Database of Patterns & Sources Count

19,314 patterns, 1,158 sources now available in the Database Patterns and Sources.

January eNews 2025

Dear Transferware Enthusiasts:
We're pleased to send you this edition of our eNewsletter to give you the latest club news informing you of up-coming club activities and interesting new content on our web site and our Facebook page. We welcome your comments, suggestions, and input; email the TCC Web Content Administrator webadministrator@transferwarecollectorsclub.org.
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It's Not Too Late to Renew Your Membership for 2025!

Dear TCC Members,


Membership in the Transferware Collectors Club expired on December 31, 2024. We value your membership and encourage you to renew now (if you haven't already done so) by simply clicking on this link: renew my membership.


Important Information: We’ve developed a new program to provide improved services to our members. Please know that the next time you log into the TCC website or the Database of Patterns and Sources, you will be asked to create a new password, unless you have already done so. Your existing password will no longer be valid! Use your email to sign in. To create your password now, please click on the following link: create my new password.


Donations Welcome! When you renew your membership, please consider making a tax deductible donation to support our club’s educational mission. Your contributions ensure that member benefits like the Database of Patterns and Sources, the Bulletin, Annual Meetings, the Transferware Worldwide Lecture Series, and our many other online activities continue to provide the information and enjoyment you seek. It's easy, you can donate when you renew your membership!

SAVE THE DATES!

TCC Spring Conference

Hartford, CT

May 16-18, 2025


The TCC is pleased to announce that our Spring Conference will be held in Hartford, CT, May 16-18, 2025. An optional shopping trip to the legendary Brimfield Antique Flea Market will be offered on Thursday, May 15. Registration will be announced by the end of February.

PATTERN OF THE MONTH


A Happy New Year to You


This 9.75 inch plate was made by W.T. Copeland (& Sons). The company was in business from 1847-1970. The RD number on the back of the plate includes the letter K for 1857. The message on the plate, “A Happy New Year To You”, is the wish to you from the TCC!View larger image. See past Patterns of the Month.

Thanks to Judie Siddall for preparing the "Pattern of the Month."

PUZZLE OF THE MONTH

Cyprus


“Cyprus” pattern platter by Brownfield & Sons decorated in shades of gold, rust and cobalt blue. Made c. 1878-1883, it has the potter’s pattern number 8899. The pattern covers the entire surface with exuberant stylized flowers, repeated around the center larger stylized flower. The border has a repeated overlapping leaf motif with small white dots in the spaces. The colors added to the transfer printed design would have been very expensive when they were produced in the early Aesthetic Movement. The pattern is also found printed in monochrome blue. A later version of the pattern by Doulton & Co. has a slightly different center petal design. William Brownfield & Son(s) operated in Cobridge, Staffordshire, from 1850 to 1892. This is pattern # 4471 in the TCC Database, the Doulton version is #6907. Photo courtesy of ebay seller pegpa.


Thanks to Scott Hanson for preparing the "Puzzle of the Month."

Go to the Puzzle. See past Puzzles of the Month.

PHOTO OF THE MONTH

Daisy Bank Marl Hole

Located at Edensor, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire (near the present-day Gladstone Pottery Museum), this photo, dated ca. 1910-15, shows the large scale extraction of marl, a type of clay. The Stoke area rose to prominence as a pottery center in large part due to the nearby presence of materials, such as clay and coal, needed for pottery production. 


Information from Staffordshire Fast Track and photo from Stoke-on-Trent Live.

See larger image. See past Photos of the Month.

Thanks to David Hoexter for preparing the "Photo of the Month."

VIDEO OF THE MONTH

Poetically Posh: Richard Briggs’s Longfellow Jug and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the American Home


Lecturer: Elizabeth Palms, Robert and Elizabeth Owens Curatorial Fellow, Winterthur Museum Garden and Library


Description: In the talk, she covers the origin story of the 1881 Longfellow jug and Briggs’s partnership with Wedgwood to design it, and she explores how this one ceramic jug testifies to a complex web of economic conditions and social ideologies running through the eastern United States in the latter 19th century.


