Gainsborough | Red Rose Decor | Staffordshire | c. 1940s

The manufacturing date of this simply stunning cup is not easily pinpointed because the Gainsborough name, is not recorded as a company, or a specific pattern, or even a shape... but was an additional trade name applied to a wide range of ware for the companies in the Ridgways group. 

However, given the existence of cups like these unmarked by any other company name, it is supposed that Gainsborough was once a small company who joined forces with the larger ones, when the industry restructured in the 1950s. The Gainsborough name was most famously used by Adderleys who was located at the Gainsborough works (which experts presume was the original location for the Gainsborough company) for their Crown Ducal range. 

As indicated though, the stamp on the bottom of this cup probably means that it was manufactured by the actual small firm, and not any other. Which means it was manufactured at the latest in the 1940s (all of which is nice to know, but of course is absolutely unimportant in light of such ruby red beauty).