Antique Staffordshire ABC plates and mugs provide an interesting glimpse into the education and lives of children in the mid to late 1800's.   One can reason that these fascinating plates were used as an educational tool for children.  The child would see or feel the alphabet on the plate usually along with another teaching image.  Some of the other images were specific on an alphabet letter with an example of the letter
, positive character development of such traits as kindness, politeness, etc. or a fable such as Aesop's Fables or Franklin Maxims for learning thru stories or phrases.



These plates and mugs also teach us about the lives of the children.  Many of the scenes feature children so we can see how they dressed , how they inner-reacted with each other , their pets, playtime , games and popular stories & rhymes. 

There are many areas of these great plates for one to collect. A collection can be based on finding all the plates in a series on Robinson Crusoe,  Bible stories, with the alphabet rim in braille, animals.  I know a man who collects just the mugs and makes the alphabet complete from A to Z.  The possibilities are endless.

There are several out of print books that are hard to find but available for further in depth information on these great items.  I would strongly recommend "A Collector's Guide to ABC Plates, Mugs and Things" by Mildred & Joseph Chalala and "Gifts for Good Children" part 1 and 2 by Noel Riley.