Wedgwood in Alabama

It's only a fortnight since I posted news of the demise of Wedgwood (CLICK). The Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama, USA, has purchased the Buten Wedgwood Collection of more than 8,000 objects made by the Wedgwood factory in England, dating from 1759. It already owns the Dwight and Lucille Beeson Wedgwood Collection of more than 1,400 items. So it now has the largest and most comprehensive collection of Wedgwood ceramics outside England. This Somnus in black basalt from a mold by Hoskins & Oliver in 1770 shows what a treasure the UK has lost.