Importer — Raymor

Businessman Irving Richards and designer Russel Wright formed Russel Wright Associates about 1936 to promote sales of home accessories designed by Wright. Their most successful product was Wright’s American Modern dinnerware, which was introduced in 1939. Richards bought the business, and in 1942 he renamed it Raymor. The company continued to sell American Modern but […]

Importers—Erphila and Other Hard-To-Identify Marks

Some of the most eye-catching ceramics used in the United States were brought over from Europe by companies that specialized in importing, not manufacturing, giftware. These companies often put their own marks on goods they imported. Some European china and glass with an importer’s mark was shipped to the United States by Ebeling & Reuss, […]

Other European Pottery and Porcelain Factories and Makers

Listed are working dates of the pottery. Pottery Location Dates of Operation Mark Arte Della Ceramica Florence, Italy 1896-1906 Boch Frères La Louvière, Belgium 1841-2009 Dalpayrat, Pierre-Adrien Bourg-la-Reine, France 1876-1888 Deck, Theodore France 1859-1891 Delaherche, Auguste France 1894-c.1940 Doat, Taxile Sèvres, France United States 1877-1905 1909-1911 Gallé, Emile Nancy, France 1874-1935 Gustavsberg (The company broke […]

R.S. Prussia and Gouda Marks

R.S. PRUSSIA Pottery Dates Mark Erdmann Schlegelmilch 1880s-1890s Reinhold Schlegelmilch Late 1880s-1917 Carl Schlegelmilch 1882-1919 Oscar Schlegelmilch 1890s GOUDA Zenith Pottery Factory 1891+ Regina Art Pottery 1898-1910

Place Names in Marks in European Ceramics

Wars, elections, and laws can change the country name used on dishes. If you have tableware or any item marked with a country name, these are the earliest years or the span of years the name was used on ceramics. Sometimes the mark was written with symbols or letters used by the country that made […]

Royal Copenhagen

Danish porcelain has been popular since 1775, when the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Works was founded. The earliest Royal Copenhagen pieces were glazed in cobalt blue. Blue Flower (1780), one of the first patterns, is still being made, and like most of the dishes made today by Royal Copenhagen, it is still painted by hand. The […]

Gustavsberg

The twentieth-century ceramics made by the Gustavsberg factory in Sweden were in the art deco style. Best-known is the 1930s Argenta Ware, green or blue glazed stoneware with silver-inlay decorations. The company was founded in 1827 near Stockholm, Sweden. At first it made transfer-printed creamware in the English style and, by the 1860s, majolica. Bone […]

Rörstrand

Rörstrand, Europe’s second-oldest ceramics firm, was established in Stockholm in 1726. Rörstrand first manufactured only earthenware, but in 1857 it began producing porcelain. In the early twentieth century, Rörstrand was known for the art nouveau porcelain designed by Alf Wallander, who was artistic director there for periods during the years 1895 to 1914. After Rörstrand […]

Dahl Jensen

Danish designer Jens Peter Dahl-Jensen (1874-1960) was employed at the Bing and Grondahl works for twenty years. In 1925 he opened his own factory to make porcelain figurines. Before production stopped in 1981, his company produced almost 400 figurines, about 280 sculpted by Dahl-Jensen. The company closed in 1984. Dahl-Jensen’s figurines depicting Danish children and […]

Bing & Grondahl

Frederik Grondahl, who had worked at the Royal Copenhagen factory as a modeler of figurines, and the brothers M.H. and J.H. Bing started the Bing and Grondahl Porcelain factory in 1853. In 1889 the company exhibited its first pieces with underglaze decoration. About 1892 the company was making Seagull pattern dinnerware, which is still popular. […]