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Pottery and porcelain marks

The marks on the bottoms of plates, cups and vases: the European porcelain factories, the American art potteries, and the marks found on many makers’ wares.

European porcelain 10 symbols

American pottery 6 symbols

On many makers’ wares 2 symbols

About pottery and porcelain marks

The mark on the bottom of a plate, cup or vase is usually the maker’s, painted, printed or pressed into the clay. Some name a single factory, like the Meissen crossed swords, the interlaced Ls of Sèvres or the three wavy lines of Royal Copenhagen. Others name a place used by many makers: Limoges, Delft and Dresden. Many of the old factory marks are trademarks still owned today, by a state or a company, and each page names the owner.

European porcelain factories

The oldest marks on this page come from factories founded under royal patrons. Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, founded the Meissen manufactory in 1710, and its swords come from the Saxon arms. The French royal factory, set up at Vincennes in 1740 and moved to Sèvres in 1756, marked its wares with Louis XV’s cipher. In Denmark the Dowager Queen Juliane Marie proposed the three blue lines in 1775. In England Royal Doulton and Royal Crown Derby added the word Royal to their names and marks by royal permission, in 1901 and 1890, Wedgwood dates from 1759, and Haviland from 1842, when David Haviland, a New York importer, settled in Limoges.

Marks that date a piece

Several marks carry a code for the year, which places a piece within a range. Sèvres put a letter inside its cipher, one for each year from the 1750s to 1793. Meissen added a dot between the sword hilts from 1763 and a star from 1774 to 1814. Wedgwood impressed three code letters beside its name from about 1860, and added ENGLAND in 1891. The registered design diamond, printed on British goods between 1842 and 1883, encodes the date a design was registered. Rookwood of Cincinnati added a flame to its RP monogram each year from 1887.

American pottery

The American pages cover art potteries and dinnerware makers. Three were in Ohio, Edwin AtLee Barber’s Marks of American Potters (1904) records: Rookwood in Cincinnati, and Weller and Roseville in Zanesville, where Roseville’s early mark was a rose in a circle with the words Rozane Ware. The section also has McCoy, Hull and Fiesta marks.

On many makers’ wares

Two pages cover marks that are not one maker’s. Ironstone china, an English pottery close to porcelain, was patented by Charles James Mason in 1814; the best-known mark is Mason’s Ironstone China. The registered design diamond was printed or engraved on registered British goods of every kind, such as the underside of china or the back of printed fabric.

Sources

  1. The crossed swords (DPMA), The crossed swords, Traditional East Brands, last updated 10 December 2025, German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA), The invention of “Meissen porcelain”; The oldest German trade mark
  2. Marks (The French Porcelain Society), Marks, The French Porcelain Society, Marks
  3. Collection in Focus: Sèvres Porcelain (Waddesdon Manor), Collection in Focus: Sèvres Porcelain, 20 July 2026, Waddesdon Manor (National Trust, Rothschild Foundation), Maker’s Marks
  4. Chats on Royal Copenhagen Porcelain (Hayden, 1918), Arthur Hayden, Chats on Royal Copenhagen Porcelain, 1918, Project Gutenberg, Chapter II
  5. Marks and Monograms on European and Oriental Pottery and Porcelain (Chaffers, 1912), William Chaffers, Marks and Monograms on European and Oriental Pottery and Porcelain, 13th edition, ed. Frederick Litchfield, 1912, Internet Archive (scan), Dresden pp. 467–468; Derby p. 837; Wedgwood pp. 677–679; Lane Delph p. 733; Rookwood
  6. Shakespeare plate, Royal Doulton (V&A O109199), Plate, Royal Doulton, 1909–1938 (O109199), Victoria and Albert Museum, Summary
  7. Intellectual property: registered designs 1839–1991 (The National Archives), Research guide: registered designs 1839–1991, The National Archives (UK), Sections 4.3 and 7.1
  8. Marks of American Potters (Barber, 1904), Edwin AtLee Barber, Marks of American Potters, 1904, Internet Archive (scan), Rookwood p. 118; Weller p. 139; Roseville
  9. Pottery and Porcelain: A Guide to Collectors (Litchfield, 1912), Frederick Litchfield, Pottery & Porcelain, a Guide to Collectors, 1912, Internet Archive (scan), Notes and explanations, pp. 466–467
  10. Cahier des charges de l’IG Porcelaine de Limoges (INPI), Cahier des charges IG Porcelaine de Limoges (version définitive), homologated 2017, INPI, base des indications géographiques, C. Estampillage
  11. Fiskars Corporation acquires WWRD (Fiskars stock exchange release, 2015), Stock exchange release, 11 May 2015, Fiskars Group, Release
  12. The Manufacturer (Haviland), Haviland, French porcelain manufacturer since 1842, Haviland, Haviland, a French porcelain manufacturer

Last reviewed October 8, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research