In many ways the whiteware with underglaze transfer printing was the most conspicuous surface treatment of the middle half of the nineteenth century. Vast quantities of it was manufactured for the American market by the Staffordshire potteries of England. In 1773 Wedgwood initiated the art of transfer printing in Staffordshire. A remarkable example of early British industrial capitalism, the five-by-ten mile Staffordshire District reached its apex in 1829 with more than 50,000 pottery workers. It had declined significantly by 1837. Lung diseases and lead poisoning were plentiful among the workers with thirty percent dying by age fifteen and ninety percent by age forty-five (Gurujal 1988:14). The pottery works displayed high levels of economic specialization both internally and externally. Internal specializations involved differentiations such as women being employed as "transferrers" (Gurujal 1988:15). A highly responsible job, it required fitting the pattern (1, 2) to the vessel and applying the maker's mark. External specialization is illustrated by the separate industry that designed and fabricated the printing plates used in the transfer process. Within this industry, companies not only frequently copied each others patterns but would sell the same design to different potters (Gurujal 1988:16).

The technique involved in the transfer printing process underwent a change in the first twenty years of the nineteenth century (Gurujal 1988:14). In general, transfer printing involved engraving a copper plate with the desired design. The design, with pigment, was then printed on paper and the paper was used to transfer the pattern to the ceramic. The early technology involved the use of rather thick paper that produced designs with heavy lines. After 1803 and the introduction of tissue paper, graduated shadings and fine lines were made possible. Another technique popular in the early nineteenth century did not use paper at all. Referred to as the bat process, the transfer of the design was achieved with the use of oil and a sheet of glue known as a bat. Characteristic of this procedure was the stippled engravings of the plate with minute dots rather than lines.

The patterns employed by different potters can sometimes be identified by using border patterns and scenes. An excellent literature supports this work (see, for instance, Maguire [1988]; Laidacker [1951 and 1954]; Williams [1978], and Larsen [1975]).

The most temporally sensitive property of transfer ware used by archaeologists is color. Work by Miller (1987), Esary (1982:Appendix D), Sonderman (1979), McCorvie (1987), and others suggests the sequence and dates identified on Table 2. Some types such as the Green and Red polychrome were never very common.

The surface effect on the flow types was produced by the addition of gaseous chemicals to the firing atmosphere thus permitting the ink to spread throughout the background. The Flowery Flow type often included molded patterns (1a, 1b,) on the rims and edges and overglaze applications of gold enamel. Note on Flow Blue

Sponge or spatter ware was a surface treatment in which a sponge was used to daub or spatter the paint on the vessel prior to glazing. Sometimes the entire vessel was covered and sometimes just the border. Colors included blue, green, red, yellow, brown, black, and polychrome. This product became common by 1830 and remained popular through 1860. Esarey (1982:186) assigns it a median ceramic date of 1850.

The forms of annular decoration (1, 2) described under yellowware are also found on both pearlware and whiteware. Between 1815 and 1830 whiteware displaced the pearlware. It was produced until at least 1860 and has a median ceramic date of 1845 (Esarey 1982:186).

Decal ware was first introduced in 1890. It involved the application of a typically polychrome decal over the glaze. The decal can often be felt with a finger nail. It remained popular through the 1930's and is still commonly produced. A median ceramic date of 1910 (Esarey 1982:186) may be early.

The use of bands of luster as part of the edge treatment on plain or molded edge whiteware became increasingly common after 1890. It continued to be produced through the 1930's and has a median ceramic date 1910 (Esary 1982:186).

Art ware (1) was being consumed in a wide variety of forms by the turn of the twentieth century. Special luster glazes were common. Zimler (1987:9) assigns it a median ceramic date of 1920.

Fiesta ware (1) is the last type of whiteware we will discuss. With hard, bright underglaze monochromes, it became popular in the 1930's. It has a median ceramic value 1940 (Zilmer 1987:9).

