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British Registration Marks & Numbers:

 

Introduction

On some products you will sometimes find a diamond-shaped mark, the British Registration mark, which was included into the mold of an item. Although the majority of registered designs were taken out by English manufacturers, some were registered by foreign companies or their agents and it must not be presumed that all objects bearing this device are of an English manufacture. Note that this mark only states when a specific piece or design was registered, it does not indicate the production date of the item. It is fascinating though how long this type of marking lasted, especially for ceramics - I believe nearly every collector has his own story to tell about completely unreadable versions, either through shrinkage, the decoration or thickly applied glaze.

The type of material was stated by a roman numeral class number in the top circle representing 1 for metal, 2 for wood, 3 for glass and 4 for ceramics. In the four corners of the diamond you will find four different numbers or letters. In the pictures shown here, the place holders used are P for parcel number or manufacturer, Y for the year, M for the month and D for the day of registration.

Mark used between 1841 and 1867, here with the place holders 'Y', 'D', 'P' and 'M' shown clockwise from the top.
Version used between 1841 and 1867.
Mark used between 1868 and 1883, here with the place holders 'D', 'Y', 'M' and 'P' shown clockwise from the top.
Version used between 1868 and 1883.


British Registration Marks And Numbers:

Registration Mark Keys

As can be seen in the previous two pictures, the newer version shows the fields P and M as well as D and Y exchanged against each other. Here is a table showing the known year codes; the code letters for the month were the same in both periods:

Table A: List Of Known Year Codes
Month:Year codes (1841 - 1867):Year codes (1868 - 1883):
MonthYear codes (1841 - 1867)Year codes (1868 - 1883)
A= DecemberA1845A1871
B= OctoberB1858C1870
C= JanuaryC1844D1878
D= SeptemberD1852E1881
E= MayE1855F1873
G= FebruaryF1847H1869
H= AprilG1863I1872
I= JulyH1843J1880
K= NovemberI1846K1883
M= JuneJ1854L1882
R= AugustK1857P1877
W= MarchL1856S1875
  M1859U1874
  N1864V1876
  O1862X1868
  P1851Y1879
  Q1866  
  R1861  
  S1849  
  T1867  
  U1848  
  V1850  
  W1865  
  X1842  
  Y1853  
  Z1860  

 

British Registration Marks And Numbers:

The Numbering System

Starting in January 1884 this system was replaced by an easier system, solely consisting of registration numbers prefixed with 'Rd' or 'Rd No.'. Here is a list of numbers for reference, where the number shown was the first number issued in that year.

Table B: List Of Known Registration Numbers
First number:Issued in:
First numberIssued in
No. 1January 1884
No. 19754January 1885
No. 40480January 1886
No. 64520January 1887
No. 141273January 1890
No. 246975January 1895
No. 351202January 1900
No. 447000January 1905
No. 552000January 1910
No. 673750January 1920
No. 751160January 1930
No. 837520January 1940
No. 860854January 1950
No. 895000January 1960
No. 944932January 1970
No. 993012January 1980
No. 2003720January 1990
 

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