Staffordshire Potteries Ltd

  

Designer
Maker	Staffordshire Potteries Ltd
Marks	“Made in England”  moulded into base around footring. Black ink stamp to base “Staffordshire Potteries LTD Ironstone Made in England” with logo “SP" in black square.
Description	White ironstone straight sided bowl with indented circular footring, stem handle affixed to center of exterior Tan floral pattern to exterior
Condition	Very Good
Number
Production Date	1970s
Width	100mm
Depth	62mm
Length (with handle)	153mm
Weight	240gm
Volume	375ml
Acquisition	Waverley Antiques Market 19 Jan 2011
Rameking Reference Number	STA 001-011

Nerd Alert Nerd Alert Nerd Alert Nerd Alert Nerd Alert Nerd Alert Nerd Alert.

This post has become the most popular on my blog.  Thanks for looking, and please take the opportunity to look at the rest of the site.   Strap yourselves in folks, its going to be a bumpy ride. Make youself a cup of something, preferably in an English dinnerware mug and settle down. The interweb will tell you that “Staffordshire Potteries Ltd” grew out of the Keele Street Pottery Company Tunstall, Stoke On Trent, Staffordshire, England, starting around 1915. Don't confuse this pottery with the County of Staffordshire where over 1,500 different potteries have operated over the past few centuries.

Trying to unscramble the movement of people and the myriad company names throughout Staffordshire over the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries is like trying to knit cooked spaghetti. Like many things, that is only part of the story. Here is a bit more, but first, let me get on my soap box. Read on, it does make some sense.

"Money is a good servant, but a poor master." So said Dominique Bouhours, a French Jesuit author who died in 1702. Sadly, the potteries of Staffordshire have long suffered from the vicissitudes of the nervous Merchant Banker. And yes, I definitely do mean the rhyming slang. In many cases, nervous Lawyers and Accountants have been their downfall.

Rameking business advice number one; never, never ever let a lawyer or accountant make a business decision for you. Don’t ever let anyone else sign the cheques. You know your business, they only think they do and will try to convince you otherwise. Certainly consider their advice, they know the administrative side, but you know the business. Rule two: If you find a lawyer or accountant that you would trust to let run your business, remember Rule One.  If you want an example, look at what happened over at Denby after their management buyout.

Rameking business advice numer two; If you need a consultant to tell you what your business problems are and how to fix them, then you are the problem. If you or your managers don't have the skills to run the business and prepare for the future then you have got the wrong people. Too many people today don’t make products, they simply buy something someone else has made successful then run it into the ground. Joke? Question; How does an Englishman run a small business; Answer, start with a large one.

Staffordshire potteries grew in the days before the rise of the business consultant and were built by people with drive and vision. Don’t be fooled by the “overseas competition”, or “cheap imports” argument. Design is what is important. Make what people want to buy, its as simple as that. Fashion changes, change with it. Many potteries that were absorbed into conglomerates did not fail because of their sales. Look at pottery and automotive works today, most are automated and wages are not a big part of the total. Pay sales and marketing people, not accountants.  Again, look at Denby.

Emerging markets have diminished Staffordshire as a world centre, but it is still a major employer and producer of ceramics, exporting all over the world. Anyway, enough on the soap-box.

Staffordshire is the centre of the universe for us Anglo-Celtics so far as pottery is concerned. Its name is derived from the Old English “Staith”, meaning “landing place” and “Ford” being a place to cross a river. It is a landlocked Midlands County in England being bounded by Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Derbyshire and Cheshire.

It contains all the raw materials needed for pottery making, being coal for the kilns, lead and salt for the glazes and clay for the bodies, although much of the clay today comes from Cornwall. It has a network of canals built from the 17^th Century onwards that transported much of their early produce and some of those canals were still making a profit when they were nationalized in 1949.

