Posted by Andrew J Pye on September 28, 2012, 3:29 pm, in reply to "ID Mark"
Assuming it is MW? Not HW? It may be my eyesight. Mary Wilson of the Whitehaven Pottery, Cumberland, active 1863-1877. If you could send me images direct to andrew@blueandwhite.com I will add them to our website www.asiatic.pheasants.co.uk Regards Andrew
Re: ID Mark
Posted by Andrew J Pye on September 30, 2012, 11:04 am, in reply to "Re: ID Mark"
My previous post shows why you should not post a response late in the day and from memory! First of all the lady concerned was Mary Wilkinson (not Wilson) and she became owner of the Whitehaven Pottery upon the death of her husband John in 1868. The pottery was managed from 1867 by their nephew Randle Wilkinson and when Mary died in 1877 she left the pottery to Randle. (see West Cumberland Potteries by Florence Sibson). I believed M W to be Mary Wilkinson, because Whitehaven Pottery produced Asiatic Pheasants under her husband John and pieces were marked with the typical floral cartouche and I W, so a change to M W, could be considered likely. However, I have no firm evidence, but I have not been able to find another firm that might have used M W. There are a couple of M W & Co, both of which are recorded using the initials, but including the & Co. as well. Asiatic Pheasants, whilst one standard pattern in theory, does have a number of variants in practice. The most obvious variations are whether one or two pheasants are present and if the butterfly is present. Then the positions of the pheasant(s) and butterfly in relation to the floral centre vary considerably. Looking at the Whitehaven version of Asiatic Pheasants illustrated in Florence Sibson's book it is a quite distinct variant and is not the same as the platter illustrated as part of this posting, which would suggest this platter is NOT by the Whitehaven Pottery. So perhaps that leaves us still looking for the true identitiy of M W? Regards Andrew
Re: ID Mark
Posted by David Hoexter on September 28, 2012, 4:40 pm, in reply to "Re: ID Mark"
Also looks like MW to me. We have three other similar Asiatic Pheasant marks with initials or other in the DB, but not this one.