Beswick potteries (John Beswick) was founded in the late 19th Century, originally producing tableware and ornaments but they are best known for their very high quality porcelain figurines (farm animals and Beatrix Potter characters). In the 1930's an agreement was made between Beswick's and a wholesaler called Hardy to produce Beswick approximately 200 items but under the name Trentham Art Wares, this agreement to expire in 7 years. The Trentham name appear on all of these items backstamps, not Beswick. Included in this range of items was the shape 505 Jug.
In 1941 the agreement ceased to operate and the name Beswick appeared in the backstamp. Beswick continued producing these items until the early 1960's.
(Reference The Beswick 2014 Price Guide page 137 - go HERE to view the price guide online)
Eventually, in 1969, the company Beswick was sold to Doulton & Co. (Royal Doulton)
While this jug has "Art Deco Elements" with the geometric shaped handle, circular base bowl and sloping sides to the top mount/pouring spout, the BIG thing that hits you with this jug is the visual aspect of the design.
BESWICK (Longton, Stoke-On-Trent) - Ceramic Jug (Pitcher in Americana)
Circa 1940 ~ 1960 (See notes above regarding the history of some Beswick items, including this shape 505)
Ceramic
Jug ONLY
Shape: 505
The design has geometric elements of Art Deco but the stand out feature is the oxide colouring used, it is in one word ...
STUNNING ... no joke!
We had this jug given to us way back in the 1970's by a family member who knew we were "into" Australian Diana drip glaze wares and mistakenly thought this Beswick was the same type of ceramic! The oxides are certainly very "earthy" but it has NOT been drip glazed. The base clay is actually white/cream and oxides added, even inside (brown) - at first glance it appears as though it was made from Red clays, but you can see the "raw clay" on the underside.
Now it is not the Browns that caught our attention but the Greens and Blues, yes there is Blue in there as well. These two colours are almost iridescent, the Green in particular almost glows! I always wondered (but never found out) what type of oxide could have been used to produce such a stunning colour. Uranium was used with glasses about this period and we even checked at the time with a UV light source to make sure there was no Uranium in the colours! There isn't, but it is truly an astonishing Green and Blue colouring, although the Greens dominate. This not "grass green" or even "leaves green" but an extremely vivid, actually quite similar to the colouring used in the plastic soft drink bottle next to it!
DIMENSIONS:
A photograph of an item without any reference can be difficult to judge the size of, that is the reason for placing the softdrink bottle next to this jug.
250mm Height
130mm Diameter (widest point on the lower bowl)
130mm Diameter (Mouth)
Gentle, wide spout which extends out from the mouth a further 5mm
We used this jug to hold water for plant watering (mainly) and know it comfortably holds 1.25L (you could probably go to 1.5L and not have a spill over) - actually to be more correct, 44 UK Fluid ounces (this was made in the period prior to measurements being made in litres after all)
BACKSTAMP
505 (impressed into the ceramic)
(Black printed backstamp)
BESWICK WARE (Diagonal Script writing)
MADE IN
ENGLAND
CONDITION:
Clean
NO cracks
NO crazing - actually we were expecting to find at least some after all these years but a visual inspection and "wet test" revealed nothing at all!
NO discolouration
NO wear or damage to the design
NO chips or other handling damage
NO stains or mould INSIDE the jug, nice Brown high lustre walls!
FINAL NOTE (I promise!)
While reviewing the photographs I saw the strangest thing .... take photograph two for example, look towards the bottom of the jug, left side. There is the Brown area with a Green border and JUST ABOVE the Green is small pieces of Brown again - they look like words! I tried to look at the jug directly, magnified, and I cannot make out what those words (if they are words) might be - a secret message from the potter? Hmmmm
While not a Beswick horse or Beatrix Potter character, this is certainly an outstanding ceramic "house-ware" item that visually appears more Australian than English!