Before glass became popular, pottery bottles and pots were used as the main containers for everyday goods. Things such as butter pots, are almost unknown today. Stoneware bottles held cider for most of the south.   Historically, it can trace origins back to around 900 BC but it really took off after Alfred the Great’s daughter Aethelflaed fortified the town against the Danes. Maybe Alfred learnt his cooking skills from her brickmaking. Pottery making there has been traced back to before the 15^th century.

Most pottery comes from the six towns that comprise what is now Stoke on Trent; Stoke, Tunstall, Burslem, Fenton, Longton and Hanley, but people forget the other areas that were once separate towns that also made pottery, such as Longport, Cobridge and Lane End.  Next time you see a pothole in the road, be aware that the term originated in Staffordshire when people would actually dig their clay directly from the side of roads, leaving “potholes”.

Staffordshire Potteries Limited was one of those evolved companies whose origins went way back. The name began in 1915. It all gets horribly complicated so check out more of the backgrounds on the web. Their works were later located on a disused airport site in the early 1960s and over the next ten to fifteen years or so they acquired a number of other potteries. From the mid 1980s, they were the worlds’ largest producer of mugs. There are probably a few in your tea-room at work or hidden away at the back of your cupboard at home, because they made a lot of corporate and promotional mugs.

They were taken over in a strategic buyout in 1986 by the Coloroll Group, a home furnishings group from Manchester. Coloroll had also taken over Denby, Biltons and Edinburgh Crystal. In an early effort of what has become known as “Vertical Integration”, they wanted to control the sale of home furnishings and Dinnerware across a wide cross section of the domestic market. Denby engaged in a management buy-out when Coloroll later had financial problems, not related to their pottery holdings.

In another management buyout, Coloroll Ceramics Division, in 1990 sold what became “Staffordshire Tableware”, who continuing to make promotional mugs. Another trendy management buzzword, “outsourcing” sent some production abroad in 1994 to the Philippines, where it was made by the Reliant Company of Taiwan, an Asian company with its own outsourcing. They also imported product from India that they sold under the “Freestyle Badge. Problems associated with outsourcing included quality control, delivery deadlines and stock control. This puts your firms reputation into other hands. Not so reliant then.

This, like many management buzzword decisions was eventually abandoned. Fortunately in this case, in time. Unfortunately in 2000 the Bank of Scotland did what time and the global economy had failed to do in almost a century, they had refused to extend its loans. Receivers blamed overseas competition. I think, like in the case of Tams, it was to use the old Scottish expression, “Nervous Nellies” in banking.

And so kiddies, remember, because it bears repeating what old uncle Rameking says, "Money is a good servant, but a poor master." So said Dominique Bouhours, a French Jesuit author who died in 1702. Sadly, the potteries of Staffordshire have long suffered from the vicissitudes of the nervous Merchant Banker. And yes, I definitely do mean the rhyming slang. In many cases, nervous Lawyers and Accountants have been their downfall.

The four people who began Keele Street Pottery came from long established pottery families in the area. Charles H Bowers began with Booths, Church Bank Pottery in Tunstall, Stoke on Trent. Charles was the son of Frederick Bowers who ran the G.F. Bowers & Co pottery until it failed in 1871. That pottery was then taken over by James Eardley who ran it as Brownhills until it was taken over by Salt Brothers in 1897 then Thomas Till and Son of Burslem in 1904 until 1928. Charles’ son C.G Bowers followed him from Booths to Keele Street in 1946. Charles Snr died in 1961.

Elijah Brookes, born 1846 in Kingswinford was an Engineer and inventor. He was responsible for inventing the type of drill bit we all use today. Unfortunately Whitworth, the company he worked for at the time patented it and Elijah missed out on all those royalties. He has a number of patents to his name, including a couple for pottery making, such as centering and trimming mugs and standardizing the fixing of handles. Elijah died at Congleton, Cheshire in March 1933 at the ripe old age of 87.

