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Similar, Revival and Counterfeit Wares
Not every piece that resembles an earlier pottery
manufacturer should be regarded as a fake. The pieces can be attractive
decorative ceramics and are often used in their own right as display and
decor pieces but should not described as English Staffordshire ware.
In general, these wares fall into
five general categories:
1)
Counterfeits
& "Passing Off:
Wares produced with the deliberate intention of deceiving buyers by exploiting the identity or reputation of an established brand.
Once considered comparatively rare, the influx of cheap global manufacturing—particularly from factories in China—has made these deceptive practices increasingly
common.
This behavior generally falls into two
categories:
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Counterfeiting:
The exact, unauthorized copying of a registered trademark, logo, or brand name onto a fake product (e.g., placing a fraudulent "Wedgwood" backstamp onto a piece made in an unrelated
factory).
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Passing Off: Designing a product, packaging, or brand name to look so similar to a well-known competitor that it confuses the public, "passing off" the goods as if they are associated with or endorsed by the established brand without directly copying a registered
trademark.
Both tactics directly infringe on the intellectual property of British manufacturers and severely mislead both consumers and collectors.
2) Defunct Brands and the Public Domain
When a historic pottery company closes, its intellectual property (IP) is often sold to larger ceramic groups who retain the legal right to sue for infringement.
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However, if a company closed decades ago and its official trademarks were allowed to expire, the brand name and historic backstamps enter the public domain.
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In these cases, no civil legal action can be taken against a modern manufacturer who revives the dead mark.
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While consumer protection laws (such as Trading Standards) still prohibit selling these modern reproductions as genuine antiques, the lack of an active IP owner means collectors must rely strictly on physical attributes—such as clay body, glaze characteristics, and weight—to differentiate old from new.
3)
Revival, Reproduction and Inspired Designs
Modern manufacturers often produce wares inspired by earlier English, European or Oriental styles.
Such pieces are legitimate products in their own right, even though they may borrow decorative themes from the past. They are not intended to deceive and are frequently marked with their true country of origin or manufacturer's name.
4) Indeterminate Branding - Implied British Manufacture
The use of British addresses, traditional imagery, historic pottery names, or phrases such as “Designed in Britain” that may give the impression of UK manufacture, while the pottery itself is produced overseas.
These pieces are not usually counterfeits and may be of excellent quality, but the branding or presentation can sometimes make it difficult for buyers to identify where the item was actually made.
5) Misidentifications
Similar initials, backstamps, decorative styles or incomplete marks can lead collectors, auctioneers or online sellers to attribute a piece to the wrong manufacturer. Careful examination of the mark, body, decoration and provenance
can generally resolve the identification.
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