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Backstamps are essentially trade
marks, the main purpose of which is to indicate the
manufacturer of a piece of china. Changes in these
trade marks recorded from time to time enable collectors
to estimate the approximate date of manufacture of
an item. In the UK, a trade mark can be registered
with the Patent Office to ensure that the manufacturer
has sole right to its use. During the period 1899-1940,
Star, then Paragon, registered only a single trade
mark. Thus, though many different Star and Paragon
backstamps can be found, all, bar one, were unregistered
and cannot be dated with any great certainty.
Many ot the backstamps listed here
are detailed in Geoffrey 'A Goddens Encyclopaedia
of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks' and 'Encyclopaedia
of British Porcelain Manufacturers' where that author
gives an indication of when new styles were introduced.
These estimates are thought to have been based on
information gathered from the Pottery Gazette Diary.
Corrections and additions, brought to light by the
most recent research, have been included in the backstamps
detailed.
Collectors of Paragon will soon
come across marks not included in previously published
lists and many mistakes arise because of unrecorded
subtle changes in the star mark between c1915 and
c1933. Further, the evidence suggests that Paragon
were not too strict in their use of backstamps and
some were used long after they had been superseded.
This can give rise to each piece in a trio having
a different backstamp, though, presumably, breakage
replacement apart, they were all produced at the same
time.
For each of the backstamps shown,
the date it was introduced has been estimated, the
mark being used from then on. For some of them, it
has also been possible to deduce a date after which
the mark was no longer used, for some reason, though,
generally, backstamps of any particular type were
used until the supply of transfers used to produce
them became depleted.
Each mark has been coded to aid
identification. Special backstamps, such as those
found on the various nursery ware series, commemorative
issues and china produced for specific retail outlets,
have not been included but these items can readily
be dated from the pattern number or from the historic
event commemorated.
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