Crown Ducal backstamps. Part 1, 1915-1929

This post is about Crown Ducal backstamp styles used during the early period from company startup in 1915 to until around 1929 when Richardsons introduced a new style for almost each of its ranges of tableware.

I can find no documents to quote that I trust. Several sources seem to have a few examples but none I have seen have collated even a representative sample of what the company used during almost 60 years of production. So what I am presenting here is based on my own observations and I hope if someone does have a better understanding of this subject that they will contact me.

Creating a useful catalogue of Crown Ducal backstamps, or trade marks, is a difficult task because the type used is determined by the the date of manufacture, the design style or shape range of the item and sometimes the size of the item. There is also the probability that some backstamps styles are unique to particular patterns.

Since the production history for each pattern is unknown there is a lot of guesswork involved with regard to dates. Hopefully I will be correct when one style is stated to be older than another but the date ranges will be approximate.

I have numbered the backstamp styles for my own cataloguing purposes, they are not a reference to the work of anyone else.

Summary of styles.

To the casual observer there looks to be just two backstamp styles used by the company during these first 15 years of production.

Typical early Crown Ducal backstamp styles

The earliest being a based on an oval strap and buckle design, with a plumed crown at the top and a horizontal ribbon across the centre. The graphic contains the words TRADE MARK within the strap, CROWN above the ribbon, DUCAL within the ribbon and WARE beneath the ribbon. Below the graphic is typically A.G.R & C^O L^TD ENGLAND. Above the graphic may be the pattern name, (if it is a named pattern).

The other style typical of the 1920s has the words CROWN DUCAL WARE ENGLAND beneath a small crown.

Unfortunately it is not as simple as that. There are many versions of the strap and buckle design and although there appears be an age relationship as to which is used this is not the only determining factor.

It is important to stress that there are other strap and buckle styles used by the company during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and those are not discussed here. I shall describe those in a later post. It is easy to separate the early ones from the later styles. The early ones, (as discussed here), have A.G.R & C^O L^TD above ENGLAND printed beneath the graphic as two horizontal lines of text. The later versions have MADE IN ENGLAND following the curvature of the bottom half of the graphic.



Left, early strap and buckle style. Right, 1930s and later style



The strap and buckle style

I do not know the reason why there would be so many different, but very similar backstamp styles. I believe the backstamps were applied as prints and when the engraved plates got worn or damaged they made new ones which would end up being slightly different. It is also reasonable to believe that those backstamps that include pattern names may in fact be unique to that pattern. In truth, it has to be said that there may be a much larger number of styles than I have identified here.

There are several features of the strap and buckle type of mark that show variation. The forms of these features are recorded together with the pattern number. In this way the defining characteristics can be determined for each backstamp style and the range of patterns on which they are seen.

Here are some of the defining characteristics:



Are there rings under the DUCAL ribbon?



Is the central crown plume sitting high or low?

 

Does the strap have a single or double edge line?

Is the strap crossover visible or not?



Which letters in TRADE MARK line up with the word CROWN?



Other variations that may be helpful are:

• The general shape and form of the crown and plumes.
• The layout and spacing of the dots or holes between TRADE and MARK
• The format of the superscript and position of the underlining in C^O L^TD, also the position of the word ENGLAND in relation to A.G.R.& C^O L^TD

The strap and buckle style backstamps/trademarks roughly in date order, (the earliest first).

I will show two examples of each style because sometimes the print is damaged or the picture is not of good quality. Each style is followed by a list of pattern numbers/names on which it has been seen and I have given a very tentative date range estimate based on those pattern numbers. However, if the premise that named patterns had their own backstamp style turns out to be true, then if those patterns had extended production runs then the date ranges might have to be reconsidered.

Type 101

These early versions are a mystery, they never seem to have very crisp outlines, but that may be due in part to them being slightly smaller than  other types. They are seen on some of the earliest patterns like Regal A21 and Verona A26, but also Avis A558. But all these patterns are found with other styles too. Perhaps the style was reserved for small shaped items.The production history during these early years is not known, an advertisement from 1919 shows patterns A65 to A614, which does not help us much. I believe this style probably dates to the earliest years, certainly pre-1920.



Type 102

The style shown above tend to be the more commonly found type on the early patterns. Examples include Doric A18 & A19, Cameo A20, Regal A21 & A22, Kew A24, A91, A100 and A190. As for type 101, these patterns date to the earliest years pre-1920, but were still in demand during the early 1920s as recorded by the Pottery Gazette in 1923.

