Lot #344: English Silver Plate “The Cube” Tea Pot by Robert Johnson

The cube teapot is a teapot whose main purpose was to be used on a ship. The cube shape of the teapot would stabilise it so that it would not roll over and scald the person making the drink, whereas conventional curved teapots would roll over when the ship rocked from side to side. The cube teapot was invented by the English entrepreneur Robert Crawford Johnson (1882–1937), who was responsible for the design and registered "Cube Teapots Ltd" in 1917. He perfected the design, one that did not drip, poured easily, was chip resistant and stacked together for easy storage. With no spout or projecting handle the cube teapot looked exactly as it sounds - a cube. Robert Crawford Johnson, an engineer from Leicester created the shape in the hope that it would enable the stacking and storing of teawares in mass-catering establishments, where porcelain handles and spouts were vulnerable to breakages. Johnson specified in his patent that the teapot could be made from either ceramic or plated metals depending on preference, and a wide array of cube teapots still exist today. Johnson’s design was the most successful patented teapot in Europe and America, used aboard transatlantic ocean liners, trains, in restaurants and hotels. Dimensions: - Pickup category timeslot {A}