Pottery Mark Query - "Marco"
by Jessica Ewing
(Manson, WA, USA)
My Grandmother passed away when I was only 2 years old, but growing up I always loved to look at the china collection she had. This collection consisted of her own purchases and my Aunt's also; of which she obtained after her sister's death. My Aunt I have found out, was very good at collecting only the finest and valuable china for her collection.
When I turned 13 my Grandpa let me pick a teacup from my Grandmother's collection. I chose a beautiful cup with a pink rose pattern. The base color of the saucer and cup is an opaque white; or i would say that it looks like the inside of a nice oyster where it is white, yet you can see other colors that seem not to be there. It also has wedges of light pink coloring which turns into gold finishing at the edge of the cup rim, and saucer rim.these wedges are between each rose design. The rims of both are scalloped and in the center of the saucer there is a circle 2 1/2 inches in diameter. with a star like pattern in the middle. the saucer itself is 5 3/4ths inches across. The cup is 4 inches diameter which comes down to a narrow neck before spreading out to the base which is 2 inches in diameter.the china itself is about1/8th of an inch thick or less. The rose pattern consists of an opening rose bud and a smaller rose bud, one spray with 3 leaves on it. The only markings are MARCO over what you could say looks like 2 olive branches crossed underneath it, with loops at the ends of the stems. I loved the teacup ever since I was little and to this day I find myself looking at it with awe and marvel at how inspiring it is.
It wasn't until this summer when I was cleaning that I stopped to look at the teacup and reminisce. The funny thing about it this time, is I related it to all the Jane Austin novels i have read. I love the time era and how they had tea everyday. So i decided along with my collection of Jane Austin books, earlier movies and clothing, I decided that I wanted to learn about teacups.
So being of the generation where I am supposedly technology savy,I hoped on the internet and started to search for information about the marking Marco. Well, to my frustration I could not find anything other than history about Marco Polo. I checked a trade mark on a teacup my mom has, and found information about it, but no matter where I look and how... Marco seems imaginary.
any help at all would be much appreciated. I would like to know more about the teacup, seeing as how i know a little of the history within my family. Plus now I'm even more curious as to the trade mark and who made it.
Thank you for offering your knowledge and resources to help. This website has taught me a lot about collecting china and it will be very helpful as i start collecting more to accompany "Marco".
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The Admin Team says:-
Jessica, beautifully written contribution, wish all contributions were as nice. We are as baffled as you!! Hopefully, someone will know. Try the guys at Whats-it-worth if you want a shortcut. They have never failed on tricky ones like this yet.
Update
Guest researcher Melissa has done some great work on this one - click the comments link below.
Thanks M.
