' was launched. It was to spend the next two years being fitted out in readiness for its maiden voyage to New York in 1936. For their new 'Pride of the Fleet' ship, White Star-Cunard commissioned Elkington & Co.to supply the flatware and cutlery for the first class section and Roberts & Belk for the second class section.

For the Roberts & Belk commission Walter Belk had designed the classic art deco pattern 'Plain Pine'. The design was registered in 1934 as Rd 798068.



Walter Belk's design was said to have been so popular with the passengers on the maiden voyage, that White Star-Cunard wired Roberts & Belk from New York with another order, said to represent 50% of the original order, for delivery when the ship returned to Southampton, as thousands of pieces had gone missing from the ship's stock.









The set illustrated above was not part of the White Star-Cunard order, but of a batch supplied to the furniture store of Waring & Gillow following the pattern being put on sale to the public in 1936, no doubt much to the relief of White Star-Cunard.



The genuine pieces of the Queen Mary's flatware and cutlery carry an additional mark of a rampant lion holding a globe.

Trev.

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This is Roberts & Belk's Rd 776560 that was registered in 1932. I have no idea at what date White Star-Cunard commissioned Roberts & Belk to create their flatware, but this design, as it is so very similar to the 'Plain Pine' pattern, was perhaps an early but rejected prototype. Maybe the crown was thought to be a little OTT.



R & B's Rd 776560 did go into production and the above pair, were marked for Maple, the London and Paris furnishing stores.

Trev.

[dognose]

It was, perhaps, the Goldsmiths' Company that gave the final nod of approval to Walter Belk's design.

An entry in the minutes of the meeting of the Court of Assistants on the 20th March 1935 reads:

The Council for Art and Industry has asked the Company to advise on the selection of plated goods and cutlery for the new Cunard liner, the Queen Mary.

Trev.

[dognose]

A place setting of the RMS Queen Mary's 'Plain Pine' pattern flatware and cutlery.



Trev.