Dear Helaine and Joe: Enclosed are photographs of a pitcher and bowl set that my husband purchased this year from an antique shop for $115.
The markings indicate to us that this piece was made during the mid- to late 1800s. Can you tell me if my research is correct. And were these two pieces were made by the Minton factory of Germany? Are they porcelain or stoneware, and what is the value?
Thank you. — K.G., Augusta, Ga.
Dear K.G.: The research sounded really good until we got to the phrase "made by the Minton factory of Germany." That was a bit of a shocker because, to the best of our knowledge, there is no Minton factory in Germany and never has been.
The Minton company we are familiar with was founded in 1793 in Stoke, Staffordshire, England. They made porcelain and earthenware and they are are famous for their Parian ware (a type of white porcelain that resembles marble), and their majolica ware (a type of colorful, lead glazed earthenware).
The company was called "Minton" until 1873, when an "s" was added and the firm began signing its pieces "Mintons." The piece belonging to K.G. does not have this telltale "s," so it was made sometime before 1873.
Minton actually date marked its products for the 100 years between 1842 and 1942, and these markings can be very helpful to collectors who want to know exactly when their piece was manufactured.
Over the years, Minton used symbols looked like asterisks, squares, diamonds, swans, squares or triangles in circles, a badminton shuttlecock (we suspect a play on words), a sailing ship, an airplane, a revolver, and, in 1942, a "V" for victory. However, a swastika was used in 1927.
On K.G.'s piece there is a "Z" with a line through the slanting crossbar, and this is the date symbol for 1864. This bowl and pitcher set can be dated even more precisely because there should also be a month code somewhere on the bottom: "J" for January, "F" for February, "M" for March, "E" for May, "I" for June, "H" for July, "Y" for August, "S" for September, "O" for October, "N" for November and "D" for December.
Unfortunately, we could not see this mark in the photographs that were submitted.
There is one more mark on this set that needs to be explored, and that is the "BB" that appears under the impressed name "Minton." This stands for "Best Body" and was used on earthenware pieces made by Minton during the mid-19th century.
In the years before homes commonly had indoor bathrooms, the bowl and pitcher was a necessity for performing the necessary ablutions and just about every bedchamber in every home had one of these bowl and pitcher sets. Usually they came with more pieces such as a soap dish, a slop jar (for disposing of the waste water), a chamber pot, a toothbrush holder and the like.
Therefore, bowl and pitcher sets such as this one are not uncommon. Still, those manufactured by a quality maker such as Minton are desirable to many of today's collectors. This particular one has some wear to the gilding and the lovely roses are probably transfer printed, but the $115 that K.G.'s husband paid for this set is still a bargain. On the current market, the insurance replacement value of this set is likely $350 to $400.
Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson are the authors of the "Price It Yourself" (HarperResource, $19.95). Questions can by mailed to them at P.O. Box 12208, Knoxville, TN 37912-0208.