Crested china airship 'Beta' : First World War

China model of an airship (or dirigible). On one side of the airship are the flags of Great Britain, France, Belgium and Russia. Underneath the flags is a ribbon with the text 'UNITED WE STAND'. On the base of the airship is the text 'BETA'.

Crested china collecting became a craze in Victorian times when tourists bought small ivory coloured porcelain ornaments decorated with the coat of arms of the towns they had visited to take home as a souvenir. Before the war companies (the most famous and the original being Goss crested china) made collectibles such as vases, plates and other crockery, houses, public buildings, cars and replicas of visitor attractions. During the First World War the range expanded to include military equipment, vehicles and caps. This item does not have a crest of a town or area, although it is the same style. Instead it is more a piece of patriotic china. The small-type dirigible, 'Beta',was first produced in June 1910.