Brig / Schooner – Sunderland
The transfers come from the same copper plate and are often paired. The other transfers on the copper plate are shown below.

Pictorial transfers
- Brig
- Come Box the Compass
- Great Australia
- Sailors Farewell
- Schooner
- Sunderland Bridge
- Forget Me Not
- From Rocks and Sands
- Love and Be Happy
- Loss of Gold
- Sweet Oh Sweet is That Sensation
- When Far at Sea Remember Me
On rolling pins, these transfers were applied in strips of three (see above). Putting the strips together gives an idea of how they appeared on the copper plate.
The transfers were packed very tightly together on the copper plate. We know, for instance, that the 'SCHOONER' transfer appeared directly above the 'GREAT AUSTRALIA' because on one of my rolling pins there's a trace of the first five letters (see right). NB these transfers were printed onto tissue paper and cut out, before being applied to the objects. |
Moore & Co's Wear Pottery and Scott's Southwick Pottery
The pink plaques below are typical of Moore's pottery during the 1860s. The orange plaque is later, and of a form associated with Scott's pottery.
The jugs with these ship transfers are always unmarked. The heavily lustred collars and zig-zag lustre decoration are, however, associated with Moore's pottery.
Two similar jugs with verse transfers likely on the same copper plate. The second has a view of the New Bridge, which didn't open until 1859.
This large jug, with a handle on the front to aid pouring, shows these transfers to have been in use at the same time as the copper plate with the large version of the Great Australia and the Unfortunate London.
A large orange jug, c1870, with a variety of the later Moore/Scott shared transfers.
Below, the Brig transfer printed on a milk-glass rolling pin. Norman Lowe has suggested that the copper plates with these ship transfers had been moved to Sheepfolds Warehouse which, employing the principles of division of labour, decorated white earthenware items for both Moore's and Scott's. Sheepfolds were known to have had a side line in decorating rolling pins.
Ball's Deptford Pottery
The rolling pins below are of a kind associated with Ball's Pottery. Balls was the last of the North Eastern potteries to continue producing 'Sunderland ware' and became a repository for copper plates and moulds from both Sunderland and Tyneside potteries. These pins come with a mixture of transfers from different potteries. Balls continued to produce 'Sunderland ware' items of varying quality into the early 20th century.