'STH' Studio Pottery China Teapot and Cups wIth 1924 date and Mouse Mark Signature

by Danni Hudson
(Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom)

'STH' Studio Pottery China Teapot and Cups with 1924 date and Mouse Mark Signature:- I bought a small teapot and two cups and saucers from a local auction recently and have been trying to find out what the marks mean on it. The 'mouse' appears on every single piece (even the teapot lid).

Please can you help.

Danni

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reply by Peter (admin) below - just scroll down...

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

Reply by Peter (admin)

To:- 'STH' Studio Pottery China Teapot and Cups wIth 1924 date and Mouse Mark Signature

Hi Danni

Nice clear close up photo of the mark and wares.

Perhaps surprisingly there is not any reference anywhere online which you might think odd.

I am quite a dab hand at advanced searches and I did several searches around this type of 'mouse' keyword combination. Here's one I tried (within the quotation marks is one search):-

"mouse +signature +mark OR "device +potter OR pottery OR 'tea pot' -mickey -minnie -disney -town -cell -hunca -"mouse here" -drivers -beatrix -"mouse over" -"mouse pad" -harry"

This process weeded out all online sites apart from this actual page in the Google results.

There is plenty of information on ROBERT "MOUSEMAN" THOMPSON, the famous furniture maker who left a mouse signature carving on all his items. Your mark is a similar idea, only in ceramic art.

The mark, with its distinctive hand drawn mouse and 1924 date, looks as if it should really be very distinct and easy to identify. But it isn't.


This gives me the first clue as to what this is. The second clue is the 'painterly' look of the decoration.

I believe this to be nice work by an amateur decorator. The craft of 'china painting' was a very popular pastime over the late 19th century and early 20th century in Europe and America, and this I believe is an example.

Many thousands of people practised this art, so it is not possible to identify items like this as there are just no records. When the word of mouth knowledge is gone the person is gone, that's it. But their work is not and you can enjoy it.

Values are not high as there are many examples around and there is little notoriety or collectible associated with 'china painted' wares.

For an idea of how you can get a ball park idea of the value of any item you might own, go to my Be Your own Antiques Roadshow Expert article. It's fun to try it out (and won't cost you a penny!).

If anyone knows more about this 'mousey' amateur decorator, please post below.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Peter (admin)

p.s. The following page is a 'must see' if you are researching fine china - for value and identification:-

Researching the identity and value of antique and vintage fine china