Our speaker: Elizabeth graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in History from the College of William & Mary, where she also completed the NIAHD Collegiate Program in Early American History, Material Culture, and Museum Studies. In Virginia, she was an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Curatorial Intern for Works on Paper at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and worked for over two years on a team documenting, researching, and writing a book on Eyre Hall, an 18th-century home on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. She has an article and various architectural drawings in the resulting publication, The Material World of Eyre Hall: Four Centuries of Chesapeake History. Continuing to cultivate her love of the material past, Elizabeth pursued her M.A. in the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture from 2018 to 2020. She then spent two years at the Dallas Museum of Art in the Decorative Arts and Design curatorial department. During the summer of 2021, she did fieldwork as a Decorative Arts of the Gulf South Fellow with the Historic New Orleans Collection. Currently, she is back at the Winterthur Museum, Garden, & Library as the Robert & Elizabeth Owens Curatorial Fellow. Watch video.

DISHY NEWS

A Transferware Blog by Judie Siddall


TRANSFERWARE POLITICAL CARTOONS


I recently purchased a small plate that features a man with one leg asking for charity from a stout man who refuses him. The bubbles above them say: "Please to bestow your Charity" and "Friend I have it not." The title of the pattern is "Self Accusation." Read more.

LECTURE, SYMPOSIA, and MEETING INVITATIONS

TCC's Transferware Worldwide Lecture Series


Thursday, January 16, 2025 1PM EST


A Staffordshire View of Philadelphia

Speaker: Pat Halfpenny, Curator Emeritus, Ceramics & Glass, Winterthur Museum

Plate printed with a view of  The Bank of the UNITED STATES Philadelphia

Joseph Stubbs, c.1820

www.americanhistoricalstaffordshire.com

Pat Halfpenny, Curator Emeritus of Ceramics and Glass, Winterthur Museum and Gardens, will discusse the scenes of Philadelphia found on printed pottery and the Staffordshire manufacturers who produced them. While the focus will be on the dark blue prints of the 1820s, there will be reference to later Romantic Staffordshire with Philadelphia themes, concluding with a brief look at polychrome printed pieces.


Join Zoom Meeting


https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84854293241


Meeting ID: 848 5429 3241

The English Ceramic Circle


January 18th, at 6pm, (Zoom)


The Inspiration of an Artist: William Moorcroft and Florian Ware (1898-1904)

Jonathan Mallinson


Florian ware, the name given to William Moorcroft’s first designs as Head of Ornamental Pottery at the firm of J. Macintyre & Co., was some of most noticed and admired pottery at the turn of the twentieth century. Singled out as a ‘distinct advance in ceramics’, it attracted the attention of trade press and art journals alike and was promoted by prestigious retail houses and galleries the world over. This paper explores why it generated such widespread interest. Based on close examination of specific examples, it examines the qualities which made Florian stand out from other art pottery of the time, and prompted one critic to describe it as ‘the inspiration of an artist’.


Jonathan Mallinson is Emeritus Fellow in French at Trinity College, Oxford, where he specialised in the prose fiction, comedy and satire of early-modern France. He has devoted his retirement to the study of British art pottery, and is the author of William Moorcroft, Potter: Individuality by Design, published by Open Book Publishers in 2023, and freely accessible at https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0349


This pioneering monograph is based on extensive research in a hitherto unexplored collection of private correspondence and commercial papers now housed in the Stoke-on-Trent City Archives. Jonathan is currently working on a study of William Moorcroft’s pottery and its place in the history of ceramic art.


Please click the link below to join the webinar:


Join from PC, Mac, iPad, or Android:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89243709897?pwd=10rbBo2YtSbAMNDqTCUfzewT5K6COd.1


Passcode:254677 International numbers available:

https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kexGNO8Zw9


NOVEMBER 2024 BULLETIN

TCC Bulletin Latest Issue: 2024 Vol. XXV No. 2


Current issue is available for members to download here. Printed version has been mailed. Free to all is a sample article: An Exceptionally Unusual Leaf Border by David Hoexter.


The TCC Bulletin Index -- incorporating listings of articles from the Fall 1999 issue through to the most recent issue. A rich resource! Search Index.


