This article is a brief guide to the history of ceramics, the types of manufacture and bodies used and identifying marks together with a guide to dating them.
The word ‘ceramic’ comes from the Greek word keramikos, meaning ‘of’ or ‘for pottery’.
A ceramic is a hard, corrosion and heat resistant material made by shaping and then firing a solid inorganic non-metallic compound, such as clay, at a high temperature.
The earliest ceramics made by humans were pottery objects such as pots, vessels or figurines made from clay, either by itself or mixed with other materials like silica, hardened and sintered in fire. Ceramics have been discovered in the Czech Republic that date back to 29000 – 25000BC.
Traditional clay pottery from Myanmar
There are several different categories of ceramic bodies.
Pottery – which is made by forming, usually, clay into a object and then heating it to a high temperature in a kiln.
Earthenware – which can be glazed or unglazed, and is non-vitreous pottery which has normally been fired below 1200 degrees Celsius.
Stoneware – a vitreous or semi-vitreous (glass-like in appearance) ceramic made from primarily stoneware clay or non-refractory fire clay.
Hard paste porcelain – originally East Asia, especially China. It is made from kaolin and alabaster and is fired at temperatures up to 1400 degrees Celsius. It has great hardness, translucency and strength.
The earliest European porcelains were produced at the Meissen factory in Germany in the early 18th century. Later the composition of the Meissen hard paste was changed and alabaster was replaced by feldspar and quartz. This allowed the pieces to be fired at lower temperatures.
Soft paste porcelain – which dates back to the early attempts by European potters to replicate Chinese porcelain. It is made from kaolin clay mixed with quartz, feldspar or other rocks from the same family. They are fired at lower temperatures than hard paste porcelain and so are generally less hard.
Bone China – This was developed in England in 1748 to compete with imported porcelain. It is now made world wide but was not commercially produced until the turn of the 19th century by Josiah Spode.
English Bone China was originally made from two parts bone-ash, one part kaolin clay and one part china stone (a feldspathic rock), although the china stone has now largely been replaced by feldspars from non-UK sources.
Most manufacturers will mark the underside of their pieces to help the purchaser identify them, although half the fun of exploring Hungerford Arcade is seeing and recognising the colours and style of a particular type of unmarked ceramic and hoping that you have discovered a masterpiece!
Marks are applied to ceramics in four basic ways.
1. Incised – where the mark is cut into the still soft clay by hand during manufacture and before firing.
2. Impressed – where the mark is impressed into the soft clay with a stamp or seal. The ‘Wedgwood’ mark is a classic example of this. These give the mark a neat mechanical appearance.
3. Painted – usually name or initial marks, added over the glaze at the time of decoration, as were some stencilled marks.
4. Printed – which were transferred from engraved copper plates at the time of decoration. Most 19th century marks are printed, often in blue under the glaze, when the main design is also in underglaze blue.
If a mark incorporates a Royal coat of arms, it is usually 19th century or later.
If the name of the pattern is included on the back stamp of an English china mark, it is from after 1810.
Use of the word ‘Royal’ denotes a date after the 1850s.
‘Bone China’ on a pottery mark means that the ware must be 20th century.
The famous Staffordshire knot only occurs after 1845 and was used most prolifically between 1870 and 1890.
A diamond shaped registration mark only occurs after 1843.
The Use of Royal Arms
Pre-1837, Royal Arms with theadditional centre shield
Post-1837, Royal Arms without the centre shield.
Registration diamond
1842 – 1883. The British Patent Office issued a diamond mark along with the registration number when a design was registered.
As well as showing that the design had been registered, the diamond mark offered the buyer the reassurance of knowing a piece was of British design.
Registered numbers – from 1884
Registered numbers, which started in 1884, are a consecutive numbering system for the registration of their designs by manufacturers.
The registration number, usually written as ‘RdNo’ on a piece of pottery, gives the date when that design was first registered to prevent copying. However, the piece could have been made at any time after that date.
