This website came about following a conversation with an antique dealer on London’s Portobello Road, when in discussion the phrase “you ought to write a book because all the knowledge you have in your head needs to be shared before its lost”.

Whilst that suggestion seemed a good idea at the time, after a lengthy period of reflection we decided that a website was more likely to address the fundamental issue of sharing knowledge - given that books tend to be out of date fairly quickly and cannot keep up to date with research and are therefore unable to address errors and omissions.

The information provided is in image form to try and recreate the pattern books of the H & R Daniel factory and therefore help to identify Daniel wares. It does not seek to write its history – see Michael Berthoud’s book – “H & R Daniel 1822 – 1846  ( ISBN 095071030X) which can still be found, which is the seminal work.

The format seems in theory quite easy to deliver, staring at the earliest pattern number (say 3800) and finishing at the last (say 9000), unfortunately there are complications along the way. Very few pieces are marked Daniel, some do not have pattern numbers on them, sometimes pattern numbers are recorded incorrectly ( e.g. with numbers reversed) some patterns are on more than one shape and have the same number whilst some (later) examples have the same pattern (design)  but with each shape having a different pattern number. There are also patterns and shapes that are used by other factories, replacements made by other factories and Daniel bodies decorated by others.

Hopefully together we can help identify Daniel pieces and also fill gaps in the existing knowledge base.

Points of Reference

www.vam.ac.uk both Ceramics Department and Prints and drawings Department