VERY RARE William Smith & Co ' WEDGeWOOD ' Fruit Basket Multi Blue Faux Bois Light Blue Polychrome Transferware Gravy Boat & Underplate

  William Smith of Stockton on Tees, Yorkshire England 1825-55 VERY RARE and one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL patterns ever!  Fruit Basket marked WEDGeWOOD ( note the misspelling)! Circa 1839   This is an absolutely gorgeous and beautifully detailed multi colored transferware piece with an incredibly detailed basket of fruit at the face and an ornate, blue floral and faux bois border.  The gravy boat is attached to the tab handled under plate. William Smith, a builder, founded the Stafford pottery situated between Thornaby road and the river in 1825 with a clay pit in close proximity for the manufacture of brown ware. However shortly afterwards he decided to branch out into making the more saleable white ware by importing the specialist clay from the West country. Then he went headhunting in Stoke on Trent and  engaged, and ultimately took into partnership  Mr John Whalley,  a potter of considerable skill to carry out the work. Smith called his works "Stafford Pottery" (after Staffordshire-