What is the Wedgwood Florentine pattern, and how old is it?

Florentine is a long-running Wedgwood design family known for ornate borders with mythic creatures and rich colourways. Wedgwood’s own Florentine pages say the pattern first appeared in company archives in 1874 and first showed on Wedgwood designs in 1931. The same official pages tie Florentine Turquoise to 1935 in its timeline story and point to later anniversary colour launches. This history matters for shopping: you may see “Florentine” used as a general label, yet serious matching needs the exact colourway name—Turquoise, Gold, or one of the newer shades. The border detail is dense, so condition checks should focus on rim chips and wear to any gilded areas. For a set, confirm that every piece carries the same pattern wording on the stamp, since similar-looking borders exist across different decades and runs.