Mate Sound the Pump...
  • Home
    • Copper transfer plates
    • Dixon partnerships
    • North Shields Pottery partnerships
    • Seaham Pottery ownerships
    • London impressed mark
    • Fake over-painted items
    • Reproductions
    • References
    • Links
    • Exchange
  • Early plaques (pre-1845)
    • C, C & Co
    • Carr
    • Dawson
    • Dixon, Austin & Co
    • Fell
    • Fell or Carr & Patton?
    • Maling
    • Moore & Co
    • Newbottle
    • Scott
    • Sheriff Hill
    • Staffordshire
    • Turpin
    • Tyneside
    • Wallace
    • Unidentified
    • Relief plaques
  • Religious
    • Prepare to meet thy god – 1
    • Prepare to meet thy god – 2
    • Thou god seest me
    • Praise ye the lord
    • Behold god...
    • For/But man dieth...
    • Rejoice in the lord
    • God is love
    • Other scripture verses
    • John Wesley
    • Adam Clarke
    • Charles Wesley hymns
  • Maritime
    • May peace and plenty
    • Common ships
    • Less common ships
    • Rare ships
    • Maritime verses
    • Mariner's arms/compass
    • Other maritime
  • Miscellaneous
    • Plaques with hand-painted text
    • Poetic verses
    • Emblems and armorials
    • Portraits
    • Cast iron bridge of the Wear
    • Landscapes
    • The Bottle
    • Our Dumb Companions
    • Other pictorial plaques
  • Blog
  • Home
    • Copper transfer plates
    • Dixon partnerships
    • North Shields Pottery partnerships
    • Seaham Pottery ownerships
    • London impressed mark
    • Fake over-painted items
    • Reproductions
    • References
    • Links
    • Exchange
  • Early plaques (pre-1845)
    • C, C & Co
    • Carr
    • Dawson
    • Dixon, Austin & Co
    • Fell
    • Fell or Carr & Patton?
    • Maling
    • Moore & Co
    • Newbottle
    • Scott
    • Sheriff Hill
    • Staffordshire
    • Turpin
    • Tyneside
    • Wallace
    • Unidentified
    • Relief plaques
  • Religious
    • Prepare to meet thy god – 1
    • Prepare to meet thy god – 2
    • Thou god seest me
    • Praise ye the lord
    • Behold god...
    • For/But man dieth...
    • Rejoice in the lord
    • God is love
    • Other scripture verses
    • John Wesley
    • Adam Clarke
    • Charles Wesley hymns
  • Maritime
    • May peace and plenty
    • Common ships
    • Less common ships
    • Rare ships
    • Maritime verses
    • Mariner's arms/compass
    • Other maritime
  • Miscellaneous
    • Plaques with hand-painted text
    • Poetic verses
    • Emblems and armorials
    • Portraits
    • Cast iron bridge of the Wear
    • Landscapes
    • The Bottle
    • Our Dumb Companions
    • Other pictorial plaques
  • Blog
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

7/30/2011 0 Comments

Dimensions of plaques tentatively attributed to Carr

I've measured a variety of plaques which I've tentatively attributed to John Carr's Low Lights Pottery, North Shields.

Group 1

Most of this first group share the lustre decoration I talked about in a previous post. Oil appears to have been dropped at regular intervals around the frame. Gibson, in his book on Lustreware, writes 'An overall coating of pink lustre would be sprayed with fine drops of oil while still wet. These formed small pools on the surface which, when fired and the oil had burnt away, left the surface mottled'.  

The borders on most of the group 1 plaques have a variegated (almost striped) appearance (see below left).  Compare them with the more irregular lava-lamp quality of the Dixon plaques (below right).
There are variations of about half a centimetre in some of the sizes (see below).  N.B. these plaques all come from quite deep moulds (circa 40 mm). We would expect some variation amongst these deep plaques, even if they came from the same mould. Before their first firing, they would have been prone to distortion through handling, and I guess there was the possibility that the clay might 'sag' or 'droop' a little.  Looking at the photos below, the odd one out appears to be the centre right which has less 'pinched' corners than the others, and almost certainly comes from a different mould.

Top left, 210 x 187 mm
Top right, 215 x 190 mm
Middle left, 214 x 188 mm
Middle right, 215 x 193 mm
Bottom left, 216 x 186 mm
Bottom right, 218 x 185 mm

Group 2

On the surface of it, these look like a great match in terms of size. But the first mould (top left) is much deeper (circa 40 mm) and the plaque is heavier than the rest. The other five plaques are only circa 25 mm deep. As I've proposed above, their shallower depth may account for the much smaller degree of variation in their length and width, i.e. this mould holds its shape well. These plaques are attributed to Carr on the basis of the similarity of their transfers to the large plaques with rounded corners (see my July 23rd post).

Top left, 207 x 180 mm
Top right, 205 x 182 mm
Middle left, 205 x 182 mm
Middle right, 205 x 182 mm
Bottom left, 205 x 182 mm
Bottom right, 206 x 182 mm
So how do these compare with the dimensions of our marked Carr plaque (below), decorated in a similar manner to group 1?  Well my apologies to anyone who hoped this could be neatly wrapped up. It is significantly bigger than the plaques in either group.

'Prepare' plaque with impressed mark, 220 x 199 mm
Group 1 average, 215 x 188 mm
Group 2 average, 205 x 182 mm
But that's not to say the plaques above aren't Carr!  Expect more posts.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Stephen Smith lives in London, and is always happy to hear from other collectors. If you have an interesting collection of plaques, and are based in the UK, he will photograph them for you. Free advice given regarding selling and dispersal of a collection, or to those wishing to start one. Just get in touch...

    [email protected] 
     

    Archives

    February 2022
    August 2020
    June 2020
    September 2018
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Acknowledgements

    This website is indebted to collectors, dealers and enthusiasts who have shared their knowledge or photos. In particular: Ian Holmes, Stephen Duckworth, Dick Henrywood, Norman Lowe, Keith Lovell, Donald H Ryan, Harold Crowder, Jack and Joyce Cockerill, Myrna Schkolne, Elinor Penna, Ian Sharp, Shauna Gregg at the Sunderland Museum, Keith Bell, Martyn Edgell, and Liz Denton.
Proudly powered by Weebly