The mark was a griffin, the Rockingham crest:
Spode.—Some of the richest and most beautiful English porcelain I have ever seen is marked “Spode.” A tea-set, in Fig. 152 (cup and saucer, and sugar-bowl), is perfect in form, paste, and decoration; the bands are in high colors, and the flowers, which appear black in the engraving, are of a subtile blue.
The sugar-bowl on the right, in the same plate ([Fig. 152]), is highly and richly colored. No black-and-white print can give anything of the splendor of color of some pieces of Spode I saw in England, or of the piece here figured, which is from Mr. Prime’s collection.
There seems to have been no fashion or “rage” for this delightful work in England—just why, it is not easy to explain; consequently, prices have not risen beyond the means of ordinary mortals.
The first “ ‘Siah Spode” worked as an apprentice with Mr. Whieldon, of Fenton, in 1749, at 2s. 3d. or 2s. 6d. per week, “if he deserved it.” When he became his own man, in 1754, he got 7s. 6d. per week—quite a different wages-tale from what is now told at Worcester.
His son, Josiah Spode, began the porcelain fabric about the year 1800, at Stoke, under the firm-name of Spode, Son, and Copeland. He is said to have introduced bones into the paste—now in general use in soft porcelain.