Beswick Pottery – A Guide to ‘Backstamps’ Or Porcelain Marks on Beswick Figurines
Collectors of porcelain figurines will be familiar with the wide range of stamps used by manufacturers to mark their work. Sometimes referred to as ‘stamps’ or ‘backstamps’, these marks are generally found on the underside of the figurine and will always include the name of the manufacturer at the very least.
John Beswick followed this practice at his Beswick factory and the range of marks or stamps that can be found on Beswick pieces give an invaluable insight into both the provenance and value of the piece itself.
One very important question that sometimes arises with Beswick figurines is whether the lack of a mark or stamp on the underside indicates that it is not a genuine piece. The answer to this is no. There are a large number of Beswick figurines in circulation that do not have a mark at all and the Beswick factory was well known for unfinished pieces, particularly on a Friday afternoon!
The earlier Beswick stamps, dating from just after the First World War, take the form of a simple circle or oval shape formed by the words ‘Beswick England’. Printed in green, this will be indicative of one of the early pieces. By 1936 the stamp had changed into ‘Beswick Ware Made in England’ appearing in beautiful flowing handwriting and the circular or oval shape had disappeared altogether. In each case the mark or stamp appeared in the middle of the underside of the piece.
1954 saw the introduction of an impressed mark and the inclusion of the serial number of the individual piece as well. The words ‘BESWICK ENGLAND’ appear in block capitals, this time in a semi-circle around the inside edge of the base of the piece and set below that will be the serial number.
In the late 1960’s the Beswick pottery began producing the first of a series of special figurine collections, the most famous of which is, of course, the Beatrix Potter collection. This necessitated the giving of much greater information in the stamp so, for example, you will see ‘© WALT DISNEY PROD BESWICK ENGLAND’ on the underside of the Winnie the Pooh series, which was produced from 1968 to 1990. Another good example would be the Alice in Wonderland series produced from 1973 to 1983 where the mark would include the words ‘ALICE SERIES “Queen of Hearts” BESWICK Made in England’ followed by a Royal Doulton copyright notice. Early Beatrix Potter figurine stamps are similar in appearance and include the F Warne & Co Ltd copyright notice. Some but not all will be dated too.
Latterly, Beswick, then owned by Royal Doulton, introduced a gold script mark for limited editions and reverted to ‘Beswick Ware’ in the mark on some variations.