                                              

Elijah Brookes

J.A. Robinson also came from a family with a long history of pottery making. Wiltshire and Robinson became Carlton Ware; Robinson and Son, Cheatham and Robinson; Robinson and Wood, Robinson Wood and Brownhill to name a few. J.A Robinson and Sons Ltd had previously taken over the Porcelain works of Thomas and Charles Ford in Hanley in 1904.  Don't try to chase the Robinsons around Stoke, there are hundreds of them, but I think this one was James Alcock Robinson 1852 to 1931.  James had left Carlton Ware in April 1911 after a split of the Directors.

H.W.Pitt is recorded on other websites as being their Technical Manager, responsible for the development of their “once Fired” process that they used to make cups.  Here is a bit more about him, he deserves it.  Henry Wilfred Pitt was born in Seville Spain, 1877.  In 1891 he was a student at St Wilfred’s College, Cotton Hall Cotton Cheadle Staffordshire, later qualifying as a Mechanical Engineer.  He married Violet Cecilia Brookes, the daughter of Elijah and Mary Ellen Brookes of Longton in 1907.   (I told you it was like knitting spaghetti).  In 1919 he was elected as member of Institute of Automotive Engineers and subsequently submitted numerous articles to their magazine.  Henry was also President of the Staffordshire County Amateur Swimming Association in 1936.  After his retirement, Henry moved to Cornwall and made a trip back to Spain with two of his children in 1931.   Henry died in March 1945 age 68.

The chronology of the company goes something like this;

1915	Pottery began in Keele Street, just off the A50, Tunstall near the rounabout. It is now just another run down area in a depressed former industrial town. Keele is a region of Staffordshire.
1916	Thanks toMr Pitt, they began producing their “Once Fired” egg cups.  Ceramic usually contains a lot of water that is dried off before firing. Then the clay is usually bisque fired, that is, fired at a relatively low temperature. After removal and cooling, the body is then decorated and/or glazed, then fired again. Once-firing means just what it says because the glaze is applied before the body is fired, combining both the bisque and glost firing, saving a lot of time, effort and cost.
1922/1923	Elijah Brookes patented several methods of more efficiently making cups and attaching their handles.  The device had been developed during the First World War and there were more important things to worry about than tea cups.
1941	The factory closed temporarily during the Second World War as a result of the “Concentration of Industries Act 1941. The whole of England was on a war footing and the Pottery site was used as a warehouse to store shell casings.   In July 1942, the British War Production Board had announced that it had concentrated production of fifty industries releasing over 250,000 workers for military service.  The program was so successful that in 1942, only four more industries could be added.  By 1943, no more were added.  By then over 55 million square feet of factory space was freed for other wartime purposes.
1946	Keele Street Pottery was re-opened by Charles Griffiths Bowers, Charles H’s son, making once-fired cups using five bottle ovens, a type of Kiln, a familiar sight on the landscape in Stoke. Bottle kilns were used until the late 20th century.

             

1947

As servicemen returned to civilian life, production of ornamental and decorative wares increased and Keele Street began a period of expansion, acquiring a number of other potteries in the area. They purchased; Paramount Pottery Ltd (Hanley) who made cups and cottage ware.  Winterton Pottery Ltd (Longton) who made dinner and tea ware Thomas Cone Ltd, Alma Works (Longton) who made dinner and tea ware Collingwood Bone China Ltd,  Conway Pottery Ltd (Fenton) who made white cups  Picadilly Pottery (Tunstall) who were wholesalers   Lawton Pottery (Tunstall)

1948          The web tells us that the South Western Industrial Gas and Water Corporation purchased 49% of the shares in Keele Street Pottery. Although there is no record of such an entity. Most likely it was one of the precursors to Severn Water because Stafforshire Potteries had their own Water Board from 1847 until the late 1970s. Its name only appears on websites associated with Keele Street, probably a case of people just copying someone else.

1950         Keele changed their name to Staffordshire Potteries Ltd and later became a public company. Going public means issuing and selling shares, floating on a stock exchange and getting an idea of the market value of the company.

