Thomas Fell, St Peter's Pottery, Newcastle
Thomas Fell and Thomas Bell established the St Peter's Pottery in 1817, under the company name Thomas Fell & Co. In 1869, the firm became a limited company. The factory closed in 1890. The first plaque below has a 'FELL & CO' impressed mark over an anchor. The others in this group are unmarked and attributed to Fell on the basis of similarities of script and decoration to marked plaques.
The next three plaques are unmarked. They are attributed to Fell on the basis of similarities to the plaques in the group above, e.g. the letter 'S' in the first and third plaque. N.B. the decorative motif that Ian Holmes has referred to as 'colliding meteorites' (see first plaque below), also appears on plaques marked Dixon Co from the 1850s.
Fell also produced early transfer-printed plaques, c1830s (see below). The impressed marks (some indistinct), belong to the plaques on their left. The others are unmarked but attributed to Fell because they share the same transfers, or, in the case of the last plaque, because they pair with a plaque with a known Fell transfer. N.B. the last, 'Seek Ye', transfer is from a different transfer plate to those found on items attributed to Maling.
Flamboyant decorative elements appear on both plaques with transfers and those with hand-painted text. These are, so far as I know, unique to Fell.
Transitional plaques
None of these plaques is marked. They do, however, link the pink circular plaques above with the groups of plaques below. Note the position of the hanging holes in the third plaque.
Later plaques with impressed marks
Most of the attributions on this page stem from links to the c1850 plaques above, which have an impressed crown mark (see bottom left). This mark sometimes appears on other wares in conjunction with the Fell & Co over impressed anchor mark (see bottom right, from the reverse of the willow pattern plate beside it).
These transfers also rarely appear in conjunction with the London impressed mark. Variations of this mark were used by several North Eastern potteries, including Fell. The mark most likely designated items destined for a London distributor.
The five Fell plaques above have another distinguishing feature. The holes for hanging are pierced through the central rectangle of plaque, rather than through the lustre border. This feature is apparently unique to Fell, and may help us expand the group of transfers above. Read more here.
The five Fell plaques above have another distinguishing feature. The holes for hanging are pierced through the central rectangle of plaque, rather than through the lustre border. This feature is apparently unique to Fell, and may help us expand the group of transfers above. Read more here.
Thou god seest me
These six plaques are printed from the same transfer plate as the crown-impressed plaque above. The all-seeing eye, a feature associated with early Maling plaques, was likely added by an engraver in the 1830s. The centre plaques have a yellow sunburst decoration around the eye, also used by Maling, so it appears that Fell copied the decorative innovations of its Tyneside neighbour. Note the position of the hanging holes on the last three plaques.
Prepare to meet thy god
The first five plaques share the same transfer as the London-impressed plaque above. The fourth has similar decoration to that found on a plaque titled 'La Polka', marked 'B. & Co.' for Burn & Co of from the Stepney Bank Pottery. It is possible that Burn copied Fell's green decoration (or vice versa), or that one pottery supplied the other with printed earthenware for lustre decoration. The last plaque has a variation of the 'Prepare' transfer, with a Maling-like sunburst around the angel. It is, however, attributed to Fell on the basis of the position of the hanging holes (never yet seen on marked Maling items).
Behold god...
These three plaques share the same transfer as the crown-impressed plaque above. The decoration of the plaques is similar to those with the other verses above. The third plaque has a transfer from the same copper plate (see here), but the hanging holes are pierced through the lustre border.
But man dieth...
Again, these plaques share the same transfer as the crown-impressed plaque (top right) and the decoration of the last two is similar to those in the sections above.
John Wesley
These plaques are attributed to Thomas Fell on the basis of the decorative similarity of the first two plaques, to the circular verse plaques above. Only two of the plaques have impressed marks: a letter 'B' and a circular mark cut into segments (like a sliced cake). In each case the mark is shown to the right of the plaque that it is from. The source for this transfer is an engraving after a miniature painting by J. Barry (top centre image). See the Charles Wesley hymns page for the transcribed text beneath Wesley.
George Kinloch MP
The first plaque has the impressed letter 'B' shown to the right of it. The second plaque has a 'segmented circle' impressed mark (see section above). See the portraits page for the text beneath George Kinloch.
Staffordshire objects with similar transfers
For some time, I attributed these plaques to Staffordshire because their transfers appear on jugs and mugs with decoration that is unlike anything produced in the North East. Ian Sharp suggests the jugs and mugs might come from Chesworth & Robinson, who were 'prolific with their commemorative subjects'. However, on careful inspection, the transfers on the plaques come from different copper plates to those on the Staffordshire items. The plaques resemble commemorative plaques of Earl Grey, made by Fell's Tyneside neighbour, C, C & Co.
Hand-painted plaques
The first plaque has a 'segmented circle' impressed mark (see Wesley section above). The other plaques are unmarked but have similar text.