Brief History of Tea Drinking

Legend has it that an early Emperor of China accidentally discovered tea as a tasty beverage when some tea leaves blew into the hot water he was drinking.  Tea was introduced in London as a health beverage in the mid-1600’s,  and became popular during the reign of Charles II (1630-1685).  At over $100 per pound, tea was a luxury enjoyed by only the wealthiest including the Duchess of Bedford, who introduced the English to the afternoon tea drinking ritual in about 1840.

Teapots & Tea Related Items

Due to the overwhelming popularity of tea throughout the world, a large area of collectibles has grown up around the tea ritual.  Collectors look for teapots, tea cosies, tea cups, tea spoons, and tea caddies (containers in which tea was kept fresh and away from the servants).  Teapots come in a variety of materials including porcelain, pottery brass, silver, enamelware, chrome, aluminum, jade and more.

Dating Teapots

The earliest teapots were small, holding only two cups of the expensive beverage.  Experienced collectors can date them based on shape as well as size, as the teapots became larger as the drink became less expensive.

Collectible Teapots

Collectors look for unusual teapots in attractive and fanciful shapes.  The Victorians made teapots in the form of people or animals or both together.  These figurals, especially Victorian Majolica examples are very popular.  Earlier transferware teapots are also collectible, but these often have condition problems and seem to bring lower prices.  Silver teapots are probably the top tier of the teapot trade, and those made by an established make can go for thousands.

Teapot Values

Values are highest where teapots have crossover appeal, meaning that they are sought by more than one category of collector, for example a collector of Tiffany silver would probably have a few teapots, as would a collector of Hull or McCoy or other pottery.

As with almost every collectible, value depends on condition, however, in the case of teapots, a few small blemishes seem more acceptable than with other collectibles, but only on some areas, for example, the rim of the teapot, where the lid sits on the body. Some collectors find rim chip acceptable especially since they don’t show when the lid is in place. Spouts are extremely vulnerable and subject to chipping during use.  Teapots with chipped spouts are less desirable, as are ones with missing lids.