Factory mark

The manufacturer's marks are very old: the ones found on Korakou culture pottery are four thousand years old, and the ones on ancient Greek and Roman vases date back to 5th-4th centuries BC.

[2] Medieval gilds set up the system of compulsory ("regulatory") marks for the craftsman, intended to trace the defective items and punish the offenders,[3] with most typical examples provided by the bakery trade.

[6] The rise of factory marks (at the expense of the marks of actual makers) was also occurring elsewhere, De Munck links this to changes in the labor relations and methods of production (molds for earthenware, for example, reduced potters to low-skilled laborers).

[9] Factory marks are essential in the area of porcelain production especially, where they are sometimes also called "backstamps", and where their absence would make authentication much more difficult.

[10] It is frequently claimed that the first factory mark on the European porcelain, in the shape of crossed swords, appeared on the Meissen pieces in 1720.