Sir Malcolm Campbell “Blue Bird” Art Deco Commemorative Plate

Sir Malcolm Campbell (1885-1948)
Art Deco Sideplate Commemorating "Blue Bird" and the 1932 Land Speed Record
Polychrome Decorated Bone China
Paragon China Company
Longton, Stoke-on-Trent
Staffordshire, England
1932

Measures:-
14.2 cm (high) x 14.2 cm (wide)

Marked to the base "Malcolm Campbell / Blue Bird / by Paragon England / copyright 1932." with two decorators' marks.

On 24 February 1932 Sir Malcolm Campbell set a World Land Speed Record of 253.96 miles per hour at the wheel of his vehicle "Blue Bird" on the sands at Daytona Beach, Florida. This octagonal Art Deco style sideplate, is a design produced by the Paragon China Company which discretely commemorates the famous speedster. 

From the 1920's Malcolm Campbell had owned a succession vehicles for both land and water named "Blue Bird" (after a play by Maurice Maeterlinck). On 21st July 1925, in a vehicle so named, he had become the first man to exceed 150 miles per hour, at Pendine Sands, Carmarthenshire Wales. Between 1924 and 1935 he broke the land speed record nine times and by the late 1930's he also held the Water Speed Record. Campbell was knighted in 1931. The 'Bluebird Garage' at 330–350 King's Road, Chelsea was connected to Campbell's motoring enterprises.