The Bulletin editors are seeking contributions for the upcoming bulletin. Contacts: Dan Sousa: dsousa1775@gmail.com or David Hoexter: davidhoexter@icloud.com


Transferware Collectors Club (TCC) Bulletin writers guidelines: Download writers guidelines

2024 Vol. XXV No. 2

FEATURE ARTICLES

Wood’s Italian Scenery Database Discoveries – Contribution # 3 Transferware Collectors Club by Len Kling


Very little is known today about the life of early 19th century artist Elizabeth Frances Batty. She was the sister of Captain Robert Batty, a member of the Grenadier Guards whose military career was ended by wounds received at the Battle of Waterloo, and who was also an artist. Although like her brother Elizabeth was a member of the Royal Academy, she was not as prolific, her own career doubtlessly curtailed by marriage (to Philip Martineau) and motherhood. Robert's drawings were the basis for a number of illustrated travel books, French Scenery, German Scenery, Welsh Scenery, and others; published in the 1820s and 1830s; however Elizabeth's principal claim to fame came first, and it could be reasonably assumed that his similarly named works were an effort by his publishers to continue her success. Read the article.

Yellow Transfer Printed Brown Ware, Database Discoveries – Contribution #1 Transferware Collectors Club by Connie Rogers


Yellow Transfer Printed Brown Ware – referred to here as YPB – is a type of transferware that has only recently been added to the TCC Database. Some collectors of transferware may not be aware of this type of transfer decoration as it is not commonly found. Over the years, I have noted a number of patterns that appeared to be Chinoiserie, or pseudo-Chinese scenes with figures, pagodas, junks, and various floral designs printed in yellow on brown jugs, bowls and plates. However, these pieces were not marked, and the patterns seemed to be generic patterns not exactly matching known blue printed transferware patterns. Collectors of willow and other Chinoiserie patterns seem to be the people most drawn to the wares. Figures 1 and 2 are two sides of a jug with such a pattern. I hadn't seen any example of that pattern printed in under glaze blue. Read Article.

FEATURE BOOKS

The Cambrian Company: Swansea Pottery in London 1806-1808, by Jonathan Gray


In 1808, James Christie II was employed to sell the remaining stock of the Cambrian Company, the London Warehouse of the Swansea Pottery located at 64 Fleet Street. The auction sales, between February and April 1808, comprised around 14,000 pieces in over 1,000 lots, similar in scale to the Wedgwood & Bentley disposals in 1781. Much of the finest pottery made in Swansea was included in these 1808 sales - pieces decorated with Nelson, the Welsh Bard, Birds and Butterflies etc. More info.

The Diaz Collection: Material Culture and Social Change in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Monterey (California), by David L. Felton and Peter D. Schultz


This report, prepared by the Cultural Resource Management Unit of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, describes archaeological excavations and studies of the 1820s Cooper-Molera Adobe. It includes a healthy dose of transferware. Available as a PDF download. Download here.

CLUB & INFORMATION WEBSITES

The Connecticut Ceramics Circle

Check out their site for list of upcoming lectures and other member benefits that include:

  • Seven monthly lectures from noted ceramics experts via Zoom
  • Links to Zoom recordings of lectures
  • Monthly Newsletter via email
  • Discounted Seminar fee
  • Optional membership in the CCC Research Group
  • Field trips to galleries, viewing of private collections, and special private museum tours
  • Contributors, Patrons and Speaker Sponsors receive special recognition
  • Speaker Sponsors are invited to join the Speaker during the Zoom practice session

Visit the site.


The Daniel Ceramic Circle

The Daniel Ceramic Circle is where you will find accurate and up-to-date information and the latest research into the manufacture of H & R DANIEL pioneers of enameling and gilding techniques, and producers of some of the finest ceramics of their day. Visit the site.


Find more of the informative resources we've compiled here.

CLASSIFIEDS

FOR SALE

Copeland earthenware tray for a tea set



This large Copeland earthenware tray for a tea set measures 382 mm (15 inches) in diameter and stands 40 mm (1.5 inches) high. It is decorated to the centre with a brown printed pattern in the Japanesque or Aesthetic movement style, featuring a large Japanese vase, two fences and flowers and foliage. Link to more info and purchase.

C J Mason porcelain part tea set



This rare C J Mason porcelain part tea set consists of a pumpkin shaped teapot, two tea pot stands and four trios. All the pieces are decorated with a hand coloured pattern of a basket of flowers to the centre and, around the rim, a hand coloured print of flowers and bamboo, with the enamel colours still quite vivid. Link to more info and purchase.

Please contact us if you are interested in placing a classified ad

with an emphasis on transferware.

