Guess the Age
The first step should be an obvious one and not as daft as it sounds. Often a pot looks Victorian because it is
Victorian, the same can be said about Art Deco and Art Nouveau pottery. A little knowledge of period styles can go along way.

Check The Bottom
Looking at the bottom of a pot can often confirm the age of a piece, especially if its marked. If it looks Victorian and the base confirms this then you are probably looking at a Victorian Pot. So how to Read the bottom

The factory mark is your first port of call. The vast majority of pieces we have in our homes will have a mark, which will help you date them. Only much earlier pieces will not have a mark which means for these you may need to find an expert to help age them.

Lots of Makers used simple marking techniques. During the time between the 1870s and the Second World War they used a very simple technique. If your pot has the mark 12:86 then there is a good chance it was created December 1886, therefore a pot with a mark 3:02 would be March 1902 and so on.

The addition of the phrase trademark can also help you with dating. The Trademark Act of 1862 introduced this term so any pottery bearing this mark would be post 1862. But more likely post 1880 when it became much more widely used.

If England is present on the base of your pottery then this can give another clue. The McKinley Act of 1891 stated that any import goods to the US must bear the Country Of Origin on the item. So an item bearing a countrys name would most likely be post 1891. Even more so was in 1921 when the pottery need a Made in England mark on it.

In 1842 the British Patents Office introduced a system of registration marks that featured a diamond. This was used until 1883 when it was replaced with a Reg Number. So an item bearing the diamond mark will be from somewhere between them dates.

Well we hope that this can help you in dating your fine pottery collection. Hopefully you will find some diamond pieces.

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