How Do I Date a Piece of Beswick Pottery?
It can be hard to date pieces of Beswick pottery because many of the same pottery marks on the bottoms of the figurines have shown up repeatedly over long periods of years. The Beswick Ware Made in England mark has been used from 1936 onwards, for example.
The Beswick England crest in black, BP10, dates from 1998, when Beswick redesigned its earlier marks for storybook figurines. As of May 2015, there are three variations of BP10 in use.
The impressed Beswick mark appeared on many figurines from about 1954 to 1971. From about 1968 to 1990, Beswick issued brown and green variations of a Walt Disney Beswick England stamp on figurines from the Winnie the Pooh series.
However, some pieces are easier to date, since their pottery marks were used for 10 years or fewer. Beswick England circular and oval marks, printed in green, date a figurine as hailing from the 1920s. A Beswick Alice Series stamp on an earthenware Alice in Wonderland figure suggests a date of 1973 to 1983.
Beswick’s BP1 mark, with “Beswick England” written in a circle in gold lettering, was issued from 1948 to 1954. It is known to exist on 19 figures from the Beatrix Potter series.
Beswick used variations of another gold mark, known as the gold script mark, from 1997 to 1999 on anniversary, gold and platinum editions. BP9-b was the main backstamp used on these pieces, which featured gold or platinum highlights on the bodies of the figurines.
Beswick ceased production in 2002 at its historic Gold Street works in Longton Stoke-on-Trent, England. However, Dartington Crystal bought the Beswick name and product design in 2004. As of May 2015, Dartington continues to produce Beswick pottery.