NEW MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY


The online membership directory is a feature of our new program to improve members services. You must sign in to your account to view and search the directory. Please check your listing and make the appropriate changes in your account or transmit any corrections to the Member Chair. This list is for use of Transferware Collectors Club members only. It is intended to facilitate contacts between members. The list is not to be used for commercial purposes. If you are a current member and believe your name should be on this list please contact the Member Chair. View the directory.

AUCTION WATCH

There are no auctions listed at this time.


Please contact us if you know of an auction with an emphasis on transferware.

NEW BOOKS

Please contact us if you have recommendations of

newly published transferware books.

MEMBERSHIP

Has Your Postal Mailing Address Changed?????


If you have moved but are not receiving your quarterly TCC Bulletin, you probably forgot to notify our member chair of your new address (this applies to email address changes also). The bulletin is mailed “bulk” and is not forwarded to new addresses by the USPS. Please notify the member chair directly: membership@transferwarecollectorsclub.org or make the necessary changes to your account online.

MORE ABOUT TRANSFERWARE COLLECTORS CLUB


CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS

We are now accepting simple classified (not display) advertisements from TCC member transferware dealers as well as non-dealer members and auction houses. There is no charge for this member service. Following are the criteria:  

  • Limited to three quality images of item(s) for sale or example(s) of an item(s) you wish to purchase.
  • Include a very short description paragraph, including a link to your website and/or email address.
  • Dealers must be TCC members, limited to once/year maximum.
  • Requests will be processed in the order received, and there is no guarantee as to when your ad will be posted.
  • The TCC Web Administrator at his/her discretion has the right to reject inappropriate or inadequate submittals.


Contact:  

webadministrator@transferwarecollectorsclub.org


The Database Needs Editors 

Do you love a good mystery? Do you fancy yourself to be a Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple? If your answer is "yes", then you are the perfect candidate to join the ranks of TCC Database Detectives! Download more information.  


New Database Discoveries

Articles Needed 

Please contact the web administrator with suggestions or contributions of future Database Discoveries articles. See Database Discoveries archives. 


Contributions Needed for Bulletin  

Bulletin editor Richard Halliday is seeking contributions for the upcoming bulletin.


Contact: bulletineditor@transferwarecollectorsclub.org.

LOOKING for a FEW (MORE) DATABASE EDITORS

Looking for anyone with a passion for the beauty and history of transferware who would like to help record lovely old patterns for a worldwide audience. The Database of Patterns and Sources is maintained by a team of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. You could be one of them! We're currently looking for editors in Romantic patterns, Literature and Performing Arts, and Tiles, but let us know your interests and we can find a spot for you. Contact Len at otlink@aol.com for more information!

SEEKING BULLETIN SUBMITTALS

The TCC Bulletin editor seeks submittals to future editions, particularly from first time or occasional authors. We have an extremely knowledgeable member base, yet many of our members seldom or never share their knowledge, at least in printed form. Now is your chance. Bulletin submittals do not need to be extremely technical or lengthy. They just need to be interesting and relate to British transferware! And they need to be accompanied by quality images. We would especially welcome articles from our growing number of archaeologist members.


Don’t fret if you have little experience. We will be pleased to work with you, to formulate your concept and bring your article along. Simply send us your ideas, if that is where you are, or text, even in preliminary form, if you are further along. Please submit in MS Word format, and separately, images in png, pdf or jpeg format. Please do NOT convert to PDF. Don’t worry if this is a problem for you; we’ll work with you to bring your article from preliminary to final, printed, stage, no matter your level of computer and word processes experience. Download the Guidelines.


Suggested topics: 

  1. Your favorite transferware piece, either your own or displayed elsewhere (why is it your favorite?, how did you acquire it?, what is the pattern, maker if known?). 
  2. What is your favorite place to view transferware: museum? stately home? Historic or archaeological site?
  3. Tell (and show) us your own collection (really good pictures required).
  4. New discoveries.
  5. Archaeological sites: overall summary of the excavation as relates to transferware; discuss a particular pattern or piece; context/importance of the transferware.
  6. In-depth research of a pattern, series, maker.


Contacts: 

Dan Sousa, Interim TCC Bulletin Editor: dsousa1775@gmail.com

David Hoexter, Co-Editor: davidhoexter@icloud.com

Michael Sack, Co-Editor: msack@michaelsack.com

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