Wedgwood and his influence.—As a final word on Wedgwood and his influence, something should be said as to the charge laid against him that he inaugurated the factory system as applied to pottery. There is no doubt that he organised what was before his day a somewhat chaotic industry. And it is certain that he trained his workmen to become specialists, and that the system of the division of labour was the order of the day at Etruria. But how else could such an output as his be handled? It has been advanced that the quaintness of the peasant potter and his later development was submerged, and that all individuality was lost under the new system. There was a growing tendency to develop mechanical perfection and to introduce labour-saving appliances, but this was the spirit of the oncoming modern age. Other factories, his contemporaries, were adopting the same principles, and those who think Wedgwood unoriginal or uninventive are quite willing to credit him with all the inventiveness and originality necessary to overturn the old system. The truth lies between these two extremes. Wedgwood, in common with his contemporaries, not unwillingly embraced all the newest devices known. It was Sadler and Green, of Liverpool, who together in one day by their invention printed as many tiles as it would have taken a hundred painters to do in the same time. Similarly all over the country artisans in the china trade were becoming specialised. There were the enamellers at Chelsea and other places, and a little examination will show that Wedgwood did not inaugurate this modern factory method, but without doubt, in common with all other master potters, he had to go with the times. Trade rivalry was very strong, and competition was not unknown when every potter in Staffordshire was jealously watching the latest improvement of his neighbour. But to saddle Josiah Wedgwood with the responsibility of stamping out original talent is beside the mark. His life-work stands impregnable against petty assault. "In a word, no other potter of modern times has so successfully welded into one harmonious whole the prose and the poetry of the ceramic art."

WEDGWOOD MARKS.

1.—This mark occurs upon a very early specimen of "Queen's Ware," a teapot, painted with flowers, &c., supposed to have been made by Wedgwood at Burslem: each letter apparently stamped singly with printers' type.
2, 3, 4.—These marks, varying in size, were, it is thought, used by Wedgwood up to the accession of Bentley as his partner, 1768–9, and are found upon specimens said to have been purchased about that period.
5.—The circular stamp, without the inner and outer rings, and without the word Etruria, is doubtless the earliest form of the Wedgwood and Bentley stamp, and is found upon a set of three early painted vases, in imitation of natural stone, with gilt serpent and scroll handles. No other example of this mark is known: it may have been an experimental one, afterwards changed for No. 6, and never in general use.
6.—This mark, with the word Etruria, is made upon a wafer, or bat, and fixed in the corner, inside the plinth of old basalt vases, reversing for candelabra and some large specimens; it is sometimes found on the pedestal of a bust or large figure.
7.—The well-known circular stamp, with an inner and outer line, always placed round the screw of the basalt, granite, and Etruscan vases, but is never found upon the jasper vases of any period.
8, 9, 10, 11.—These marks, varying in size, are found upon busts, granite, and basalt vases, figures, plaques, medallions, and cameos, from the largest tablet to the smallest cameo for a ring (the writer has one, only half an inch by three-eighths of an inch, fully marked); also found upon useful ware of the period.
12.—Marks upon the Wedgwood and Bentley intaglios, with the catalogue number, varying in size. Very small intaglios are sometimes marked W. & B. with the catalogue number, or simply with number only.
13.—This rare mark is found only upon chocolate and white seal intaglios, usually portraits, made of two layers of clay; the edges polished for mounting.
It may be noted that the word "and" in every Wedgwood and Bentley mark is always contracted "&," that no punctuation or other points, excepting those in marks No. 5, 6, 7, and 13, are ever used.
14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.—Marks, varying in size, attributed to the period after Bentley's death, and probably used for a time after Wedgwood died. These marks and others were used by chance—a small piece often bearing a large stamp, and a large one a minute stamp.
21.—This rare mark exists upon some large square plateaux in cane-coloured jasper. It may have been one adopted upon the change of partnership in 1790, but little used. The circular announcing the change says: "The mark 'WEDGWOOD' will be continued without any addition."
22, 23, 24.—These marks rarely found upon pieces of very high character—usually upon dark blue stoneware, vases, and glazed ware. Adopted about 1840, but soon disused.
25.—The mark upon Wedgwood Porcelain made from 1805–1815. Always printed either in red or blue, sometimes in gold. An impressed mark cannot be used with certainty upon soft-paste porcelain, being so apt to diffuse out in firing.
26, 27.—These marks, varying in size, are still used at Etruria for the modern jasper and useful ware of all varieties.
28.—The manufacture of fine porcelain was revived at Etruria, 1878, and is still continued. This mark, printed in black and other colours, is used.
29.—The word England was added to the mark Wedgwood in 1891, to comply with the new American Customs Regulations, known as the McKinley Tariff Act.
The occurrence of three capital letters, ANO, REP, &c., in addition to name appears on ware after 1840. The first two letters are workmen's marks, and the third is a date letter, e.g., O = 1855, P = 1856, and so on, as in hall-marks on silver.

PRICES.

Wedgwood.£s.d.
Oval. Ganymede feeding Eagle (6¼ in. by 5¼ in.), marked Wedgwood & Bentley Christie, June, 1906 40 19 0
Oblong oval. Marriage of Cupid and Psyche (6 in. by 7¾ in.), marked Wedgwood & Bentley. Christie, June, 190654 12 0
Busts, Minerva and Mercury, black basalt, 18 in. high. Christie, November, 190616 16 0
Oval portrait, in jasper, white on blue ground, of Captain Cook (10 in. by 8 in.), marked Wedgwood & Bentley. Sotheby, February, 190716 16 0
Jasper vase, blue, with Venus and Cupid in relief, handles coiled with serpents. Christie, February, 190833 12 0
A pair of splashed mauve Nautilus Shells, marked Wedgwood. Sotheby, December, 19083 10 0

The above prices are for ordinary collectors' examples of old Wedgwood. But exceptional pieces bring exceptional prices. The largest known example of a blue and white jasper plaque (11 in. by 26 in.) sold for £415 at Christie's in 1880, and the fine jasper vase The Apotheosis of Homer (now in the Tweedmouth Collection) realised 800 guineas.