Royal Doulton Coaching Days Charger

Royal Doulton Coaching Days charger, circa 1905-1955, measuring 15" in diameter. This impressive display plate features one of the 20 recorded coaching scenes from this beloved seriesware pattern, depicting romantic visions of England's golden age of stagecoach travel. The charger showcases transfer-decorated imagery with hand-painted enhancements in the characteristic yellow and brown colorway, capturing the bustling activity of coaching inns, passengers, horses, and drivers from the Regency period.

Coaching Days was designed by Victor Venner, a noted cartoonist and illustrator who worked for Royal Doulton from 1904-1924. The series was introduced in 1905 and remained in continuous production for an impressive 50 years until withdrawn in 1955, making it one of Royal Doulton's most successful and enduring seriesware patterns. Part of Charles Noke's revolutionary seriesware concept, the pattern was applied to a multitude of shapes including plates, chargers, vases, trays, jugs, teaware, and biscuit barrels, encouraging collectors to assemble complete displays of different coaching scenes.

The series romanticizes England's coaching era of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when stagecoaches crisscrossed the country along established routes linking major cities. During this golden age, coaching inns sprang up every 7-15 miles to service coaches and their passengers, providing fresh teams of horses, food, ale, and overnight accommodation. The Regency period saw great improvements in both coach design and road construction, enabling speeds of 12 miles per hour—journeys that took days in the 18th century could be completed in under 7 hours by the 1820s. Coaching Days captures this era's bustling energy: ostlers grooming steaming horses, horn-blowing guards announcing arrivals, passengers in their distinctive class divisions (genteel travelers inside, working folk riding "up top"), and the constant activity of Britain's most efficient form of overland transport before the railways ended this romantic era in the 1830s.

This charger was produced on Royal Doulton's earthenware body at the Burslem factory in Staffordshire. Examples with the rarer blue sky background variation are particularly sought after by collectors. Each piece was decorated using transfer-printing overlaid on airbrushed backgrounds, then finished with hand-painted details bringing Victor Venner's lively coaching scenes to life. Pattern numbers for the series include E2768 (earliest pieces from 1904), E3804, D2416, and various others spanning the 50-year production run.

Coaching Days represents both historical nostalgia and technical achievement in British ceramics. The series evokes a romanticized vision of English life before industrialization, when travel was adventure, coaching inns were social hubs hosting concerts and society meetings, and colorful characters—from legendary coachmen to infamous highwaymen like Dick Turpin—became folklore. Royal Doulton's decision to celebrate this bygone era resonated powerfully with collectors throughout the 20th century, making Coaching Days one of their most recognizable and collectible patterns alongside Dickensware and Blue Children.

Perfect for collectors of Royal Doulton Seriesware, English social history enthusiasts, and those who appreciate the romanticism of coaching era England. The generous 15" size makes this an impressive display piece suitable for wall mounting or as a centerpiece. Fully insured shipping across Canada with tracking.