Manufacturer's marks appear on some English whiteware from its initial introduction. The logo of the specific manufacture can, of course, assist in dating an object (Godden 1964). (Please see WEB Resources: English Potters and Potteries for some illustrations of on-line resources for the identification of manufacturers.) Beginning in 1842 Parliament allowed potters to register designs. From 1842 through 1883 the registered design mark took the form of a diamond (sometimes referred to as a "lozenge" in the trade literature). After 1883 the diamond mark was replaced by the use of the registered design number printed as a line of script. (Please see An Archaeological Guide to English Registry Marks and Numbers for a full discussion on how to decode the marks and assign dates.) In the States, the passage of the McKinley Tariff Act (October 1890) and its inauguration in 1891 required that all imported goods bear the name of their country of origin. Maker's marks displaying this information likely post-date this year. In England, the Companies Act 1860 allowed the corporate structure of the "Limited" company. The appearance of "Ltd" in the backstamp means that the vessel was produced sometime after 1860. The English Trade Marks Act 1862 provided the first protection for trade marks. The presence of "Trade Mark" in the potter's logo post-dates 1862. All of this said, the fact remains that most pottery in the American market prior to 1891 is unmarked.

An example of a regional producer of American transfer ware was the Indiana Pottery Company. A short-lived venture begun in 1836, it was operated by James Clews (Gurujal 1988:17). Unfortunately, no marker's mark was affixed to this line of products.

7. Ironstone - In 1813 Charles Mason of Staffordshire, England introduced a product he labeled "Patent Ironstone China." The so-called "ironstone" was destined to become quite popular among both commercial and domestic consumers. In 1842 James Edwards started shipping his variation of the ware to the American market. The success of his efforts led to the rapid appearance of many product lines in the U.S..

The generic formula for ironstone included clay, ironstone slag, flint and blue oxide of cobalt. The paste was touted as being harder and whiter than whiteware. Labeled Ironstone, Ironstone China (1), Royalstone China, Semiporcelain, Porcelain Opaque, Granite, Hotel China (1) and sundry, it was most popular on the farmsteads of the region in the last half of the nineteenth century.

Ironstone seems to have received all of the surface treatments (1) earlier identified for pearleware or whiteware. In so far as the popularity of those surface treatments transcend fabric type, the dates of the identified treatments apply equally to ironstone.

The distinctive stylistic expression of ironstone would be the emphasis on plain, unmolded (1) and plain, molded bodies and rims (1). As a simple, durable, bright white product it seems to have appealed greatly to the esthetics of the American consumer. The plain, unmolded forms were commonly available through the entire span of ironstone production and therefore are not very useful time markers (median ceramic date 1870). The molded forms broke with the earlier whiteware expressions with an emphasis on sharp angles rather than gentle curves. From the 1840's through the 1880's, hexagonal and octagonal body forms were popular (median ceramic date 1865).

Embossed motifs of plant elements became increasing popular after 1860 (median ceramic date 1880). The subjects selected for the designs were extremely varied and included such things as the leaves of oak, maple, grape, and ivy; elements and sprays of corn, wheat (1), oats, and hops; fruits like grapes, plums, peaches, pears, and berries; and flowers like clover, lilies of the valley, roses, daisies, and tulips.

The other distinctive ironstone expression was a pattern of surface decoration referred to as tea leaf (1, 2). Incorporating a copper luster glaze, the design always had a tea leaf pattern in the center of the plate. A brown band of luster commonly surrounded the rim. The popularity of this pattern peaked during the 1860's and 1870's (Kovel 1973:15) but production continued well into the 1890's. The motif is assigned a median ceramic date of 1880.

Differentiating plain, unmolded body sherds of whiteware from ironstone at the macroscopic level is extremely problematic. Even under 10x magnification little is revealed. Impressionistically, the ironstone bodies are commonly thicker, rather fine textured, and bluish white. Because of the higher firing temperatures of the ironstone, a more reliable technique may be the "tongue test." The ironstone fabric should be less sticky to the tongue than whiteware and more sticky then porcelain. Please be advised however that as I am writing this paragraph my tongue is "welded" to a basal sherd of an undecorated, white plate displaying the manufacturer's mark of Bridgwood and Clarke, Burslem (Statfordshire, England). They produced a line of ironstone marketed as "Porcelain Opaque," and this sherd is so labeled. The product has been recovered from pre-1861 contexts at both the Lincoln Home in Springfield, Illinois, and the Nine Gal Tavern Site (11CH541) near Mahomet, Illinois (Stelle 2006). Consequently, my advice can only be "Let the licker beware." However take comfort in the fact that plain, unmolded white colored wares were produced throughout the nineteenth century and well in to the twentieth. We have calculated a mean ceramic date of 1860 for the whiteware and 1870 for the ironstones. Consequently the accuracy of the analyst's interpretation of fabric type provides little help in the assignment of temporal properties.

