The All the (World) Round backstamp
With its pros and cons we all have a love hate relationship with eBay. Aside from this, it is also a useful research tool because it can help solve some of the mysteries of the past.
Terry Wise, our archivist, contacted me in 2011 to say that he had spotted an Hibiscus Blushware cruet in a silver-plated frame. Its Carlton Ware backstamp was the All the Round mark whose significance has always been an enigma to me. I guess that, with a globe at its centre, the backstamp is probably meant to read All the World Round. Until now, this suggested to me that Wiltshaw & Robinson, the makers of Carlton Ware, may have used the mark on ware that it exported during the early years, but no!
The vendor provided good pictures, not only of backstamps, but also the marks of the maker of the metal frame. Lo and behold, alongside the makers initials of JR & Son, the All the Round mark was also stamped into the electroplated metal stand.
The seller informed us that the maker was John Round & Son of Sheffield, who used All the (World) Round as a trade mark. The maker was highly regarded and particularly well known for producing high quality cutlery.
Usually, metal fitments and stands used with ceramics were bought in by a pottery, which would then sell the assemblage. In this instance it appears to be the other way round - no pun intended - with the pottery supplying John Round & Son, who would then market the ensemble displaying such items in their showrooms in Sheffield and London; the firm also had agencies and offices in London, Paris and Montreal. Alternatively, there could have been a greater association than usual between W&R and JR & Son.
We can now say that the All the Round backstamp is not a Carlton Ware mark but the trade mark of John Round & Son, as is shown on the bottom corners of their advert from 1871 illustrated on the right even though on ware the Carlton Ware name appears in an arc beneath the mark.
Thanks must go to Geoffrey Tweedale's extraordinary body of work Tweedale's Directory of Sheffield Cutlery Manufacturers 1740-2013 [2nd edition] published in 2018.
One of Mr. Tweedale's books is likely to be the source of information provided by the seller of the cruet.
Carlton Ware biscuit barrels appear to have been popular with John Round & Son. Below are some examples with their electroplated fittings.
Salad bowls, which had metal rims to protect the edge of a bowl from their matching metal servers with ceramic handles, were also popular, though few servers survive or have been separated from their bowls. An example decorated with the Art Nouveau Poppy 2240 pattern is shown on the right.
Harvey Pettit © July 2011.
Revised and expanded May 2024.
Revised and expanded May 2024.