Tango Blue by Crown Lynn

Emilie Beuth's Tango design didn't win an award in the 1961 Crown Lynn Design Awards, but was used very successfully for many years in the hotel industry. Blue was used in the North Island hotels and burgundy in the South Island.

Photo courtesy of Manos ...


and the backstamp..

Ev,
I have read similar on trademe ads. Is there a reliable reference?

I really like Blue Tango for its simplicity, and because the name appears to have come from Mariane Westman's classic design for Rorstrand.

Please note, the hand-painted Blue Tango is far superior to the underglaze transfer, aesthetically. I suspect it made its first appearance on the coffee cans as indicated by the earlier pattern number. I have maybe a dozen, but I'm not sure how many saucers (at least one 6-set) with Blue Tango base stamp..

I have a couple of BT coffee pot, hand-painted lid, a ramekin with hand-painted lid, (maybe a lidded sugar bowl but I could be dreaming,) pepper, salt and mustard.

In u-g/t I have but one cup because I think it ugly, and an ashtray.

I have never seen "Red Tango" marked as such (could be ignorance), nor have I seen it hand-painted. In red Tango I have ashtray and stacking (3) oven dishes, all sourced from North Island.

I have a Crown Lynn ramekin with Marianne Westmann's Rorstrand "Tango" pattern but the pattern is not identified or attributed to her. I have seen it on other C&S bakeware too.
I also have a set of Rorstrand Westman Tango cups and saucers, perhaps the model for the whole Crown Lynn Cook and Serve coffee can range.

Jeremy

Hi Jeremy,
The reference re Emilie Beuth and her Tango design is from Valerie Ringer Monk's book
'Crown Lynn a New Zealand Icon' pages 79 - 80.

Crown Lynn's Decoration Advice Files from the early 1960's record them as this:
Deco.No. 945 Deco.Name. Tourist Hotel Corp. T/Blue - Gib Pat
Deco.No. 960 Deco.Name. Tourist Hotel Corp. Red - Gib Pat

If I remember correctly there is a photo of a postcard in Crown Lynn History showing girls hand painting the Tango pattern that TonyK posted.

The only patterns that I have recorded so far using the Deco.No 423 are:
Byways, Hedgerow and Sylvia Corvette Grey .... there may be more of course
Interesting and intriguing that you have similar coffee cans from Rorstand..... I must do a search and check them out too.

Ev,
I thought probably; I should have looked for myself. Now you point it out I note the numbers identified are from the Gibson Patterson days. Page 94 of Monk says CL bought GibPat in 1968, not in the early 1960s. Acting in pure ignorance of CL numbering systems here I'd suggest those 9xx numbers date from later, from '68. I note also that your ashtray base stamp has GibPat's name on it. Mine has a mark identified in Lambert as "1970+" (and no reference to gibpat). It's all very confusing.
As you can see Tango interests me. I will have to follow up your references.

Yes, a few people told me about Rorstrand cans, so I sought them out on trademe and ebay, managing to put together a few sets. Some of the artwork is beautiful. The cups are a hard clay that chips badly, and the glaze will craze with very little about. Nevertheless they are considered design icons and may be seen in museums around the world.

Aside, My brother lives in Sweden and when I can work out a sensible way to do it I will present him and his wife with a set of Crown Lynn C&S coffee cans to confuse the natives.

Jeremy.

I'm just as hooked as you are Jeremy ... wanting to find out more of the mysteries about Crown Lynn
It appears that Gibson & Paterson were the distributers at the time of the entry. Gibpat were the major distributors for Government departments, hotels, hospitals etc before Crown Lynn bought them out. I can't be sure of an exact year.... it could be mid 1960's? Another enigma for me to follow. Found another entry for the 960 red..... Tourist Hotel Corp Por.Red. Now what does Por stand for? A red colour name? Crown Lynn sure don't make things easy with their abbreviations and in house shorthand!

Elsewhere I have referred to the Tango design by Marianne Westman for Rorstrand Sweden.
Note: this is not Crown Lynn. It has pretty much the same specificatio as CL coffee cans (shape, size) but preceded them by half a decade or more.
Crown Lynn copied the cans, and later copied the pattern on Cook & Serve wares but to my knowledge not on coffee cans. The cup shown is on a black-ringed white saucer: the original release was on a red saucer.
The picture below shows some of my own items.
Front L-R: Hand-painted Blue Tango (1963) by Crown Lynn, hand-painted Tango (ca1955) by Rorstrand on original red saucer
Back: Condiment set by Crown Lynn using Rorstrand Tango pattern (overglaze transfer I think)

Jeremy


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update 6/2/14
Ev has discovered that the Crown Lynn pattern that reproduces Rorstrand Tango is "Vision".

Bravo at your photos Jeremy
Now I can see what you are saying.... yes they look the same ... shape and size.
Even the little mustard pot is the same shape!
They were good at making copies of things that appealed was Crown Lynn

Ev,
Just clarifying:
The condiment set is Crown Lynn pottery.
The transfers are Marianne Westman's "Tango" design for Rorstrand.
The question is was it licensed to Crown Lynn and I'm guessing not.
Maybe the cup desigh was licensed: I don't know the legalities of the time.
Jeremy

Oh thanks Jeremy ..... I'm overwhelmed......
Crown Lynn copied wares from every major pottery in England -
now we have to add Sweden to that long list.
I don't think copyright was even considered at the time -
unlike now where you get into all sorts of trouble.

