Pottery Mark Query '2198 France' on French Faience Inkwell

by Lawrence Uhlin
(Victoria, British Columbia, Canada)

Pottery Mark Query '2198 France' on French Faience Inkwell:- Hi – Several years ago I placed a bid on a box of books and a lovely French, Faience double inkwell made of porcelain. The inkwell has since then rested among my library shelves and survived several moves intact – until the last move. Somehow, one of the two wells went missing. While checking out the remote possibility of locating another matching inkwell I became curious about the mark on the underside of the object.

I understand that it likely came from France by way of the USA as it is signed ‘France’ which I think means that it was made sometime after 1890 for shipment to America. I noticed in my search for a replacement inkwell that ebay has more than 3,000 pieces for sale or auction. But in my desire to obtain an exact match for the missing well I think it might be helpful to know more about the mark and thus narrow the search more accurately.

My little quest has also stimulated my interest in possibly collecting pieces of French Faience and especially if there were more pieces made by the artist with the very cryptic mark seen in the picture.

Your help in this endeavour will be very much appreciated. I look forward to your response.

Thank you.

Yours truly,

Lawrence Uhlin

Please contribute to this thread by writing in the comments section below – just scroll down...

HOW I MADE MONEY FROM BITS & BOBS OF OLD CHINA .....more

Peter (admin) says:-

Dear Lawrence

Many thanks for the interesting tale of your faïence inkwell. I have no knowledge in this area, so let's hope others can contribute. I wish you luck in your quest which I feel is quite a tough one.

Peter (admin)

For general free advice on how to research your collection, I wrote these pages:

My vintage and antique china values page

value of antiques.