Vintage Red Transferware teacup and saucer set made exclusively for Marshall Fields Department stores by Johnson Brothers for a limited time in 1933 celebrating the World's Fair held in Chicago.  Memorabilia for World's Fairs are extremely collectible and transferware is difficult to find.   Johnson Brothers put out a full range of dinnerware commemorating the fair with each different piece depicting a different building or place in Chicago.

A Century of Progress Exposition was the theme of the World's Fair held in Chicago, as The Chicago World's Fair, from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial.  More than 39 million people attended Chicago’s second World’s Fair during that year.  The theme “A Century of Progress” referred to the 100-year period from the founding of Chicago in 1833, to the year of the fair, 1933. Many companies had working factories at the fair, where people could see the products being produced. Some of the items actually produced on the fairgrounds included Firestone tires, White Owl Cigars, Hiram Walker Whiskey (at the 1934 fair, as Prohibition ended at the end of 1933), Wonder Bread and even Chevrolet automobiles. The theme of the fair was technological innovation. The fair's motto was "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Adapts"; its architectural symbol was the Sky Ride, a transporter bridge perpendicular to the shore on which one could ride from one side of the fair to the other.

This saucer depicts the Art Institute while the cup features a statue of Abraham Lincoln.   The cup has embossed flowers around it and both cup and saucer have a crimped, scalloped rim in pink/red.  

Measures:  5 3/4" x 4 1/2" handle to rim
Condition: Cup has minor discoloration inside, some crazing

If you'd like to learn more about transferware please see my blog:

http://www.nancysdailydish.blogspot.com/