Jeremy, you mention several other pieces that you have in the Blue Tango/Cook&Serve range.
You may have some of the shapes/numbers that we are missing from the 1-881 Shapes in General Gallery.
If you ever notice any numbered pieces could you alert us please .... Thanks Ev

Ev,

The stacking oven dishes (red tango) may be one of the noted numbers (873-875) but I will have to wait til school hols to check, an answer may be 3 weeks away.

The coffee pot is a standard 876. I have these in plain blue, black, and yellow, also with the blue tango lid, and one in white with some bizarre pattern I don't know the name of. I missed the Fleurette on some years back on trademe. I am not aware of pots with other coffee can patterns on the lid but have seen quite a few blue tango around.

I cannot see a picture for the lidded ramekin. It was part of the standard fine cook & serve range so I guess it should be an 8xx. Do you want one on your picture wish list?

The sugar bowl I'm pretty sure was just dreaming. I recall I was thinking of using a ramekin lid on a sugar bowl but it did not fit.That's all I can think of.

I have generally avoided items with (re or blue) tango transfers so there may be many more.



Jeremy

Awesome stuff Jeremy
All of the shapes that we are missing in the Shapes Gallery are on my wishlist

back at you Ev,

red tango dish

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Antiques-collectables/Art-deco-retro/Home-d�cor/Plates-bowls-dishes/auction-317729691.htm

and this is the ramekin shape. They should have lids

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Antiques-collectables/Art-deco-retro/Home-d�cor/Plates-bowls-dishes/auction-317729691.htm

and a different pattern I don't possess, Danzig (seen it don't got it)

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Pottery-glass/Porcelain-pottery/Crown-Lynn/Cups-saucers/auction-318796188.htm

Thanks .... gosh that looks ever so smart ....although rather pricey!

Yes, for the size.
Check the other 2 links I added above

Thanks, but I did a "cook & serve" search on trademe and found those listings.... in all sorts of places -
vases - antiques and collectables lolz
I was very disappointed at the colour of the Blue Tango saucer!
It is such a bland blue compared to the delightful blue on the mugs .....
or is this just a trick of cyber space?
I'm going to have to reassess the numbers on the database that I have for Blue Tango ...
It's all a learning curve for me!

I'm wondering if the handpainted and the transfer Blue Tango had different numbers......?
The records I have start from either 1965 or 1966 as far as I can tell.
The only mention of Tourist Hotel Corporation are the T/Blue 945 and Red 960 and there are many entries. Val Monk on page 153 says that in 1966 Blue Tango was adapted for Tourist Hotels.
Would love to get this nutted out
ps.... the Deco number for Danzig is 935.

My Tango transfer cup has the same number (albeit in black not green) as the hand-painted, likewise with the numbers for hand-painted and transfer Mogambo and Image. My other Tango items are unnumbered. (I'll check the Red Tango oven dishes next week in Auckland.)

The Danzig is clearly a later number corresponding with the later Tango date.

I think they may have reviewed numbers at a later stage.

As a suggestion would be that the numbering was updated, dropping off items no longer in production, such as Mogambo and updating the likes of Tango.

It could also be an indication of who Crown Lynn were making them for.

Yet another thought is that Tango had to be redesigned for a radial pattern and the pattern on the cups is essentially a continuous linear band.

Hello. I have some blue tango espresso cups and saucers (the small ones) and the mustard pot in blue (with blue lid). Is that what it is? A mustard pot? I wasn't sure if it was a salt pot but it looks just like Jeremy's red one above.

I think I've worked this out now ....
Patterns on vitrified ware appear to have a different number to the same pattern on other ware.
The first Crown Lynn records for Tango Blue and Tango Red show -
Gib Pat 945 Tourist Hotel Corp Blue
Gib Pat 960 Tourist Hotel Corp Por. Red
These are from circa 1964/6 and will be the Hotel Vitrified ware.
There are umpteen entries for these two patterns in various formats
e.g. T. Blue & T. Red, even Tango Blue and Red.
All using the same pattern numbers.
Many of the shapes that the patterns were used on are recorded as well.
So these patterns are just like Fantasy vitrified and Blue Garland - same pattern but different names and numbers.

This pattern on normal wares was called Blue Tango Pat.No.423 and on vitrified ware it was called Tango Blue 945......... clear as mud huh?

Ev, I'm just reviewing here.
Is there a pattern name for the Westman Tango design (pictured on page 1) as used on Crown Lynn tableware and cookware?

Much, much, later. To answer my question above the name is Vision.

The ashtray on page one is vitrified and will have the pattern name Tango Blue Pat.No.945

Ev,

Ev wrote:The ashtray on page one is vitrified and will have the pattern name Tango Blue Pat.No.945

I was referring to the Swedisn pattern as reproduced by CL, not Crown Lynn's own Blue Tango. This in my photo comparing pepper and salts.

Oops sorry, now I understand and no we don't seem to have a name for that pattern yet.
I will make a thread for it in the Patterns with No-Names topic and use your photo Jeremy.

Ev.. Is the Tango Blue ashtray at the start of this thread a shape 1614?