Vintage Paragon Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Loving Cup – Twin Gold Lion Handles, Royal Arms, Gilt Rim Lettering, Bone China 2002

A Paragon bone-china loving cup for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II — and the handles are the event: two standing lions in full gold, stepped straight off the royal arms to carry the cup between them like a pair of guardsmen. The loving cup, England's old two-handled toasting vessel passed hand to hand at weddings and feasts, became the top-tier form for royal commemoratives in the last century, and lion-handled loving cups have been a Paragon tradition since the coronation of 1937.

One face bears the full royal coat of arms in colour — lion and unicorn, quartered shield, Garter band and Dieu et Mon Droit — the other the red and gold ER 50 jubilee emblem. Inside, in the loving cup's traditional place, a ring of gold lettering runs around the rim: The Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II · 1952–2002, read exactly where a toasting drinker would see it.

The backstamp tells the quieter story: Paragon, To Commemorate the Golden Jubilee… Bone China Made in England, © 2001 Royal Albert. Paragon — the double-royal-warrant house that made nursery china for the infant Princess Elizabeth in 1926 — had been retired as a brand in the early 1990s; it was revived under Royal Albert's ownership for this one jubilee issue. A retired royal favourite, brought back for the Queen's fiftieth year.

For the Paragon lineage collector, the loving-cup shelf, or a golden-anniversary gift with two lions to guard it.