Locally Made

The West Midlands led the world in the manufacture of decorative art and industrial design, and our 'locally made' collection focuses on these skills.

Ceramics and Glass

Our collection comprises pieces made by Midlands’ potteries from the 1700s to the early 1900s, including Bow, Caughley, Chelsea, Coalport and Barr, Derby, Spode and Wedgwood.  It includes over 25 pieces of pottery by the Myatt and Bew firms of Bilston.  We also have a small collection of decorative glass.  There is also a selection of domestic glassware made by Phoenix of Bilston in the 1900s.

English Enamels

Copper trinkets coated with decorative enamel were popular with rich and fashionable people in the 1700s.  The West Midlands was a centre for the craft because of its long history of metalworking.  Some of the most exquisite enamels were made in Bilston. 

Wolverhampton’s collection of enamels includes pieces made in Bilston, South Staffordshire, Birmingham, Battersea, Liverpool and France.

Japanned Ware

Wolverhampton and Bilston were centres for the craft of japanning in the 1700s and 1800s.  Our collection of decorative japanned ware celebrates this vanished industry.

Our collection is made up of gifts from Wolverhampton and Bilston manufacturers and their descendants.  It includes snuff boxes, tea caddies, trays, fire screens, coal scuttles, chairs, tables, moulds used to make papier mâché forms and pattern books and stencils, showing the development of japanned ware decoration from the late 1700s.  The collection also includes examples of European japanned ware.

Steel Jewellery

A craze for jewellery made from tiny pieces of steel, cut to imitate diamonds, swept Britain in the late 1700s.  The fashion was encouraged by King George III, a great admirer of steel jewellery.  Steel ‘gems’ were fixed to brooches, buckles and buttons and other jewellery to create a dazzling surface.  Far from being a cheap substitute for precious stones, steel jewellery was expensive.  A pair of shoes could take up to two weeks to handcraft.  Wolverhampton and Bilston were centres of this craft.  Our collection includes rare examples of brooches, bangles, button covers, bhoe buckles and hair ornaments.