Page 12 - BBR magazine 140 - 30yrs issue

Britain
In Britain collectors are particularly excited by the earliest baluster shaped pots that appear to have been made in or in the style of
Reinish stoneware (off white and washed
with blue oxide) featuring a raised crown
with the Royal initials for GR WR or VR.
There is some evidence that imported
Bellamines were stamped in Germany with British monarch’s initials to meet requirements
for measures, so this does not imply Royal warranty but it is also known that London potters copied the style.
Above R: Impressive, early, crested, ‘Genuine/ WR/ Patent Mustard’
The earlier the better in terms of monarch, but best of all are pots with
maker’s names and crests. Handled vases (two finger holders to
the sides) include some exceptionally rare
ones with names of oilmen around the shoulder. The oldest I’ve yet seen is for William Wyatt, No 11 King
Street Soho with ‘prepared mustard’ towards the base (above) - the ‘GR’ crest puts it before 1820, & base impressed ‘LONDON / MUSTARD’. Next a very similar pot for Crosse & Blackwell the same address (they succeeded him in 1827) with ‘WR’ for William IV (1830-37). These all have ribbed necks, and text in blue. Then a smooth neck pot made for ‘Batty’s Oil & Italian Warehouse Pavement Finsbury’ with ‘GENUINE / PATENT MUSTARD’.
The pots made for Batty & Co, below, are very well known but untangling the dates is much more difficult. Robert Feast of 15 &16 The Pavement, Finsbury was in partnership with George Batty his son in law for 18 years from 1834-51 but something went sour - a fight over the right to a jointly awarded Gold Medal at the 1851 Exhibition. Feast went public to declare Batty & Co of 101 and 102 Leadenhall Street had no right to claim they had won it. In 1852 dissolution of partnership notices stated Batty & Co would now concentrate on export trade but in 1857 they announced they had bought out the now bankrupt Robert Feast. Robert may have ruined his own reputation since the Sydney Morning Herald reported, in 1856, that he’d been caught selling fraudulent measures. There are a bewildering number of pots but probably those having ‘Batty & Co’ are later? The latest are definitely the registered chunky pots with blue shoulders employed after
1900. By that time the were owned by the vinegar makers C H & E Slee. If you’ve ever wondered why Heinz used the same pot then you’ll be interested to know Batty
was bought by them in 1905. Now if you have ever wondered about that
‘patent’ the solution might be found in newspaper adverts for
“Fisher's Patent Prepared Mustard
in Pot, strongly recommended. I.
M. Fisher's Oil, Italian, and British
Wine Warehouse, 407, Strand, opposite Adam-street, Adeiphi”; if the address
seems familiar it became that of William
Burgess, using very rare early ring topped, handleless, urn pots for ‘BURGESS’ /
[crest] / REDY MADE MUSTARD /
WARENTED TO KEEP / PREPARED BY / W.
H. BURGESS / KING WILLIAM STREET / LONDON
BRIDGE’. Even rarer is another with blue highlighted rings but a black transfer for
Above: A later Batty mustard with metal lid.
‘PATENT MUSTARD/ from S. CEARNS’S/ General Grocery &/ Ship’s/ Store Warehouse/ No 13 CHAPEL STREET /
LIVERPOOL’. An obituary in the Baptist Magazine of
1834 mentions that Edward Cearns born in 1794 had died but Samuel is our man and owned shares in ships; he travelled to Australia and America and the firm had become
Cearns & Brown by 1855 supplying Pilkington & Wilson’s ships. A Similar handleless pot is known with a red print for ‘H
CURRIE, King Street/ LIVERPOOL’ around ‘PATENT/ MUSTARD’ in script; Hugh & James Currie are listed as grocers and merchants in 1799. The likely dates for these handleless ring
tops is suggested by one ‘W. Pater / Hammerfmith / 1818’, blue script to body. William Pater at King Street Hammersmith was a ‘talllow chandlers melter, oilman, grocer, cheesemonger, pork butcher and bacon curer’. Now everyone knows and lusts after the spectacular Gay’s Mustard pots with their pictorial of Kirkstall Abbey. Apart from the
Above L to R: ‘S Cearns’s / Patent Mustard.’ Exceptionally rare blue topped & transferred ‘W Pater Hammersmith 1812 . ‘C & B’ urn shape, complete with wooden stopper.
Above L to R: The early Batty ‘VR’ crested pot - followed by a blue top (c. 1860 poss?), rear of an 1870’s pot, heavily decorated c. 1880, less ornate c. 1890.
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