Royal Worcester Porcelain

Royal Worcester porcelain was founded in Worcester, England in 1751. By 1755 Worcester porcelain was making the best English blue and white porcelain money could buy. By 1789,Worcester received a royal warrant. Meissen porcelain was also greatly admired in England in the 1750's, but its import was restricted and so English manufacturers imitated the Meissen wares.

Worcester porcelain is split into periods of times:

1: The first period refers to pieces made until 1783 when Thomas Flight purchased the company.

2: Regency refers to those items made when the name changed frequently

3: Royal Worcester refers to pieces from about 1862 onwards.

Beware of imitations: Early Worcester porcelain was soft-paste. If a piece claims to be early, but is hard-paste porcelain or bone china.... it's a fake!

Royal Worcester Marks:

Early Worcester Marks

Early marks show the crown slightly above or perched on the circle and from 1876 the crown sits down on the circle. The mark can appear in any colour. In 1862 a new factory mark was introduced along with date coding sequences.

From 1862 till 1867, the last two numbers of the year would be used. From 1867 to 1877 the code would either be the last two numbers or a capital letter under the circle representing the date.

From 1877 the year number was dropped in favour of the letter system. In 1891 the mark changed once again and no date letter was used but 'Royal Worcester England' appeared around the circle and dots marked its year of production.

The dating system continued until 1915 when 24 dots were arranged around the standard printing mark. The dots system was getting too fussy so they were replaced by a single asterisk in 1916 followed by a new dot system. This until 1928 when they introduced an open square, and 1931 the introduction of 2 linked circles. 1933 saw 3 linked circles plus 1 dot and the dot system commenced along with 3 circles until 1948.

1949 saw the mark introduce 'V', 1950 saw 'W' and 1951-1963 'W' plus 1 to 16 dots. The use of dating was rather inconsistent in this time and a lot of items produced at this time are not dated.

 

Royal Worcester Thursday's Child for sale at Just Pip It. Made in England in the 1990's

 

 

Royal Worcester Saturday's for sale at Just Pip It. Made in England in the 1990's 

 

Royal Worcester December Child for sale at Just Pip It. Made in England in the 1990's 

Just Pip It are always on the look out for Royal Worcester of all ages and other porcelain, such as Meissen, Royal Daulton and more.

Click here to Email Us

Posted in: Porcelain