B. Stoneware

Stoneware is the second basic ceramic type in our system of classification. Fired at temperatures ranging from 1200 to 1390 degrees centigrade, it had an extremely hard and durable body. Fabric colors include gray, buff, and yellow-reds. The typically thick walls were part of heavy, utilitarian objects such as jugs, crocks, churns, pitchers, inkwells and oil lamps. Stoneware was being produced in eastern North America by the beginning of the eighteenth century and is still under limited production (Greer 1981). Stoneware types were produced over long periods of time and are relative insensitive horizon markers for the archaeologist. The variations in surface treatments recognized in this study include the following types: unglazed, plain; salt glaze; Albany slip; and Bristol.

1. Unglazed Plain - Plain, unglazed stoneware (1) is rare, most was at least partially glazed for decorative reasons or to make cleaning easier. The surface of unglazed stoneware has a flat, mat-like texture and is light-brown, cream, or gray in color. Even though still produced, it has remained uncommon.

2. Salt Glazed - Salt glazing (1, 2) was a simple technique. Common salt was thrown into the kiln as the object was being fired. Vaporizing, it condensed on the ware as a very thin film of glassy silicate. The distinctive surface is clear and shiny, but textured like orange peel. The color of the vessel will reflect the amount of iron present in the clay and the concentration of oxygen in the firing atmosphere. In the most basic expression the interiors were left unglazed. Equally common, however, were interiors treated with yellow-green lead or dark brown Albany slip glazes. All three forms were popular throughout the nineteenth century (Ramsay 1939:139-140), although salt glazed became less common after the 1860's (Zilmer 1987:35).

3. Albany Slip - Albany slip was a hard, chocolate brown glaze (1) produced by natural clays. The clay was mixed as a watery slurry into which the vessel was dipped. Familiar applications were to the interior only (see Salt Glaze), the exterior only (or just part of the exterior, see Bristol), or to both surfaces. The clay was first extracted from loci near Albany, New York, but was widely produced in the Mid-west during the last three-quarters of the nineteenth century. It became less common after 1910. Zilmer (1987:35) suggests a terminal date of 1940.

4. Bristol - Bristol glaze (1, 2) was prepared from commercially available ceramic chemicals that included feldspars and zinc oxide. The visual effect was an off-white to white color with the texture of a thick enamel (hard and glossy). The body was always molded and, frequently, decorated. The decoration involved such things as capacity figures, makers' names, and, more rarely, complex designs. A familiar variation was a jug with Albany slip down to the shoulders and Bristol glaze below. Bristol glaze stoneware was first produced in Bristol, England, hence its name. It became increasingly common after 1890 and replaces Albany slip in the twentieth century. The potteries at White Hall, Illinois, were familiar suppliers of this ware to the study area. The common forms of the product were as jars, crocks, and jugs (Mounce 1988).

C. Porcelain

Porcelain is the most highly vitrified of the basic paste types. In its original Chinese expression, it was made up of kaolin and feldspar fired at temperatures between 1250 and 1400 degrees centigrade. The resulting "hard paste" was translucent in thin-section and displayed no difference between the body and the glaze. The Chinese porcelain was always hand painted. European potters early attempted to imitate the quality of this body by mixing in large quantities of ground glass. Vitrification was achieved at a lower temperature and underglaze colors could be employed. After 1800 a "soft paste" porcelain was introduced by English potters. It contained a high proportion of calcium phosphate in the form of bone ash and is consequently often referred to as "Bone China." The European porcelain received many types of surface treatments including: plain white, hand painted underglaze, hand painted overglaze (1, 2a, 2b, 3, 4), transfer printed, decal, and gilded. Porcelain was always a more expensive ware and, consequently, uncommon. Unfortunately for the archaeologist it proves difficult to date although the illustrated forms were from good pre-1850 contexts.