Wade pottery Marks and Backstamps

The majority of porcelain or ceramics havemodels with thin legs without sufficient space for
identifying pottery marks somewhere on eacheven a label they would be packed in boxes with
piece. These marks are called backstamps and"Wade England" clearly on them as identifying
they are the signature of the pottery that mademarks. As with labels boxes soon became
the items.separated from the models once more leaving
Wade Ceramics whose porcelain products datethese Wade models hard to identify.
back to the late 1860s have altered theirTwo of the earliest ink stamp Wade pottery
backstamps significantly throughout the years andmarks used by Wade and Company on their
pieces tend to be marked in a variety of differentteapots, and vases dates back to the 1920s. The
ways and colours.first is worded "Wade & Co. Wades' England" on
Wade pottery marks have been found as:three separate lines of text and is believed to
• Ink Stamps - Wade ink stamps comehave been used in the late 1900s to the mid
in a variety of colours including; red, grey, gold,1920s.
green, orange, brown and black and appear in twoThe second ink stamp incorporates a picture of a
sizes; large and small and were used online between the words "Wades" above and
appropriately sized models. • Transfer"England" below. This Wade pottery mark was
Prints - Transfer prints appear like a tattoo on theused from the mid 1920s until 1927. Sometimes it
pottery and Wades transfer prints come inis possible to find a Wade model with three or
different shapes including; circular, semi-circular,four different types of backstamp. As new
and oval. • Embossed Backstamps -moulds were made to replace broken or worn
These pottery marks are incorporated into theones a different pottery mark would sometimes
mould so become part of the item. Thebe used on the new mould resulting in one model
information is raised. • Impressedwith different backstamps.
Backstamps - These pottery marks areOccasionally if you look at the base of a Wade
incorporated into the mould and the information ismodel along with the now familiar backstamp you
cut into the model. • Hand Written -may find other pottery marks such as numbers,
Some hollow items did not have enough room forwords or letters. Sometimes these numbers
any type of Wade pottery mark so the modelssignified the order of the item produced and at
have handwritten marks on their underside usuallyothers they identified the decorator of the piece,
in black. • Labels - Usually these Wadethe potters mark or the version number.
labels were black and gold in colour. It is a shameIt is not always the case that items with a Wade
that pottery was marked in this manner as manypottery mark stating "Wade England" means that
labels were removed or rubbed or even washedit was actually made at an English Wade pottery,
off leaving pieces completely unidentifiable.as it was usual for the different Wade potteries
Due to Wade re-issuing various models atto help each other out in times of demand. This
different times, it is not unusual to find that somemeans that many so named English Wade models
pieces have up to three different types ofare actually Irish Wade and were produced by
pottery mark on it.Wade in Ireland.
Pottery marks are usually found on the base ofIt has been reported that the First Whimsies
the model. A lot of the Wade whimsies howevercollection dating back to the 1950s was actually
had their "Wade England" backstamp placed alongproduced at the Irish Wade potteries. However
the rim of the figure instead. In the case ofthe pieces are all backstamped "Wade England".