When I was in England last fall I saw a set of bone china coffee mugs
and tumblers with designs based on (I think) the Sutton Hoo ship
burial. The tumbler was about 6 inches tall and flared out at the top.
The colors of the pattern were red, blue, and gold. It had a checker
board band around the top and celtic style spirals. I thought the
store I saw them in was a National Trust shop, but there does not seem
to be anything with this theme in their web catalog. I am trying to
find out if they are still available for sale, especially if they can
be purchased over the internet.

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Request for Question Clarification by leli-ga on 25 Apr 2003 02:40 PDT

Hello mitake

These are available (though temporarily out of stock). 
I described your mugs to a shop assistant who was very friendly and
helpful but didn't often deal with that kind of request.  She said you
would have to make an individual arrangement to have them shipped
outside the UK. She also thought it would be best if you made direct
contact with the shop manager who is away today but will be back next
week.
Would an email address and phone number for you to contact the manager
be a satisfactory answer?

Leli

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Clarification of Question by mitake-ga on 25 Apr 2003 05:36 PDT

Yes, Thank you.

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Clarification of Question by mitake-ga on 25 Apr 2003 05:41 PDT

A picture would also be helpful as I have been trying to describe them to a friend.

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Request for Question Clarification by leli-ga on 25 Apr 2003 06:09 PDT

Mitake, I'm afraid I don't have a picture. All I have to go on is the
conversation I had with the shop assistant. I told her about the
colours, checks and spirals and she seemed to know what I was talking
about, though she spent more time explaining how the postage costs
would have to be calculated separately from the cost of the mugs etc.

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Request for Question Clarification by leli-ga on 25 Apr 2003 06:13 PDT

I should have added that they are definitely "Sutton Hoo" mugs.

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Clarification of Question by mitake-ga on 25 Apr 2003 06:54 PDT

okay, thanks for the quick response.

Thanks for your messages.

I called the National Trust shop at Sutton Hoo and described the
colours, checks and spirals to the person working there. She said they
were waiting for fresh supplies of that china, but it would definitely
be coming.

Although they don't have a system in place for requests like yours,
they do occasionally mail things to customers. You would need to
communicate with the manager about payment for shipping etc.

You could phone her at +44-1394-389-709 next week when she returns
from holiday or use the main email address on this page:
Sutton Hoo contacts
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/places/suttonhoo/contacts.html

The person I spoke to told me that email address is the correct one
for the shop manager.

I hope you don't have to wait too long for your mugs!
Please let me know if you have problems with any of this information
and I will do my best to help.

Regards - Leli


search strategy:
I tried some likely websites - not just the National Trust, also the
British Museum and the Past Times catalogue.
Then I searched Google for contact details for Sutton Hoo and tried
calling, as I live in the UK.
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=+%22sutton+hoo%22+contact+%22national+trust%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta

Very prompt and pleasant. I also appreciated the explaination of the
search strategy.

Thank-you for the tip and stars.
Hope your mugs arrive safe and sound before too long.

Leli