Belleek Irish Porcelain
The Author
Born and educated in East Africa, Marion Langham's interest in Belleek porcelain was first aroused when visiting the pottery in 1957. Then she was staying with friends in County Fermanagh, but subsequently she married Sir James Langham, Bt, of Tempo Manor, Enniskillen and lived in the Country for several years.
On returning to London she said started, in 1984, to deal in antiques, specializing in Irish Belleek porcelain. In 1986, at the suggestion of the Belfast Museum and in order to widen her knowledge of the subject, she visited Horace Manning Man in Texas who was reported to have the largest collection of Belleek in the world. Mr. man later decided to sell his collection and Lady Langham was commissioned to find a buyer in the UK at an asking price of $7 million. Although she catalogued and photographed his collection, including a mirror given by the Prince of Wales in 1947, and discussed the Providence of the most important pieces, Mr. Mann died before a buyer could be found in the collection was broken up and auctioned.
From then on her knowledge and reputation became established and an in 1989 she was invited to be on the ceramics vetting body at the Chicago International Antiques Fair. In the same year she was instrumental in setting up a Belleek Collectors' group in England, which is affiliated to the Belleek Collectors Society, with more than 6000 members worldwide.
The publication of Belleek represents the culmination of Lady Langham's owns long-held desire to promote a wider knowledge and appreciation of the porcelain.
