Undated
19 / AB / 13
Blue AB monogram is painted between the two halves of the year 1913, alongside a separate factory ship impression.
painted · blue · glazed earthenware · Marblehead, Massachusetts, United States
Pottery & porcelain
Marblehead Pottery marks
Marblehead Pottery marks include painted “19 / AB / 13” on glazed earthenware in Marblehead, Massachusetts, United States.
- Active years
- 1904–1936
- Country
- United States
- City / region
- Marblehead, Massachusetts
- Products
- vases, bowls, pitchers, tiles, bookends, household pottery
- Marks
- 5
Therapeutic pottery origins conventionally dated 1904; Met account uses 1905. Professional operation under Baggs from 1905, separate commercial enterprise by 1908; purchased by Baggs in 1915 and closed in 1936.
What to look for
- Compare the complete symbol. Gull over M, a hand-drawn ship with MARBLEHEAD, and a die-stamped ship between M and P are distinct factory formats.
- Separate the factory emblem from artist initials. A piece can identify both its designer and the person who applied the decoration.
- Read a painted year around the initials as a date on that object. The AB monogram on the illustrated charger sits between 19 and 13.
- Look for a surviving oval MARBLEHEAD POTTERY paper label as well as marks in the clay.
Dated marks & timeline
5 marks
Undated
M
Incised gull overlaps the top of a capital M; no P or sailing ship.
incised · glazed earthenware · Marblehead, Massachusetts, United States
Undated
MARBLEHEAD
Hand-drawn square-rigged ship above the written town name, rather than a die-stamped M–ship–P.
incised · glazed earthenware · Marblehead, Massachusetts, United States
Undated
M / P
Impressed ship flanked by M and P; this example also has separate H/T artist initials.
impressed · glazed earthenware · Marblehead, Massachusetts, United States
Undated
MARBLEHEAD POTTERY
Small oval paper label with the two-word name around its edge.
label · glazed earthenware · Marblehead, Massachusetts, United States
About Marblehead Pottery
Marblehead Pottery began in Marblehead, Massachusetts, in 1904 within Dr. Herbert J. Hall’s programme of therapeutic handicrafts. The workshops offered crafts to convalescing patients, with Jessie Luther supervising the early textile, wood and ceramic activities. Arthur Eugene Baggs, trained under Charles F. Binns at Alfred, joined in 1905 to lead the pottery. Its technical demands soon encouraged a more professional operation, and it became an independent commercial enterprise by 1908.
Baggs purchased the business from Hall in 1915. The workshop remained small, producing mainly hand-thrown vases as well as bowls, pitchers, tiles, bookends and other household forms. Its restrained blue, green, grey and brown glazes often had matte or textured surfaces. Decorated pieces used stylized plants, birds, fish, animals, ships and geometric patterns. Designs were incised or painted, frequently using closely related colours.
Baggs worked with designers Arthur Hennessey and Maude Milner, decorator Sarah Tutt and potter John Swallow. Marks can therefore combine the factory emblem with separate design and decorating initials. Early hand-drawn signs gave way to the familiar impressed ship between M and P, while paper labels supplied the full pottery name. The workshop closed in 1936, although Baggs continued teaching and making ceramics elsewhere.
Also known as: Marblehead · M P ship mark · Handicraft Shops pottery
Look-alikes & how to tell them apart
Hannah Tutt attribution versus combined H/T initials
Some auction descriptions read H over T as Hannah Tutt. The illustrated catalogue identifies those combined initials as designer Arthur Hennessey and decorator Sarah Tutt; they should be read with the factory mark and object record.
Arthur Baggs’s later studio pottery
Baggs continued working after Marblehead closed. An AB signature needs its factory emblem, date and object context to distinguish Marblehead manufacture from his wider ceramic career.