Grays Retailers
The following list is by no means exhaustive but represents the most memorable Gray’s Pottery customers: most of the entries were gleaned from the firm’s employees during interviews and research in the early 1980s. These names were uppermost in the minds of those who had been decorating ware at the factory and who had witnessed orders being processed.
Red text indicates pots marked with the retailer’s name, in some cases (eg Heal and Fondeville) a bespoke backstamp.
| Retailer | Location | Images | Known ‘bespoke’ pattern(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| British Isles | |||
| Alexandra Stores | |||
| AMC | |||
| Armitages | |||
| JH Awmack | Leeds | View Image /View Image 2 | 2625, 2646, A5225 |
| Barker | London | ||
| Binns | |||
| Boals | |||
| Bobbys | Bournemouth | ||
| Brexton | Gray’s pots were included in pre-WWII Brexton picnic hampers, ie in the 1920s and 1930s, but not in later hampers. | ||
| Brownings | |||
| Browns | Chester | ||
| Buccanan | Glasgow | ||
| Buffs | |||
| Bullins | |||
| Calvert’s | Nottingham | 9303 | |
| Carruthers | |||
| Coles | |||
| Cox | |||
| Delvins Stores | |||
| Doncasters | |||
| Dunhill | London, Paris | View Image | A7894, A8622, A8828, A8829, A8834, A8907, A8908, A9009, A9010, D710, D1668 |
| Durhams | |||
| Fenwicks | |||
| Gale Lister | |||
| T Goode & Co | London | View Image | 593, 2163, 4031, 4118, 4173, 4248, 4371, 4401, 4745, 5233, 7034, 7145, 7252, 7476, 7478, 7496, 7510, 7644 |
| Grants | Croydon | ||
| Halts | Surrey | ||
| Harrods | London | View Image | 8742, 9061, 9125 |
| Heal & Son Ltd | London | View Images | 2684, 2866, 4040, 8286/A3040 (called Laye Bands), 8375, 8408, 8560, A101, A959, A1284, A3140 (Niger Red), A7888, A8161 (Pegasus), A8163 (Plantain), A8164 (Lyre), A8165 (Cornucopia), A8166 (Amphora), A8168 (Shell), A8442, A8644, A8669, A8674, A8695, A9796. Cornucopia. Zodiac. |
| Henry Jones & Co. | London | D1861 | |
| Kendal Milne | Manchester | ||
| Lawleys | London | 8788 | |
| Lee Longlands | Birmingham | ||
| Lewis | 8977 | ||
| Lingards | |||
| Lloyds | London | ||
| Maple & Co | London | View Image | 990, 1074, 1107 |
| Mappin & Webb | England | View Image | 958, 990, 1305 |
| Marl | |||
| Marshall and Snelgrove | |||
| McDougall & Sons | Glasgow | 9023 | |
| Mortlock’s Ltd | London | View Image | 1207, 7563, 8586, 8851 |
| Neaversons | |||
| Nisbets | |||
| Odhams | |||
| Pandora’s Box | |||
| H Pass | Newcastle, Staffs | ||
| Persils | |||
| Peter Jones | London | ||
| Plummers | |||
| Pochin | Leicester | ||
| R&D Ltd | View Image | 4433, 4588 | |
| Selfridges | |||
| Shields | |||
| Shufflebottom | |||
| Sloanes | |||
| Soane & Smith | London | View Image | 1218, 2537, 2740 |
| Suchams | |||
| Telfords | |||
| Tirrols | |||
| Tobys | Nottingham | View Image | 2851, 4424, 4571 |
| Tools | |||
| Trerons | |||
| Unwins | |||
| Urins | |||
| Ushers | |||
| Waite & Son | Mitcham | View Image | A223, A239, A248, A256, A260, A265, A284, A288 |
| Waring and Gillow | View Image | 4723, 5155 (Neither known as ‘bespoke’) | |
| William Whiteley | London | View Image | 4268, 4299, 4319, 5000, 5001, 5025, 5030, 7205 |
| Wylie Hill | Glasgow | ||
| Netherlands | |||
| Compagnie des bronzes | The Hague | View Image | 4073 |
| North America – Canada | |||
| Holt, Renfrew & Co. Ltd. | |||
| North America – USA | |||
| Fondeville | View Image / View Image 2 | A8391, A8735, A9287, A9332, A9341, A9364, A9453, D387, D440, D2003, D2186, D2188 | |
| John Roth | |||
| John Wanamaker | |||
| Macy’s | |||
| Marshall Field | |||
| Mottahedeh | View Image / View Image 2 | Many of the S1500 series, Y1923. On the evidence of pots recorded over the years, it looks as though a different number was given to each different shape used for the same pattern. | |
| Neiman-Marcus | View Image | Likely to be late 1950s/early 1960s patterns | |
| Patriotic Products Association | View Image / View Image 2 / View Image 3 / View Image 4 / View Image 5 | Howard W Bible (1872-1951) founded the Patriotic Products Association in 1927. The following information is courtesy of the New Yorker and The Home Hobbyist 1934, via the Token and Medal Society: The Association’s first product was a pair of commemorative jugs. One jug was commemorative of Commodore John Paul Jones; the other of the warship Old Ironsides (USS Constitution), listing its victories over English frigates. (Incidentally, PPA gave the contract of manufacturing the Old Ironsides jug to an English firm, whose face must have been scarlet.) That was in 1927. Two thousand commemorative jugs were made and then the Association threw itself into toby jugs. The following jug numbers have been recorded: 236, 344, 355, 387, 420, 437, 438, 439, 445, 470, 496, 504, 524, 529 and 543. | |
| Skinners | View Images | Many patterns on Castle jugs using both Gray’s Clipper and the Old Castle backstamps. | |
| Smith and Settle Inc. | View Image | A8930 | |
| South Africa | |||
| Keeps | Salisbury | ||
| Australia | |||
| Grace Bros | Sydney | View Image | 4153 |
| Myer Stores |
