Wedgewood Antique Dinnerware—What Is Jasperware And How To Date It?
Antique collectors and enthusiasts who buy Wedgewood dinnerware and pottery, often collect Jasperware. Jasperware was developed through a series of experiments by Josiah Wedgewood, the manufacturer of the famous Wedgewood China.Jasperware, in many respects, is Josiah Wedgewood’s crowning achievement. The pieces are made from translucent clay combined with basalt producing dense colored stoneware. It took Wedgewood over 10,000 experiments to perfect his original formula of this homogeneous mixture of clays and glazes.
After finally completing the formula, Wedgewood created Jasperware in white or colored stoneware or ceramic body that comes in a matte finish. While pieces were also made in different colors, the most popular were the white and blue versions. These pieces were launched in 1755 and gained an overwhelming popularity particularly among American families.
More Antique Jasperware Resources
Jasperware pieces are wonderfully unique but very hard to date. If you are interested in collecting Jasperware the following points might help you:
- Jasperware pieces dated from 1908 onwards are marked with ‘Wedgewood, Made in England’. Before 1970, marks were separated (Wedgewood Made in England).
- Smaller Jasperware pieces carry the mark ‘Wedgewood England’.
- Jasperware produced before 1908 were marked ‘Wedgewood England’ but the marks varied in size from one piece to the other.• Between 1891 and 1908, letters accompanied the ‘Wedgewood England’ mark. This helps identify manufacturing dates. The letters help identify the month in which it was produced, the potter who produced it and the year of its production respectively. Say, P stands for 1861, Q stands for 1862, R stands for 1863 and so on, though sometimes this system is not effective since some periods overlap.
- Jasperware manufactured before 1860 were marked with ‘Wedgewood’, accompanied by the potter’s personal marks and a single letter.
Jasperware pieces are precious to antique collectors. If you are serious about collecting and buying antique Jasperware, knowledge in how to date pieces is vital to verify the authenticity of these great antiques.
