Gustavsberg | Finspång/Hotel De Geer | Exclusive Ltd Ed | SA | Lindberg c. 1949

1949 saw the launch of Stig Lindberg's first coffee service, the SA model (then 70 years later, I became obsessed with collecting it). Yet many white goods were allocated to business clients, like hotels and restaurants. These had an exclusive decor which wasn't often available to the public. For example Operakällaren (for the Opera House), or Stadshusservisen for the city of Stockholm. But sometimes they were available for sale like this one, which was souvenir you could buy exclusively at the gift shop. Yet its pure chance I found it, for it isn't documented anywhere...

This cup is Finspång, named after the town in Sweden where the historic Hotel De Geer is built. On the back of the cup is printed "Inköpt på hotell De Geer" which means Bought at Hotel de Geer. The exterior of the cup shows a lithograph of the casle grounds in black and white. NB. The De Geer hotel is part of Finspång castle (now owned by Siemens), where Louis de Geer the dutch born, Swedish Lord and 'father of industrialism' lived in the 17th century. Other decors I've found documented on the SA mocha cup are Colores, Rödhätta, Florette, Rosa, Dresden, Gustavsbergblomma, Rosalin & Julie.