This vintage, highly pictorial empty container (selling empty jar & lid only) for Cooper's "Oxford Marmalade" was made by the Hanley, Staffordshire pottery of Lancaster and Sandland (established in 1944 and dissolved in 1968).  The transfer decorated pot illustrates a scene from Charles Dickens' well known 1836/7 novel, "The Pickwick Papers," and here we find Mr. Pickwick, himself, with his friends, at Christmas time, disembarking from their coach at the Swan Hotel in the fictitious town of "Muggleton".  Dickens writes that the visitors were  deposited "high and dry, safe and sound, hale and hearty," by the Muggleton Telegraph.  Dickens appears to have created his imaginary town by combining features of Maidstone and West Malling in Kent (where an old coaching inn, "The Swan," still exists but now as an upscale restaurant).

Frank Cooper Limited"s, "Oxford," Marmalade is described in this way by the manufacturer: "The Oxford Marmalade is inspired by the original Sarah Jane Coopers 1874 recipe, made using a dark seriously intense coarse cut Seville orange marmalade. Sure to appeal to the mature palate of the true marmalade connoisseur."

Today, the charming container and lid may be used for storage of any number of things, and it can still be put directly on the table or sideboard - or in a cabinet - to delight your family or guests & perhaps introduce them to the “Pickwick Papers,”one of Charles Dickens' most loved and enduring novels.