During the 20th Century there was a great demand for tiles to decorate homes. Amongst the millions produced there are a small number of artists who produced high quality work which is very collectible today. Perhaps the most prolific decorators of Twentieth century tiles were Packard and Ord.

Packard and Ord Tile

Sylvia Packard and Rosalind Ord began decorating tiles commercially in about 1930. They hand painted pretty decorative designs onto bought in blank tiles . Many of these were issued in series such as Queen Anne, Flowers in circles and Decorative animals.

These tiles vary in size from 4 inch square, 5 inch and 6 inch tiles. Tiles are made up as bookends, set into tea trays, planters and all sorts of other items – these often had wooden frames.

You can see a tiny OR signature on many pieces which helps to identify them as Packard and Ord tiles. The blanks they are on are from a variety of companies – Carter Tiles, Thyne and Pilkingtons amongst others.

The company went though a series of changes – Sylvia Packard retired after the War and H. Robb was brought in as a partner. The company continued trading until it was bought out by Marlborough tiles in about 2000. A quick search on the internet reveals that they still own the trade name but I dont think it is currently in use.
Packard and Ord tiles can be found from just a few pounds with soem of the better decorated pieces fetching £100 or more – A good collectable for the future which are sure to become treasured antiques.

PAckard and Ord Tile

There is a new selection of these lovely tiles in my antiques shop  : just click on the pictures to view two examples.

The book 20th century decorative british tiles (J-W) has an extensive section dedicated to Packard and Ord. It was written by Chris Blanchet and is available from my bookshop ( see base of page)