Registered Designs

The Copyright of Designs Act of 1842 introduced a system where designs could be registered to protect them from being copied. Designs submitted for registration were then indicated with a diamond-shaped mark. There were thirteen different classes of goods, of which ceramics were Class 4, explaining the Roman figure IV which appears at the top of the diamond marks. Numbers and letters in the four corners of the diamond can be decoded to indicate the date of registration and a parcel number, which distinguishes between designs registered on the same date. The name of the person or company that submitted the registration can then be determined. These marks are covered in detail elsewhere and the reader is recommended particularly to the two Cushion mark books (Cushion H and Cushion P) or Godden's Handbook (Godden NH) for more detail and for lists of the registered owners.

Registration marks on relief-moulded jugs are of four types – printed, impressed, moulded and applied. The first two are self-explanatory, but the other two can be less obvious. A moulded mark is part of the mould used to form the jug itself, an applied mark is made separately and attached to the vessel using liquid clay or slip. Applied marks are usually formed in a small separate mould, like a sprig mould, but they are occasionally made of a flat piece of clay into which the mark itself is impressed (an alternative to impressing the mark directly into the clay of the jug). This may sound a bit technical, but an attempt is made throughout this website to describe all marks as accurately as possible.

The list of registered jug designs below is not complete. It includes only jugs which were made by manufacturers covered in this website. As such it serves as an index which will be updated as new manufacturers and their jugs are added. It should become more comprehensive in due course. Keeping it up-to date is an administrative task and no doubt mistakes will be made. I would be very pleased to hear from anyone who might discover possible errors or omissions (contact me here).

Credits: Dick Henrywood; Guy Loveday

Page last updated 10 April 2024