Unmarked and Unidentified Blue and White Estate Dishes - Pottery Marks Query

by Susan
(Houston, TX)

Unmarked and Unidentified Blue and White Estate Dishes - Pottery Marks Query:- Blue and White Estate Dishes with no country noted and marks not consistent. I bought the dishes at an estate sale a couple of months ago. There are no marks to indicate the country. Not all dishes have the same mark on them but you can tell they are from the same maker. Some just have a blue dot and some look like the letter A but I think it is a V with a dot in the middle. I haven't found anything on the web to help find who made these dishes. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Susan

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Reply by Peter (admin)

Nice query from Susan on 'Unmarked and unidentified Estate China'... Thanks.

Hi Susan

Thanks for your query, sounds as if you have done some great china antique searching recently!

Straight away my ear pricked up at your blue & white china dishes with few markings.

This lack of markings almost always indicates you have something old and valuable. Up to the 19th century it was the norm not to put the type of 'brand' markings we now associate with nice china.

I give a quick run down of this in my Pottery Marks page, but essentially, Staffordshire potteries in general (some notable famous name exceptions - Derby, Worcester, Wedgwood, Minton etc) didn't start marking with any regularity or as a means of identifying the maker until later in the 19th century. Up to that point it wasn't thought of as being essential for the non-celebrity maker. When it became important to let retailers know who made the items (so as to steal a march on your competitors and get more repeat order than them, marking became more important).

Hope this helps. Please report back.

My China Replacement page gives some helpful tips on how best to search for china information online.

Peter (admin)

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.

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