Clarice Cliff Marks: How to Identify and Date Them

The mark is a printed black ink stamp (a hand-painted signature-style design appears in some periods) reading 'Hand Painted Bizarre by Clarice Cliff', appearing together with the manufacturer's name, either Wilkinson Ltd. or Newport Pottery Co. Ltd.

• 1928 (design year): A Crocus-pattern cream jug in the V&A's collection is recorded as designed in 1928, with the manufacturer registered as Newport Pottery Co. Ltd. and the designer as Clarice Cliff, part of the early Bizarre/Fantasque series.
• circa 1930-1935: The mark in this period is a printed black ink stamp reading 'Hand Painted Bizarre by Clarice Cliff. Wilkinson, Ltd.'; the V&A records the manufacturer as Arthur J. Wilkinson & Co. Ltd., while the exhibition label instead names Newport Pottery Co. Ltd., Burslem.

V&A collection records show that a single Clarice Cliff piece can be associated with both the Newport Pottery Co. Ltd. and Arthur J. Wilkinson & Co. Ltd. names (the two were affiliated factories under the same group). This research could not find verbatim museum/official company statements on dating methods or common fakes.

Turn the piece over and light the mark from a low angle with a lamp or phone torch, which throws the impressed or engraved lines into relief; a printed or painted mark wants soft, even light instead. Fill the frame with the mark, then take a second shot of the whole piece. Do not clean tarnish off silver before photographing; the mark reads better dark. The app matches the mark and shape to the notes above.