Wedgwood marks: how to read the impressed name and date codes

Most Wedgwood is marked with the name WEDGWOOD impressed into the clay. The words around it date it: ENGLAND was added after 1891, MADE IN ENGLAND became standard in 1908, and from 1860 to 1929 many pieces also carry a three-letter impressed code whose last letter gives the year. A mark spelled “Wedgewood”, with an extra E, is usually not Wedgwood at all.

By the Antique ID team · Updated 2026-10-13

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How to identify a Wedgwood mark

Turn the piece over and look for letters pressed into the clay rather than printed on it. The Potteries' guide to dating Wedgwood, written by Keith Hays, notes that Josiah Wedgwood began impressing his name around 1759 and that a single-piece WEDGWOOD stamp came into use about 1769. The impressed name continued for centuries alongside printed backstamps on tableware. Wear, glaze and firing can soften the letters, so use a raking light or a soft pencil rubbing on paper.

The partnership mark WEDGWOOD & BENTLEY belongs to the ornamental wares Josiah made with Thomas Bentley. A V&A mould for the circular “Wedgwood & Bentley : Etruria” stamp is dated 1769–1780, and the museum notes the mark often appears under the plinths of large basalt vases and on busts. Wedgwood revived the name for a 2011 collection, and the V&A's 2011 Panther Vase carries both WEDGWOOD & BENTLEY and a modern MADE IN ENGLAND mark. Always look for the second mark.

How to date Wedgwood: the three-letter code

In 1860 the factory began impressing a three-letter code. The Potteries' guides explain it this way: the first letter is the month, the second identifies the workman who made the piece, and the last letter is the year, starting with O for 1860. The year letters ran on through the alphabet and the series was repeated four times. The V&A catalogues a Wedgwood Pearl plate simply as bearing date letters for 1864, which is how museum records use the system.

The first two cycles can be ambiguous. The guide gives the example TOT, which could be June 1865 or June 1891. Month letters help: June is always T and August always W, while in 1860–1863 March was M, May Y and July V, changing in 1864 to R, M and L. Treat a decoded year as a strong clue, then check that it fits the shape, body and decoration.

ENGLAND and MADE IN ENGLAND

After 1891 Wedgwood added ENGLAND to its mark, because U.S. law from 1 March 1891 required imports to name their country of origin. According to the dating guide, MADE IN ENGLAND appears on some wares as early as 1898 and replaced ENGLAND in general use in 1908. Later pieces can be very explicit: the V&A's 1956 jasper medallion of Thomas Bentley is impressed WEDGWOOD / MADE IN / ENGLAND / 1956. See how to identify pottery marks for the wider picture.

Jasperware notes

The V&A describes jasperware as a high-fired stoneware invented by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1770s, colored with mineral oxide stains, with white reliefs applied to a colored ground. Some pieces are solid-colored jasper; others are “dipped”, with a colored surface over a different body, like the V&A's light blue medallion with a dark blue dip. Jasper was made for well over two centuries, so the mark, not the color, does most of the dating. Look at the crispness of the reliefs, the undercutting of figures and whether the reliefs were applied by hand.

Variations and imitations

The best-known imitation mark is WEDGEWOOD, with an E. The Potteries' record of William Smith & Co. of Stockton-on-Tees describes how that firm, which called its works the “Stafford Pottery”, marked ware Wedgwood or Wedgewood. On 9 November 1848 a perpetual injunction barred it from using either name, yet it reportedly carried on with “Wedgewood” and even “Vedgwood”. Other clues that a piece is not Wedgwood:

• a printed rather than impressed name on a piece of a type Wedgwood normally impressed, such as jasper or basalt;
• misspellings, extra initials, or a mark naming a different town;
• jasper-style decoration that is painted or moulded in one piece instead of applied as separate reliefs.

What drives value

Period matters most: 18th-century Wedgwood & Bentley ornamental wares sit in a different market from 20th-century tableware. After that come the body (jasper, basalt, creamware, majolica, bone china), rarity of the form, quality of reliefs or painting, size and condition. Chips to reliefs, staining and restoration reduce interest.

Next steps

Write down every impressed letter and number, then scan the piece with Antique ID for an identification and an estimated value. Treat the estimate as a guide, not an appraisal, and ask a ceramics specialist to confirm anything that looks early or rare.

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