LATEST COALPORT MARKS.
It must be observed that much of the earlier Coalport was unmarked, while—we blush to have to print it—some of the ware imitated the double “L” mark of Sèvres, and the “C” and anchor of Chelsea and the crossed swords of Dresden, so successfully as to delude the unwary collector. The celebrated egg-shell porcelain of Coalport ranks among the most marvellous china ever produced in this country. It is rarely marked with any letters or signs, but it carries upon it a signature of perfection of manufacture and exquisite symmetry of design such as no other factory dared emulate, and no other factory has since approached. These tiny cups and saucers (the cup follows Chinese models by having no handle) are gems of ceramic art, and happy is the collector who can number one or two good specimens in his china cabinet.
The well-known “Willow Pattern,” first manufactured here, is from a Chinese model. It is still manufactured by the Coalport Company, and is one of their stock patterns. It appears on a list of some forty patterns, which can be and are manufactured without the use of lead.
Readers may find the words “Leadless Glaze” on some of their quite recent purchases in modern china. The terrible effects of lead on the workpeople in china factories is a subject which has received the attention of Parliament (see [p. xxiii]). But in passing it is highly satisfactory to find that the Coalport Company turn out, without special order, forty patterns entirely “leadless.” Any one who is specially desirous of having “leadless glaze” on any other of the Coalport ware may do so by ordering it.
To come down to the very latest marks, there are three that have been in use. The first in the seventies, the second in the eighties, and the last, now solely used, was adopted some twelve years ago with the addition of the word “England” to meet the requirements of the American Tariff Act, which made it compulsory for foreign goods to be thus stamped.
OLD COALPORT VASE.
(Decorated in pink and white. Marked CBD.)
The first has the words “Salopian, Coalport,” in a scroll, which has within it the old mark of Caughley, a crescent with “A.D. 1750” beneath it, and in addition the letters “C. S. N.,” in scroll as before alluded to, and having the date, “A.D. 1790,” underneath. This is a very complicated mark, and is not generally known.