In this world there are collectors of just about everything you can possibly imagine. Many of them come to Hungerford Arcade in search of that elusive piece for their collection or, they may have just started their collection.
Some of the Collectors have been coming to the Arcade for many years. We have actually been told by a few of them that their collection started with an item they purchased here! Well, that came as no surprise to us as you can buy virtually anything you can think of in the collectables field!
Poole Pottery is one of those collectables that are highly sought after and as we like to keep our customers informed of interesting articles relating to their treasured collections, Sue Smith and Roger Hartley of the Poole Pottery Collectors Club have kindly written the following article which will also appear in one of our Newsletters. You can find lots of other information on their website. There is a link at the foot of the article.
Rita
Identifying
your Traditional Poole Pottery
When
Carter and Co. first started to develop their range of decorative
wares they used a grey clay body and any identification marks were
scratched into the base. These usually consisted of the Carter trade
name and the date, with very little other information added. If the
collector is lucky other marks in pencil can also be found – for
example, I have several pieces with the price pencilled on by the
retailer. Although there was one impressed mark in use from 1900 on
some of the lustre wares, and another elaborate impressed mark for
teapot stands, they were not universally used. By 1908 impressed
marks started to be used on the tin glazed and unglazed items. If a
piece was commissioned for Liberty’s London store or another
retailer no Poole mark was used.
Once
the company became Carter Stabler and Adams the impressed stamp
became the norm although there are many variations as shown on the
Club Website. It can be confusing for the collector as many marks
were used after this period including the use of both the CSA and
Poole names in the same years. I have been unable to ascertain why
this was done and would welcome any theories anyone has on this. From
this point on it is often necessary to use other indicators to
establish the age of any given piece.
The
grey clay changed to red (terracotta) clay body in 1922 and continued
until 1934 when a white body replaced it. Between 1934 and 1937 a
pink slip was added as a covering to both the base and insides of the
pots to emulate the previous red clay and perhaps disguise the
change, but the white clay base can still be seen where the 3 digit
shape number has been etched through the pink slip. From 1937 the
base was left white but the pink slip inside the pot continued for
sometime and can be found in some pots up until the 1950s when it was
dropped altogether.
Other
indicators of age are the decorators’ monograms. Care must be taken
with this method due to the practice of reassigning marks to new
decorators when former ones left the factory. These marks were for
quality control and piece work for the company’s benefit and,
although of great interest to the collector, this was not the
original purpose of the monograms.
So
it is a combination of these marks that allow the collector to
pinpoint within a few years the age of any piece. To do this it is
important to have good reference data and the most extensive range of
marks can be found in the Poole Pottery book by Leslie Hayward and
Paul Atterbury,
or alternatively on the Club’s website –
http://www.poolepotterycollectorsclub.net/mem.php.
Other
marks on the base of pieces include the design code which is normally
2 letters, although a single letter was originally used, presumably
until all 26 letters had been used up, and the letter G was also used
as a prefix to reflect the colourway – for example, GUY stands for
the green colourway of design UY. Examples have been found of the
wrong code being placed on a pot in error and it may be that some of
the earlier pattern codes were reused. A very good reference for
these codes can be found on the Club’s website. If you have a
pattern that is missing please let the club have a picture of the
piece and its base. From 1951 to 1966 the pattern code was prefixed
by S, M or E to indicate whether it was a simple, medium or elaborate
version of the pattern in question.
There
is also a shape number consisting of 3 numbers scratched onto the
base of the piece before it was fired. This was changed in 1947 to
impressed numbers that were used until the 1960’s when printed
numbers were introduced. The first shape numbers were used
between 1921 and 1928 when a second series was started using some of
the previously allocated ones. It was Margaret Holder who initially
allocated the numbers to each shape, and later it was Pat Summers who
maintained the pattern books and the paintress’ monograms record.
From
the 1950’s you will sometimes find a potter’s mark impressed into
the base. Modern Poole always has an impressed or a raised mark which
is built into the mould. Designer’s marks are also sometimes found
painted under the glaze.
Other
marks found on some pots are factory trial and control marks although
further research is needed to be certain of their true meaning. These
include a black or white glaze spot, and impressed marks of an
anchor, a star, and a hexagon (like the end of a hexagonal shaped
pencil).
The
combination of all these factors allows you to date each piece to
within a few years of production and add to the joy and interest in
collecting Poole TRADITIONAL pottery.
Sue
Smith and Roger Hartley
Poole
Pottery Collectors Club
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| Vase in a golden lustre glaze |
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| Marks on the base of the Vase were in use 1900 - 1908 |
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