Type 103

This backstamp is is virtually the same as type 102 except is has the words SILVER VICTORIAN replacing CROWN DUCAL. Silver Victorian Ware was a range of tea service items, including teapot, hot water jug, teapot stand, milk jug and sugar bowl etc. They were finished with a silver lustre outside and silver gilt inside and with matt black handles. From a distance they can be mistaken for silverware. These designs were in production from around 1918 until the early 1920s

Type 104

The type 104 style is very similar to type102 but the central plume of the crown seems to sit a little higher. They are particularly found on named patterns such as Rugby A34, Trellis A352, Louis A365 and Perth A372. Again, these are patterns from the earliest years extending into the early 1920s.



Type 105

Type 105 is found on a large number of patterns. Seen on A86, A105, A340, A404, A413, A429, A430, A441, A445, A500, A559, A601, A617, A618, A626, A629, A642 and A992. Most of these are unnamed patterns so this seems to lend support to the theory that named patterns had their own backstamps. Pattern A922 dates to 1924 so many of these designs were in production between 1918 and the early 1920s.

Type 106

The Springtime design A716 (in lilac), A725 (in green), and several others in different colours has its own backstamp style characterised by a very spiky central plume. The pattern dates to 1920 or 1921.


Type 107

The Cameo pattern A750 also has its own very distinctive style. Similar to type 104, but the centre plume sits lower and the strap holes are dots rather than open circles. This pattern was introduced around 1920 or 1921.

Type 108

There are much more obvious changes to the strap and buckle style with type 108. The crown and plumes are clearly different, the strap has a single edge line and there is no hint of a strap crossover at the bottom. This mark is used extensively on fancies from around the Cairo 1008 pattern onwards and certainly up to pattern 1570. I have seen it on patterns Cairo 1008, 1014, 1015, Carnival 1099, Carnival 1100, Carnival 1231, Lily 1266, Butterflies 1326,  Fish 1327, Butterfly 1334, Butterfly 1335, Papyrus 1356, Leaf Border 1374, Butterfly 1463, 1530 and 1570. Most of these patterns use the high gloss glaze lustre much loved by the designer Norman Keats who created the Cairo design. I am uncertain if the backstamp was reserved for the high gloss glaze lustre ware, but this is a possibility. The date span of these quoted pattern numbers is 1923 until 1929.

Type 109

The youngest strap and buckle style has been seen on patterns 1530, 1570 and 1708. It is similar to type 108 but has a simpler, flatter crown and the ornament at the bottom of the hanging strap is noticeably different. These designs also have the high gloss glaze lustre, and so this backstamp may have been reserved for the same particular finish as type 108. These patterns date to 1929.

The "other" backstamp style of the 1920s

The most common of the backstamp styles from the 1920s is much simpler. It is found on virtually all tableware and most fancies that do not have the high gloss glaze.



Type 110

I do not know precisely when this backstamp was introduced, but examples of solid colour aerographed tableware typically have this style and they were in production during 1921. Unfortunately these simple but boldly coloured designs are not marked with pattern numbers so it is difficult to place them in the pattern sequence. The other early designs that used this style are the 500, 555, 559, 616, 617, 618, 642, 683, 920, 922, 952 and 975. The year 1920 would be a good estimate for the first use of this backstamp as most examples of the earliest chintz tableware patterns have this style and they were in production by that year.

Type 111

Type 111 is a special backstamp reserved for the Spectria Flambe range of vases and models. These date from 1927 and presumably remained in production for a few years.

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That is the end of part 1 of my Crown Ducal backstamps catalogue. Towards the end of 1929 Richardsons introduce their Gainsborough tableware shape followed by Florentine, Premier, Victory, Cotswold and Queen Anne shapes all within 3 years. Their backstamp styles will be documented in part 2.

Roland Heath, Gordon Forsyth & the Radiance Lustre Series

I know very little about Roland Heath, Gordon Forsyth or the Radiance Lustre Series from Crown Ducal. But since there is virtually zero content on the internet about the subject I thought I might as well make a start.

A group of items from the Radiance Lustre Series

The pottery designed by Roland Heath is very attractive and deserves to be better known and attributed to him. However his style is not unique and similar designs and glaze effects were produced by other companies before the Crown Ducal productions, and the reason for this leads us to Gordon Forsyth.

