Wedgwood and date code were pressed into plate backs until the early 1960s.

Designs or logos may appear, but there’s always a plate name or description, and depending on age, various stamps and impressed marks. This Hollins College plate is dated February, 1939. Impressed code is 2LF39.

In the 1880s, the Boston establishment of Jones, McDuffee & Stratton Co.began to market a series of "old blue Wedgwood® historical plates." By 1910 the century-old company billed itself as "the Largest Wholesale and Retail Crockery, China and Glassware Establishment in the Country" and its Wedgwood transferware plates numbered at least 78 different historic scenes. Although the available plates heavily favored Massachusetts and scenes from the northeastern United States, a few topics outside the region made their way onto the list.

JMS Logo
Etruria mark, pre-1940 plant closing.
Barlaston mark, after Etruria closed.

Most frequently these designs appear to have grown out of historic destination sites with clear national marketability, including The Capitol, Washington, D.C.; Mount Vernon; the Signing of the Declaration of Independence; Washington Crossing the Delaware; Arlington, the Home of Martha Curtis; and The Hermitage, Home of Andrew Jackson. It's clear from these few titles that the plates typically centered on a historic person, event, or place and generally followed the pattern of a blue transfer image on the front with an historic message printed on the back.

Other series of plates, arguably of less national interest, appear to have resulted from alliances between Jones, McDuffee & Stratton in its role as Wedgwood distributor and regionally strong jewelry and china merchants. Thus, for example, an early JMS stamped series in St. Augustine, Florida, is marked 1900 copyright, also stamped "Made in England for W. H. Dubois," and includes Watch Towers of Fort San Marco (later Fort Marion) (now called Castillo de San Marcos), and Old City Gateway, St. Augustine, Florida.

Throughout the country, and certainly within the South, similar small local groupings of souvenir plates were released. The back of each plate in these plate singles and series carries a historic message and, typically, several useful stamps, impressed date codes, and letters.

The impressed date code is in the form three letters over/under one letter if 1929 or before, and a series of five or six digits if 1930 or later. The word Wedgwood is impressed into the clay body as well.

For the plates in the college and university series, the "name" of the plate, along with a brief description and historic message, follow the form shown here on the left.

The JMS "Sole Importers" stamp was in use from the late 1800s until the late 1950s. A new round "Engraved by Wedgwood Studios" stamp eventually replaced the JMS mark when it was phased out in the 1950s.

The three-line Wedgwood, Etruria, England stamp is generally stated in the literature to mean the plate was made at the British plant Wedgwood Etruria during or before 1940, when the plant was closed and all production consolidated into the Wedgwood Barlaston plant. The three-line mark was then replaced with the round mark pictured here,"Wedgwood of Etruria & Barlaston," designating the merger of the two facilities into Barlaston. While generally this holds true, in at least one series, the WEE stamp appears on plates clearly made (or at least impressed) with a date coding of 1946, and this date code and WEE stamp appear on numerous examples within that particular series.

In the late 1920s, presumably influenced by a desire to branch out from the perhaps now self-limiting or increasingly saturated market for historic destinations, Jones, McDuffee & Stratton and Wedgwood launched what was to become a massively successful line extension. They began to market everything from single plates to extended series of higher-end plates, even including sets of Queensware china (complete with cups, saucers, and related setting pieces) to college and university alumni associations.

Greensboro College Bulletin: Vol. XXXIX, No.1--July, 1951 pg.1, used with permission.

Alumni magazine announcement (July, 1951) from the archives of Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina, highlighting the sales approach and planning.

"Greensboro College announces that soon it expects to receive from Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. of Etruria, England, through Jones, McDuffee & Stratton, Boston, fifty dozen commemorative plates. They are being offered for sale to alumnae and friends.... The design is fashioned from hand engraved copper plates in Staffordshire Blue on the ivory background of Wedgwood's famous Queensware, Wellesley shape.... Orders will be received for one or more plates of any view..."

Presented with a fundraising bent, this marketing initiative had at least two effects: It greatly expanded the available topics and the geographic reach and potential interest for Wedgwood scenic plates. Rather than a handful of previously "published" transferware plates tied primarily to historical hot spots and personalities or plates with appeal limited to buyers located in or visiting specific destinations, the college and university series had broader appeal, with a clearly defined and focused audience, assistance with pre-sales, and the allure of fundraising participation by active alumni associations.

