What a lovely collection of various patterns! And thank you for all your photos as it really helps to try to provide you with, hopefully, some useful information.
Those with just England in the backstamp are dated about 1891-1900 (around 1900, it became “Made in England”).
Rule of thumb, the items without England (or any backstamp as in your soup bowl with the castle) are before 1880 (~1850 +/-). They are either a dark blue (but not “blurred” as in “flow” pieces or a lighter blue in color. They are generally referred to as Staffordshire Blue & White or Blue Transferware pottery (made in the Staffordshire area of England). The mark E Wood & Sons, for instance, is recorded to have been produced around 1818-46. “Batalha Portugal” is a pattern name (maker unknown) – c. 1850s, possibly earlier and it looks to be an early Staffordshire Transferware pattern.
“Flow Blue” usually a deep cobalt blue with blurring (amount varies considerably) began around 1840 and became very popular in the US around 1880’s to the very early 1900’s). Pekin is about 1845 and was made by Thomas Dimmock.
The “Pilgrim Exiles” plate is around 1900 and is referred to Commemorative ware as are several other of your historical plates. (First Parrish Meeting House Plate was made in 1905 given the registry date of 453121).
Some good sources which you could probably get through interlibrary load are:
Encyclopedia of British Pottery & Porcelain Marks by Geoffrey A. Godden (his books are considered the “Bible” of British Pottery information).
Encyclopedia of Marks by Arnold A. Kowalsky & Dorothy E. Kowalsky (a very detailed follow-up to the above book which Godden assisted with).
Petra Williams (her books are definitive for both Staffordshire Blue & White and Flow Blue):
3 books: Staffordshire (I, II & III) Romantic Transfer Patterns.
3 books: Flow Blue China (I & II) & Flow Blue China and Mulberry Ware
American Historical Views on Staffordshire China by Ellouise Baker Larsen
Romantic Staffordshire Ceramics by Jeffrey B. Snyder (he’s also written a number of books on flow blue).
Generally Flow Blue (as with most pottery) doesn’t hold much value these days. That being said, there are still a few patterns which are very collectible and can command good prices. Also, items of which there are not a lot (e.g. your 3 piece butter dish with its strainer and cover) tend to sell for more than plates, saucers, etc which each set had multiples of.
We don’t estimate pricing as it can be so variable, but I would suggest checking eBay Sold pricing, particularly over a period of time as some items show up only occasionally (auction tend to be soft and often start low and end of up selling low, so I rely more on the Fixed Price items to determine market price). Live Auctioneers is also a good source for sold pricing and estimates.
Key search words are obviously the potter’s name, pattern name, Flow Blue, Oriental. Staffordshire, butter dish, etc.
Hope this helps. I would be happy to try to answer any other questions though my computer will be down for the rest of today so tomorrow's the earliest I can get back to you.
Regards, Danelle
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