Rookwood Pottery Marks: How to Identify and Date Them

Rookwood's core mark, used from 1886 onward, is a reversed 'R' and 'P' placed back to back, surrounded by a ring of flame shapes. From 1888 to 1900, one flame was added to the ring each year; from 1901 onward the flame count was fixed at 14, and the year was instead indicated by a Roman numeral below the mark. Before 1886, pieces were hand-marked 'ROOKWOOD' plus the date (a practice that began in 1882).

• 1880-1882 (earliest period): No standardized marking system yet existed; decorators hand-wrote their own signature or the company name.
• 1882-1886: Pieces were marked on the base with 'ROOKWOOD' plus the date in block letters, with no flame motif yet.
• 1886-1900: From 1886, the mark switched to the reversed R-P device; starting in 1888, one flame was added around the device each year, so counting the flames gives the year -- by 1900 there were 14.
• From 1901 onward: The flame count was fixed at 14 and stopped increasing; the year was instead shown as a Roman numeral below the device.

For pieces from 1886-1900, count the flames around the R-P device (one was added each year after 1886); for pieces after 1901, read the Roman numeral below the 14 flames, which corresponds to a year code.

The Cincinnati Art Museum holds the largest public Rookwood collection and is often used by researchers as a benchmark, but within the available time no directly quotable text explaining the flame-dating method could be retrieved from its website, so an exhibition page from the Miami University Art Museum (Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum, also an academic museum) was used instead. No sourced description of common fakes could be found, and the 'base location' finding is also lower-confidence, so both are listed as unverified.

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.