Gefle U.E. | Astra | Trost | E Teacup | Skawonius

The purple Astra is one of German designer Eugen Trost's most iconic designs for Gefle, second only to Zebra (which is kind of the same but in black and the other way round...!). Here its applied to the E-model (my first listing for E model!) by Sven-Eric Skawonius (also my first listing for him!)

It could be that this cup is most obviously named after Astron (greek for star)... or (more enticingly) Astra, the weapons of the goddess Kubjikā - tridents, thunderbolts and the like :) Look closer and you'll see that the cup decor is handpainted, with tiny but beautiful idosyncracies from the artist's own hand.

Trost's work is valuable and rare, partly because he worked a lot under Arthur Percy on Arthur's designs, as well as supervising others and partly because in 1963, Trost suffered a stroke and his working life was sadly cut short. 

This came to be with matching serving items (teapot & two milk jugs). They are listed separately. This listing is for one cup, saucer and plate. 

The teapot, milk jugs and plate are of the BE model by Mari Simmulson
The model E cup is by Sven-Eric Skawonius.

Cup diameter: 7.2cm, cup height: 6.8cm, Saucer: 13cm, Plate: 16.8cm