Many colleges and universities in the South embraced the concept, and the limited Wedgwood scenic market JMS had previously supported with fewer than a dozen plates became one with hundreds of designs. From large to small, in editions of a single plate to the more-frequent twelve-plate series, Wedgwood and JMS blanketed the South.

Southern College and University plates were first issued in the 1930s, continued actively into the 1940s, then slowed markedly in the 1950s. Jones, McDuffee & Stratton and Wedgwood parted ways during the later 1950s, and JMS closed/merged in the 1960s. By then Wedgwood had taken the commemorative-plate business back in house, and the definitive JMS stamp that had appeared on almost all the Wedgwood scenic plates published since the late 1880s disappeared. Wedgwood scenic plates then began to appear with two Wedgwood stamps, the WEB and EWS. In the 1960s impressed date stamps stopped altogether.

Traditionally women's colleges provided the largest markets for the Southern college and university plates. Our earliest dated Wedgwood example is The Old Steps, Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, date-coded April 1932, one of an eight-plate series. Randolph-Macon Woman's College in

This Hollins College, Virginia

 

Erskine College, South Carolina

Lynchburg, Virginia, published a series of three plates and matching cups and saucers, with at least one plate issued as early as November of 1933.

In some cases, plates were initially issued in small series, and additional plates were added over time. Frequently, first- edition plates have an F encoded into the impressed date code and are boldly signed by the president of the school or some other notable.

This listing attempts to be definitive, but some plates within series are sure to have been missed, if not a few series themselves. If you have corrections or new information, we'd certainly appreciate the input.You can email information on Wedgwood plates to wp@southernartsjournal.com, or mail us a letter at Wedgwood info; Southern Arts Journal; Post Office Box 13739; Greensboro, NC 27415. Sending information gives us permission to publish it in updates or other topical publications.

Most listings of historic and scenic plates that have appeared over the years lump college and university plates into lists without mentioning the individual plates. One notable exception was a definitive JMS Wedgwood "check-list" personally published by Frank Stefano Jr. in 1975. We have not included series dates in this article, but some schools published more than one series of plates, sometimes decades apart. One example is Duke University with series dated 1937, 1949, and later plates done in 1960. So if you're working on a collection of plates, be sure to identify the series date—in effect, the "edition" of the plates you're after. Lastly, all the listings we have seen contain a number of recurring errors in the naming or spelling of scenes and locations. We've made every effort to correct those mistakes here.

University of Georgia

Southern Baptist Seminary

Southwestern University, Texas

University of South Carolina

Virginia Military Institute (VMI)

The prices attached to these plates represent a range of values based on our personal experience. Plates in these series sell for dozens to several hundreds of dollars in retail shops and at places such as the discontinued china warehouse Replacements, Ltd. (1-800-REPLACE), and www.collegeplates.com (877-WEDGWOOD), an outfit specializing in Wedgwood items. You'll find plates priced both less and more than this at online venues such as eBay.

Smaller college plates on eBay might sell for as little as $15 or $20. The condition of the plate and the adequacy of the title and description decide much of the closing price. More frequently, plates like these, in good condition, might bring $50 to $100 or more.

Without a doubt, there is a lot of money in Texas—some Texas plates sell for $500 each. One plate. The plate sets from Texas A&M and the University of Texas regularly sell for hundreds, even thousands of dollars.

First-edition Duke University (1937) sets are also desirable, some selling for $75-$100 each or more for individual plates from the twelve-plate set. When you're selling a plate online, be sure to describe it accurately.

Sellers who list the "perfect condition" plate without mentioning its fleabiteedge score from an old wall hanger will have an unhappy buyer, as will those who fail to notice the utensil marks lightly scratching the front of their used scenic plate. On the other hand, some people are meticulous about mentioning every detail. The old adage "know your seller" is as useful in these transactions as "let the buyer beware."

Online auction sites like eBay are the Mississippi River of "goods." Wait and watch long enough, and you'll see the digital equivalent of everything float by. That being said, however, some plates never seem to become available. You may notice that the name or location of your favorite school is not what you expect. Just for example, Wake Forest University, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was originally founded in 1834 as a small religious college in the town of Wake Forest, North Carolina. In 1956, Wake Forest College moved 100 miles west to Winston-Salem, where it's now the highly regarded Wake Forest University. The twelve Wake Forest College plates issued in the 1930s are surely among the scarcest of this group, as I've yet to find or see one outside the set owned by the University.