This is a crested china charabanc with a Braintree coat of arms. It probably dates from the first two decades of the 20th century – the heyday of the charabanc day-trip – and would have been purchased as a souvenir of a visit to the town. The shield, bearing a view of St Michael’s church, is entirely spurious; Braintree was not granted a coat of arms (looking nothing like this) until 1927.