Commemorative Tricentennial Pilot Boat Plate

Originally commissioned by the Chrysler Museum Shop to celebrate Norfolk's tricentennial in 1982, we have recently uncovered a small trove of these porcelain plates in storage. We are seldom able to offer a find as rare as this one.

From the article in The Chrysler Museum News (October, 1982; vol. 12 number 10) describing the plate:

The Museum Shop has developed a very fine Old English Staffordshire Commemorative Plate in celebration of the 1682-1982 Tricentennial of Norfolk, Virginia. The plate, imported exclusively for The Chrysler Museum Shop, is blue and white, 10" in diameter with a wide eight blossom floral border and a nautical design center.

On the back of each plate is a banner with the following historical script:

Pilot Boat Mary getting underway with the new 1791 Cape Henry Lighthouse in the background. This spirited mezzotint, after the drawing by Captain George R. Tobin, R. N., shows a Pilot boat of the 18th Century. Such boats were often chosen to test the builder's theories. They were particularly interested in speed as pilots worked independently and it was every man for himself. The first man to meet the incoming vessel got the job. Thus, the expression "the Norfolk High Flying Pilot Boat."

The mark on the bottom reads, "Imported exclusively for The Chrysler Museum Shop Norfolk, Virginia. Olde English Staffordshire Ware, John Roth, England, Made in Staffordshire England."

The image on the front of the plate is captioned, "Pilot Boat Mary of Norfolk at Cape Henry Lighthouse Entrance to Chesapeake Bay."

Worth over $70 in 1981 dollars, we are pleased to offer this to you at the same price it was marked forty years ago!