[img size=303]https://kovels.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/Dudsondome.JPG[/img] I believe this is a Dudson cheese dome. I inherited it and know nothing about it except that my aunt owned it for many years. I have an email from the Wedgwood Museum in the UK suggesting that it is Dudson. Marks in the dome: ‘784’ and ‘W Tall 1’. Marks on the bottom of the base plate: ‘W’ and either ‘1’ or ‘I’. It is approx 13 inches high. I’d really like to know its age and maker for sure. I cannot find a pattern like this one anywhere on the internet. A relative said that she one just like it in Hillwood Museum, the home of Marjorie Merriweather Post. [img size=303]https://kovels.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/Dudsondome.JPG
I received a reply via email from the Dudson Museum in the U.K. after sending them some photos of my cheese dome. They informed me that it was made by Dudson around 1870, a time when Dudson manufactured cheesedomes with fern motifs. Ferns were very popular in England at that time. The twisted rope finial on the top is one clue that it is Dudson because that feature was only used by Dudson. Also the 3 numbers inscribed in the base was the way the designer would have told the potters which designs to apply.
