Marks and Markings of the Roseville Pottery Company

Although The Roseville Pottery Company was in business beginning in 1892, their early wares were unmarked. It was not until the majolica A & P “vase assortments” were released in 1896 that the first labels appear. They were simple paper stickers, with the letters “RPCo” in a scroll. The second stickers were the “rectangle” stickers, found on their majolica jardinieres, umbrella stands, and cuspidors.

Roseville vase assortment model number, in mold, ca. 1896-1900

Roseville “Scroll” paper label, ca. 1896-1900

Early Roseville Pottery “rectangle” paper label ca. 1900-1904

In 1900, Roseville began producing their underglaze-decorated brownware under the “Rozane” brand, and used a simple ROZANE die-stamped mark in the base. In 1903, with the arrival of the blue-tinted Azurean line came the occasional die-stamped AZUREAN mark, although most recieved no identifying mark. In 1904, some of the Chloron line pieces were given a blue inkstamp with “Chloron” and “TRPCo” in cursive.

Roseville Pottery Rozane RPCo mark ca. 1900-1904

Typical Azurean base ca. 1903-1904

In early 1905 the short-lived Chloron line was introduced, and it was marked with an inkstamp, and an unusually complicated TRPCo symbol.

Typical Chloron base ca. 1905

Later in 1905 an attempt was made to standardize their marks with the “Wafers”. These “Wafers” were clay-molded pieces that were attached to the bases of the various products. Each of the five major lines had a rocker added to the bottom of the wafer identifying that particular line. These five lines were: Egypto, Royal, Mongol, Mara, and Woodland. Around 1906 the rockers were abandoned, and most of the artware recieved the standard “Rozane ware” wafers, expanding to such lines as Della Robia, Aztec, and Crystalis. The major exception was the Olymipic line, which recieved a three line ROZANE “OLYMPIC” POTTERY inkstamp.

Roseville Rozane wafer, Ca 1905-1908

Roseville Egypto wafer, Ca 1905-1906

Roseville Royal wafer, Ca 1905-1906

Roseville Woodland wafer, Ca 1905-1906

Roseville Mongol wafer, Ca 1905-1906

Roseville Olympic mark, Ca 1906

Beginning around 1910 the application of the blue Rv inkstamp became fairly common across many of the lines until 1928. In 1914 The early “shield” stickers were introduced and were used well into the 1930’s. The popularity of the Donatello line in 1915 prompted it to occasionally recieve it’s own “Donatello” wafer-style impression. From 1930 until about 1937 The later shieled sticker which included the “”Rv” trademark was used extensively.

Roseville Rv Inkstamp, Ca 1910-1928

Roseville early silver label, Ca 1914-1933

Roseville Donatello mark, Ca 1915

Roseville later silver label, Ca 1930-1937

Many of the early and middle period lines that were unmarked aside from stickers can also be found with crayon or pencil-style annotations indicating the shape number. Below is an example quite common on the Futura line.

Roseville crayon mark, Ca 1925-1935

Beginning in 1936 and continuing until around 1938, the incised Roseville marks appear. It is interesting to note that during this transitional period examples of many pieces can be found with either no marking or with the Roseville mark. This led to a great deal of confusion for early collectors before the actual dates of production for the various lines were known. These marks can be found on Pinecone, Dawn, Iris, Fuschia, Teasel, and a few others, some of which can also be found unmarked and with a shield sticker.

Roseville incised mark, Ca 1936-1938

During the period from 1939 and continuing until their bankrupcy in 1954, the raised Roseville USA marks appear. The raised Roseville USA marks are certainly the most recognizable to collectors. Some patterns can be found during the transition with either raised USA or incised without USA marks such as Cosmos.

Roseville USA raised mark, Ca 1939-1954

One of the last of the floral patterns, Mock Orange was introduced in 1951, and with it came an unusual mark. Many of the pieces from this pattern are actually marked as “Mock Orange” in the mold as seen below.

Roseville Mock Orange, Ca 1951-1954

The Raymor line of cookware was introduced in 1953, and Roseville added both Raymor and other marks to the base marks such as PATPEND.

Roseville Raymor, Ca 1953-1954

After their bankrucy in 1954, the Roseville name passed to a group of Connecticut businessmen, who produced the Keynote line through 1956. These pieces were genericly marked without even the Roseville trademark use.

Roseville Keynote, Ca 1955-1956

With the failure of the Connecticut keynote lines, a long night fell upon the Roseville brand. For several decacdes no pottery branded as Roseville was created, and the trademark expired. Beginning around 1970, a small number of antique devotees began collecting Roseville, and by the late 1980’s prices began rising. By the early 1990’s it became almost a craze, and collectors sought more than was avialable. It was this environment that gave rise to the import Roseville. Several businesses had already established themselves in the states with the model of selling reproduction popular antiques. It did not take them long to take advantage of the expired trademark, and they ordered hundreds of thousands of reproduction pieces from Chinese factories. They spread them generously through antique malls, retail outlets, and especially auctions. There were many variations on the Roseville marks, and some are shown below for identification.

Import Roseville, raised mark with no USA, Ca 1990-2010

Import Roseville, raised mark, Ca 1990-2010

Import Roseville, raised mark with USA, Ca 1990-2010

Import Roseville, raised mark no USA, Ca 1990-2010

Import Roseville, incised no USA, Ca 1990-2010

Another group of marks to examine are trial glaze marks. These are usually beneath the glaze in crayon, with series of numbers which are believed to correspond to specific color glaze combinations. The pieces marked as shown below can have wildly different color schemes than production pieces.

Trial Glaze Marks, Ca 1945

Trial Glaze Marks, Ca 1937