Gordon Forsyth was an important ceramic designer during the first half of the 20^th century. You will find biographical details on Wikipedia and the Gray’s Pottery website.

http://www.grayspottery.co.uk/designer-forsyth.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Forsyth 

Gordon Forsyth with some of his students c1934. Picture is from the Pottery Gazette/Evening Sentinel

His connection to Crown Ducal pottery is that from 1920 he was the Superintendent of Art Instruction to the City of Stoke on Trent and was thus involved in the tutoring of student ceramic artists who were being trained during the 1920s and 1930s. One of these students was Susie Cooper, who went to work for Gray’s and another was Roland Heath, who went on to A G Richardson & Co Ltd and probably Gray's afterwards.

Forsyth was also a freelance designer and worked with Gray’s to produce a range of decorations known as Gloria Lustre in the early 1920s. Searching on the internet will reveal plenty of examples and you will see the similarity with the Crown Ducal Radiance Lustre patterns and it seems this was not the only factory producing this type of ware. The name Harold Holdcroft for Royal Venton Ware is linked to much the same style of designs. I assume that Gordon Forsyth taught his students well and they all left art school to design much the same as what he had done!

Before moving on to look at the pottery, there are two interesting documents to reference. The first is Forsyths book “Art and Craft of the Potter”. This is a great little book explaining the pottery processes that were taught at the time, relevant to both studio potters and those going into the pottery industry. Published in 1934 it was written when Charlotte Rhead was employed at Richardsons, so it is useful in recording the terms and techniques in use that would have been familiar to her. The sections on decoration are particularly interesting. I even found a clue as to how Charlotte might have created her “Snow Glaze” tucked away in the chemistry of glazes section. But that is another story. The book also has lots of photographs showing the various stages of manufacture in the pottery factories.

"Art and Craft of the Potter" by Gordon Forsyth

The second document is an article in the Pottery Gazette of January 1935 entitled British Art in British Pottery which is a record of the speech Forsyth gave at the Royal Society of Arts. In essence it is about motivating everyone in the industry to employ good ceramic artists and berating anyone who manufactures pottery with poor artistic taste. “There is no reason why the very cheapest articles should not be beautiful; on the other hand, there can be no justification or excuse for producing one ugly piece of pottery. The mass production of ugliness is a crime against the community, and personally one would have no hesitation in classifying manufacturers of bad art as Public Enemy No 1.” So, having a tutor with that kind of attitude it is not surprising that all his students went off and copied his designs!

Little is known about Roland Heath himself. The trade journals of the period introduce the Radiance Lustre Series in early 1927 and therefore he was working on Crown Ducal designs around that time. He may have been with the company only for a short time, but he managed to leave his monogram mark on some of his creations for us to remember him by.

The monogram of Roland Heath

In common with a lot of early Crown Ducal pottery there are no pattern books describing these designs and most items are unmarked with pattern numbers. The Radiance Lustre Series seems to have had its own numbering system, presumably starting at No1. It is unknown how many designs there were in the series, the highest number I have seen is No38, but several patterns are unnumbered so there may be more than 38.

Typical Crown Ducal backstamp and other markings, the N.8 indicates the design number

I believe the method of decoration is that the outline of the design is painted in gold, then each of the outlined fruits, bands, panels etc is filled with the appropriate colour lustre for the design and all this is under an opalescent glaze. I may be wrong, I am not a ceramic artist and Gordon Forsyth does not explain the method in his book! The work is all freehand so that each piece is quite unique, much like the tube-lined designs of Charlotte Rhead that would be made at the factory five years later. The overall effect is really beautiful and extraordinarily difficult to photograph as it is so highly reflective.


An attempt to show how the opalescent glaze over the lustres displays when the light catches it

Now for a display of the designs so far recorded.

No6  bowl 17cm diameter

No8 Gem shaped coffee set components

No8  vases 14.5cm high

No12 lidded trinket box

No31 bowl 10.5cm diameter

No38 vase 29cm high

A couple of designs without numbers

Apart from these illustrated designs, several others have been seen but I do not have images to show.

No3 Round fruits, grapes, pears, leaves and twigs, blue background, no bands at rim or neck and orange inside vases or outside bowls. 

UNKN As No3 with same design elements but with a more turquoise background and with a darker turquoise band at rim/neck

No4 A single perched bird, with long tail feathers crested head and parrot like beak amongst twigs and leaves, blue background, and orange band at rim/neck.

No33 Similar to central design of No31, circular fruits, twigs and leaves but no bands and the background is a riot of all the rainbow lustre colours but predominantly blue.

UNKN Similar scheme to No33 but has large 4 petalled flowers instead of  circular fruits.

No34 A pair of perched birds, (different from those in No4), amongst fruits and leaves, blue background, deep pink band above orange band at rim/neck.

Edited 19th March 2019 to remove invalid links.