T G Green Streamline

January 9, 2007 at 8:42 pm | Posted in Antiques & Collectables | 14 Comments

Time for another rummage behind the scenes of one of my collections.

Back in 1846 Thomas Goodwin Green, son of a Lincolnshire corn merchant, had a fancy for a lady by the name of Mary Tenniel (sister of Sir John Tenniel the famous illustrator of such books as Alice in Wonderland). He asked her to marry him but got knocked back. So in true romantic spirit, he took his broken heart and sailed for Australia, where he made his fortune as a builder. Fifteen years later he had word that Mary had changed her mind so he returned home in true prodigal fashion, wooed and won his sweetheart and they were married.

Whilst on honeymoon, Green met Henry Wileman who owned the Pottery Works in Church Gresley, Derbyshire. Having sold up his business in Australia, Green was looking for something to do now he was back in the Old Dart so he bought the pottery from Wileman. After all, how hard could it be?

Fortunately he had bought a well run operation and being a strong-minded and determined man he soon made his new business a great success; in the process, setting up a pottery dynasty that lasted until 1964, when it went the way of so many family potteries, and went into receivership. The company assets were purchased by larger outfits who continued trading under the TG Green name.

TG Green expanded into the kitchen and table wares market. And during the first half of the 20th century the pottery produced a number of popular designs. The most famous is Cornishware. I will be writing a post on Cornishware at a later date but my favourite TG Green range is the Streamline kitchen and table ware. This was characterised by a cream coloured body formed into a distinctive rounded shape with a series of green stripes piped onto to it. The stripes are raised on the surface of the pieces making them very tactile. The range is huge and was in production from the mid-1930s to about 1950, But because it was never as popular as the famous Cornishware, Streamline pieces are harder to find, especially the more unusual items.

One of my favourite pieces is the biscuit barrel. I have only ever seen one of its kind but unfortunately the lid on mine smashed. The tall vase-looking piece at the back right is actually an egg beater! As with most of these items, the metal beater thingy has been lost on the rugged journey of life. My most recent acquisition is the rolling pin. These are hard to come by as, being prone to rolling off the table, most never made it to old age.

I only collect the kitchen ware Streamline, leaving the dinner ware stuff alone. Even I have to draw the line somewhere.

Other related posts:
TG Green Cornishware
Toby Jugs – Will the real Toby Philpot please stand up
Confessions of a Collectaholic