Old Serving dish I grew up with.

[jondar]

At the church basement sale Thursday I was surprised to see one of these old serving dishes.  It was exactly like the one that was used in my grandmother's kitchen since I was able to sit in a high chair.  Always there, serving every kind of food you can imagine.  That was many years ago I'm an octogenerian (is that a word?)  now.   I went into the U. S. Army for a three year stint and when I got back the dish was gone, apparently someone dropped it. Now I can look at it again.

The maker's mark on the back is that of a pot with three rows of printing on it.  I think the top two are Indian signs  and the bottom one says "West End".  It is very faded.  There is a number below these 17? maybe 8.  Is this the number of the set.?

Can someone tell me the company that made this?

[jondar]

Old serving dish I saw at every meal my grandmother served till I came back from the Army and found it had been broken.  Found its spittin' image at the church basment sale Thursday.  Mark on back is a pot, two lines of Indian sign and "West End"  Very faded and hard to read.

Does anyone recognize the marking and know who the maker was?  Thanks.

[mart]

From what little I can find this was one of several marks used by West End Pottery of East Liverpool Ohio !!  Early 1900`s they were a part of a group of 6 potteries !!  Started in 1893 and sold out in 1938 !!
What you are calling Indian symbols is  actually a swastika !!  It was a good  luck symbol before the Nazis took it !!

[jondar]

Thanks Mart,  Ohio must have been the center for pottery makers.  I have many many dishes which were the property of my late (1968) stepdad whose grandfather served in the Civil War in the 40th Illinois Infantry Regiment.  Almost all his dishes have an Ohio maker on them.

[mart]

It actually was the pottery capital of the USA !!  I was thinking when I saw this dish that it looked like my Grandmothers dishes,, not that any of them matched !!  She had a set of dinnerware but everyday was bits and pieces no matter the pattern !!  Just seemed like the florals were the most common !!

[KC]

The three roses design was copied by several potteries  because it became such a popular design.  Popular in that it was also soooo much more affordable - in that it was sold at local department stores as well ad the "5 and Dime" Stores, Woolworths, etc.

I have just 2 small fruit bowls left from my mother's grandmother's.  They at one time had a tiny gold edging that has almost all washed away over time.  Just went and looked and mine have no makers' marks on them.

[mart]

Most of my Grandmothers were ( of course) Homer Laughlin !!

[cogar]

Just some interesting trivia, …… to wit:

The Homer Laughlin China Company initially began as Laughlin Pottery in East Liverpool, Ohio.

The firm experienced rapid growth and opened a facility in Newell, West Virginia in 1903.

By the late 1920s all production was centered at the West Virginia factory and the Ohio site was abandoned.

"Peak production for the company was in 1948 when they produced 10,129,449 dishes."

[jondar]

Mart - Likewise I have two saucers which came to me from my late stepdad's things.  They show great wear and gold rims and the rose motif, but no marking on the bottom.  Would the marking West End be any indication whether it was made in Ohio or W. Virginia?

[mart]

West End Pottery was in East Liverpool, Ohio !!