How to Read a Pottery Backstamp: What the Marks on the Base Tell You
Turn a piece of pottery over and the base is usually the most honest part of it. The front is there to be admired. The base is where the maker, the factory and sometimes the exact month of production are written down, if you know how to read it. This is the short version of what we look for when a piece comes in.
Start with how the mark was made
There are four common ways a mark ends up on the base, and each tells you something.
- Printed. A transfer applied under or over the glaze. This is the classic factory backstamp, and the one most reference books are built around.
- Impressed. Pressed into the wet clay with a stamp, so it sits slightly below the surface. Common on earthenware and stoneware, and often used for shape numbers, size numbers and date codes.
- Incised or painted. Scratched or brushed on by hand. Studio potters and decorators often add initials or a pattern name this way.
- Moulded. Part of the mould itself, so it appears on every piece cast or pressed from that mould.
Many pieces carry more than one. A factory backstamp, an impressed shape number and a painted decorator's mark on the same base is normal, and each one answers a different question.
What "England" and "Made in England" actually tell you
This is the clue people ask about most. In 1890 the United States passed the McKinley Tariff Act, which required imported goods to carry the name of their country of origin from 1891. British potteries exporting to America began adding "England" to their marks, so a mark that includes the word is generally from 1891 or later. "Made in England" is usually a 20th century addition, and a later amendment to the US rules in 1921 required the words "Made in" in front of the country name. Individual factories did not all change on the same day, so treat these as earliest-possible dates rather than exact ones.
Our 1911 Ridgways coronation jug is a good example. The crossed arrows backstamp with "England" fits a piece made in the early 20th century, and the event it commemorates pins the date down far more tightly than the mark alone could.
Date codes, shape numbers and pattern numbers
Numbers on the base are easy to ignore and very useful. They usually fall into three groups.
- Shape or model numbers identify the form. West German factories used these heavily, and a number such as 865-31 on the base of our Scheurich rumtopf is what lets you match a piece to catalogues and other collectors' records. Often the second figure relates to size, though makers were not all consistent.
- Pattern numbers identify the decoration rather than the shape.
- Date codes are rarer, but when they exist they are gold. Our Lord Nelson Pottery vase is date coded to May 1971 on the base, which is about as precise as it gets.
Registered design numbers, often shown as "Rd No", are another useful clue on British pieces. They record the registration of a design rather than the date the piece was made, so they give a starting point, not an end date.
West German marks
Pottery marked "West Germany" or "W. Germany" was made between 1949 and 1990, the years the country was divided. Within that window, the style of the piece, the glaze and the shape number do the finer dating. We go into the makers in our guide to West German pottery, and you can browse what we currently have in Made in Germany.
Where to look a mark up
The standard printed reference is Godden's Encyclopaedia of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks. Online, The Potteries has a general guide to pottery trade marks, and the conservation team at Cardiff University has a short piece on the evolution of British pottery marks. Photograph the base in daylight, note every mark and number, and search for the combination rather than a single element.
Common questions
Does a mark prove a piece is genuine?
No. Marks can be copied, and some factories reused or reissued designs for decades. Treat the mark as one piece of evidence alongside the shape, the glaze, the weight and how the base has worn.
What if there is no mark at all?
Plenty of good pieces are unmarked, especially smaller items and some tourist ware. Style, glaze and construction then do the work. An unmarked piece is not a lesser one, it is just a slower identification.
Does "England" on its own mean a piece is old?
It means the piece is probably from 1891 or later. That covers everything from late Victorian ware to pieces made last year, so use it as a floor, not a date.
If you would like a second opinion on something you have found, send us a photo of the base through the contact page. We are always happy to look, and we regularly learn something ourselves. You can see what we have recently found in Made in England.