Bisto vs Losol - even i sometimes get caught out.

 These similar wash sets caught my eye whilst browsing The-saleroom website.  One is by Bisto, the other is Losol ware (by Keeling & Co - a contemporary factory of Bishop & Stonier).  Both fetched £75 at auction.  I'll let you guess which is which... perhaps a search through previous blog posts on this site will help identify the Bisto pattern.

What this illustrates most to me as how easy it can be to misattribute pieces to one factory or another.  That's why knowing marks and patterns can help so much.  Luckily for Bisto collectors, they were usually very good at marking their wares.  It also shows us how styles and fashions were completely pervasive among the best brands of their day.

my home town

http://www.jacobsandhunt.com/jan.84.jpg    Coming up for auction soon is this little vase depicting a football player from my home town team, Portsmouth.  Why am I showing you this? Is it by Bishop & Stonier or one of the other associated partnerships?  No, well, not really.  It's actually by the Grays pottery.  This factory has two connections with Bishop & Stonier: the first is that they often bought B&S blanks which were then decorated with their own designs.  You can, on occasion, find Grays pieces which have their own factory mark applied over a Bisto mark.  The second connection between the two factories is that George Buttle, a designer for Grays, also worked at the Bishop & Stonier company as Art Director.  This piece of Grays pottery is known to be designed by Buttle in 1911.

Lastly, the subject of this vase gives me a very loose excuse to link to a youtube clip of the wonderful Adele singing Hometown Glory