Ladies Be Free... c. 1850 Thomas Fell & Co. Child's Cup and Saucer shaker style brush holding the gull firmly in

holding the gull firmly in place

Certainly they bear a very strong resemblance to the animals of Swiss toy designer and maker Antonio Vitali (who also designed many toys produced by Creative Playthings)

There is also some missing chinking between the lowest two beams on the front facing side

in part for the simplicity of the two figures

with a presence that far outweighs its size

Ladies Be Free... c. 1850 Thomas Fell & Co. Child's Cup and Saucer shaker style brush holding the gull firmly inOf course it's the "Ladies All I Pray Make Free" that sold me on this child's sized antique transferware cup and saucer, made, I've learned, by Thomas Fell & Co., Newcastle England, c. 1850 as per one of the same, in black, held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. There's a bit of debate out there as to whether this should be classified as an early women's suffrage item; I think most likely it was not actually intended as such, but