Rabbitware: Border Rabbits

The June Pattern of the Month features the fourth of four Rabbitware themes. Rabbitware, an uncommon transferware genre, was produced around the turn of the 20th century (some patterns possibly earlier) for the American market. It is a combination of transfer printing and stick sponge with hand painting. Forms produced include (primarily) plates, chargers, (rarely) oval platters, and (rarely) mugs, small jugs and a few additional, miscellaneous, forms. There are four pattern categories or series. Two series are anthropomorphic: Sports (featured in the February 2025 POM), and Vignette (featured in the April POM). The third category, a much more common series, is Center Rabbits (featured in the March 2025 POM), commonly but not always including frogs!). Finally, the fourth series features various versions of rabbits in the border with stick sponge and hand painted decoration in the center. The maker of the current series is unknown (only the maker of the Sports Series is known). Three of the four border versions include frogs. Rabbits, with frogs, variously face one-way; pairs face each other; rabbits appear in random configuration; and in the fourth variation, are running all in the same direction. The rabbits dominate, but why the addition of frogs? The TCC Database of Patterns and Sources currently documents 12 Rabbitware patterns (simply search under “rabbitware”, with more due to be recorded. For more information, view the DB records and an introductory article on the subject by Siddall and Hoexter in the 2010 Vol. XI no. 1 TCC Bulletin, available to download. View larger image. See past Patterns of the Month.

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

Seattle 2012 Meeting

We viewed marvelous collections during our 2012 Seattle meeting, which was organized by Marcia and Klaus Zech. See larger image. See past Photos of the Month.

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

Powell Bishop & Stonier Porcelain Aesthetic Movement Tea Set



This porcelain Aesthetic Movement tea set and tray were spotted at the Brimfield Antiques market during the TCC Spring Conference last month. The Anglo-Japanese motifs of the pattern are typical of the Aesthetic Movement, which drew upon Japanese design elements and frequently incorporated sunflowers. The partnership of Powell Bishop & Stonier was in operation at the Church Works, Hanley, Staffordshire, from 1878 to 1891, producing earthenware and china. They were successors to other companies dating back to 1851. Partners Edwin Powell and Frederick Bishop died in 1890 and 1891, and a new partnership was formed between James Watson Bishop and John Stonier to form Bishop & Stonier. This name continued, with changes in ownership, until 1936 when the Stonier name was dropped. Bishop closed only three years later at the outbreak of World War II and did not reopen. This set is marked with a Wand of Caduceus backstamp and the hand-painted number 3808.

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

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

A Transferware Blog by Judie Siddall.

Transferware and Cookies

As this is a transferware blog, I'll show you how I served and displayed the nearly 100 cookies Joey and I made. Read more.



2015 Recipient of TCC Research Grant

Transfer-printed Medical & Toilet Wares 1780-1850

Richard Halliday, Market Harborough, UK, Study Title: Transferware Medical and Toilet Wares 1780-1850, Project Completion Date: December 2017, Download PDF (members only) or Purchase hard copy.

The 2025 deadline for research grant applications will be in the fall. Please check back again soon for the new deadline and updated application.

TCC Transferware Worldwide Lecture Series

July 17th 1PM EDT

Between the Chini Khana and the China Room: The Architectural Reuse of British Transferware in Nineteenth-Century India

Speaker: Heeryoon Shin, Assistant Professor of Art History and Visual Culture, Bard College

Description: nineteenth-century India, blue-and-white transferware from Staffordshire found a new life as affixed ornamentation in palace interiors. Set into walls in original form, or broken into flat, rectilinear pieces to meticulously cover walls, niches, and balconies, British transferware plates and their luminous blue-and-white surface effectively framed gods and kings and created a multisensory experience of space. Taking the two late nineteenth-century sites of Juna Mahal in Dungarpur and Junagadh Fort in Bikaner as points of departure, I explore how the design and materiality of British transferware as well as their display acquired new meaning and purpose in Indian palace spaces. Evoking the tradition of tiled ornamentation and the display of ceramics in the chini khana (“China room”) in India, while also referencing European porcelain rooms, the transferware-covered walls reveal the complex cultural negotiations and material and political aspirations of nineteenth-century India. By examining the Indian reuse of British transferware, this talk complicates the conventional narrative of West looking East and highlights the nonlinear and multidirectional flows of ceramic culture.

Speaker: Heeryoon Shin, Assistant Professor of Art History and Visual Culture, Bard College. Heeryoon Shin is Assistant Professor of Art History and Visual Culture at Bard College, New York. Her current project explores architectural revival, mobility, and cross-cultural exchange in early colonial India through the lens of temple architecture in the pilgrimage city of Banaras. She is also developing a second project on the global circulation of blue and white ceramics and their interaction with local production and use in South Asia.

Check for Zoom link in late June early July.

The June bulletin is currently at the designer and should be printed and mailed shortly. 

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

The Architecture of Charles Bulfinch on Historical Blue Staffordshire Part 1: The Early Buildings, 1790-­1807

The Architecture of Charles Bulfinch on Historical Blue Staffordshire Part 2: The Later Buildings, 1810-­1832

by Goldberg, Hayden

These are two of four articles authored by transferware collector and researcher Hayden Goldberg and originally published in The Magazine ANTIQUES. Read more Part 1 and Part 2.

Potteries of Trenton Society, NJ

The Potteries of Trenton Society (POTS) is a New Jersey non-profit corporation. Our mission is to promote the study and appreciation of Trenton’s ceramic industry by: gathering and preserving information related to the industry, sponsoring research projects, seminars and conferences, and promoting industry-related heritage tourism activities. Visit the site.

Prattware Pottery

The site has a collection of Prattware, the process of underglaze clour printing on pottery. Visit the site.

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

There are no auctions scheduled at this time.

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

For Sale: Large collection of brown and red transferware

Located in Virginia. Contact Mary Cheston atmcheston@aol.com. Click to see larger images.

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

with an emphasis on transferware.

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.

Please contact us if you have recommendations of

newly published transferware books.

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.

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!

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