1884 – 1
1885 – 19756
1886 – 40480
1887 – 64520 circa 1920
1888 – 90483
1889 – 116648 etc
The Trade Marks Act was introduced in 1862, so the incorporation of the words ‘Trade Mark’ in a mark must be later than this date, normally after 1875. Similarly, the word ‘Limited’ or ‘Ltd’ denotes a date after 1861.
The word ‘England’ added to the mark was used after 1891.
The words ‘Made in England’ were used after 1900.
Date codes/cyphers
Some manufacturers used their own code or cypher system to date their products. Examples of these are Wedgwood, Royal Worcester and Derby.
Wedgwood Codes
Ceramics from 1860 – 1906 used a 3-letter impressed code, eg AAO where the last letter is the year date. (1860 is an ‘O’, 1861 a ‘P’ and so on, repeated from 1886 so each date code was used twice.
In 1907, the number 3 replaces the first letter of the code which changes to a 4 in 1924.
After 1930 the last two numbers of the year are given eg IA32 beng 1932.
Post war, only two numbers are given eg 53 for 1953.
Royal Worcester
1867 – 1890 – letter code below standard mark, sometimes 2 numbers used
1892 – 1915 – dots used
1916 – 1927 – star and dots
1928 – small square
1929 – small diamond
1890 1884
1930 – bar with a dot above and below
1931 – two interlinked circles
1932 – three interlinked circles
1933 – 1949 – dots added to circles
1893 1903 1905
1949 – ‘V’ under mark
1950 – ‘W’ under mark
1951 – 1955 – dots added to ‘W’
1956 – ‘R’ replaces ‘W’
1929
Royal Crown Derby uses cyphers to date its porcelain.
Reference books that will help you to identify your ceramics.
Encyclopaedia of British Pottery and Porcelain marks – Geoffrey A Godden
British Studio Potters Marks – Eric Yates-Owen and Robert Fournier
Handbook of Pottery and Porcelain marks – J P Cushion
The earliest ceramics made by humans were pottery objects such as pots, vessels or figurines made from clay, either by itself or mixed with other materials like silica, hardened and sintered in fire. Ceramics have been discovered in the Czech Republic that date back to 29000 – 25000BC.
Traditional clay pottery from Myanmar 
Pottery – which is made by forming, usually, clay into a object and then heating it to a high temperature in a kiln.
Earthenware – which can be glazed or unglazed, and is non-vitreous pottery which has normally been fired below 1200 degrees Celsius.
Hard paste porcelain – originally East Asia, especially China. It is made from kaolin and alabaster and is fired at temperatures up to 1400 degrees Celsius. It has great hardness, translucency and strength.
Soft paste porcelain – which dates back to the early attempts by European potters to replicate Chinese porcelain. It is made from kaolin clay mixed with quartz, feldspar or other rocks from the same family. They are fired at lower temperatures than hard paste porcelain and so are generally less hard. 
1. Incised – where the mark is cut into the still soft clay by hand during manufacture and before firing.
2. Impressed – where the mark is impressed into the soft clay with a stamp or seal. The ‘Wedgwood’ mark is a classic example of this. These give the mark a neat mechanical appearance.
3. Painted – usually name or initial marks, added over the glaze at the time of decoration, as were some stencilled marks.
4. Printed – which were transferred from engraved copper plates at the time of decoration. Most 19th century marks are printed, often in blue under the glaze, when the main design is also in underglaze blue.
If a mark incorporates a Royal coat of arms, it is usually 19th century or later.
If the name of the pattern is included on the back stamp of an English china mark, it is from after 1810.
Use of the word ‘Royal’ denotes a date after the 1850s.
‘Bone China’ on a pottery mark means that the ware must be 20th century.
The famous Staffordshire knot only occurs after 1845 and was used most prolifically between 1870 and 1890.
Pre-1837, Royal Arms with the
additional centre shield
centre shield.
The Trade Marks Act was introduced in 1862, so the incorporation of the words ‘Trade Mark’ in a mark must be later than this date, normally after 1875. Similarly, the word ‘Limited’ or ‘Ltd’ denotes a date after 1861.
1867 – 1890 – letter code below standard mark, sometimes 2 numbers used
1930 – bar with a dot above and below
1949 – ‘V’ under mark