 1951 to 1955

The company leased buildings on Uttoxeter Road on the 38 acre site at the disused Meir Airport that operated from 1909, and by 1963 most of their operations were consolidated there. (John Meir & Sons operated a pottery at Tunstall from 1837 to 1897.) The airstrip was still operational and they flew a DeHavilland Dove from there as a company plane. Flying ceased in 1973. The site is now a housing estate.

DeHavilland DH 104 Dove

1954                   The Paramount Pottery that began in 1946 closed.

1963         The Thomas Cone and Conway Potteries closed. Cone first opened in 1892, Conway in 1930. All Staffordshire Potteries Ltd production, administration and sales were centralized at the airport site.

Staffordshire Potteries Ltd Meir Airport

1972    The “Kilncraft” brand of tablewares was launched, not to be confused with Kilncraft Ceramics Ltd of Hong Kong, a homewares buyer and manufacturer.

  

1976             A factory shop was opened at the airport site. Factory shops had begun earlier to sell overproduction and left over stock at reduced prices. They are now an industry in their own right.

1979       Staffordshire acquired Royal Winton, begun by the Grimwade brothers in 1885. They produced high quality china. In 1995, they went back to being Grimwades Ltd Trading and still continue today. Staffordshire also bought Taunton Vale Industries who made tableware and kitchen accessories. Another purchase was Salt and McKee of Toronto, later renamed Canadian Classic Fine Bone China Ltd. Canadian acquisitions were probably as a result of the Ottowa Agreement creating a stumbling block to Britains entry into the EU. The Ottowa Agreement gave British manufacturers preference in Canada. Britain had to abandon the agreement in 1973 when it did join the EU. The Canadians however refused to register the “Kilncraft” brand as they considered it misleading “on the grounds that the first impression of a person seeing the mark would be that the wares (tableware) were produced by a kiln process. It followed that if the wares were not produced in this way, the mark would be deceptively misdescriptive”. That’s bureaucrats for you. Anyway, they both closed in 1980, the potteries that is, not Canada.

These ramekins were sold  as a soup set in a box of six bowls and six saucers under the name "Stowaway International."  They were simply a set of cups and saucers with a stem instead of a loop handle.  Anyway, they still qualify as ramekins.  Thanks to Rick for the set.

1980                 The beginning of the microwave age had Staffordshire introduce suitable stoneware dinnerwares. Stoneware is a dense, fine-grained, non-translucent, vitrified clay body that is impervious to liquids and fired at a high temperature (1200º–1350ºC). The clay contains significant amounts of aluminum silicates. Stoneware has partially vitrified bodies and most often are brown, grey or white. An opaque ceramic containing a naturally vitrifying clay e.g., a stoneware clay or a suitable ball clay. Sometimes a non-plastic constituent and a flux are added. Stoneware is known for its colour glaze as it is inferior to porcelain in whiteness. Stoneware bodies are heavier than Porcelain and Fine Bone China and are not transparent and is usually made of local clay. Stoneware is less expensive than both Bone China and Porcelain products. In short, stoneware is fired at a higher temperature to melt the silicates, thus making it less likely to crack in the heat or absorb liquids like an unglazed earthenware body.

1984         Staffordshire Potteries started supplying the Department Store chain Marks and Spencer giving them a greater market penetration. M&S has over 700 stores in the UK and now has 300 stores in 40 countries. They also moved into Canada in 1973.

1985    Staffordshire Potteries were the largest manufacturer of mugs in the world, making over 750,000 per week, including commissioned design for promotional and corporate purposes.

1986                 Staffordshire Potteries was acquired in June by the Manchester home furnishings company Coloroll Group. They also got Biltons Tableware. Coloroll itself went into recievership due to debts of nearly ₤500m in 1990 but still trade today.

1987                   Coloroll bought Crown House Tableware (Glass).  Crown House began in 1935 but the comapny ceased in mid 1988.

1990                  In June, Coloroll went into recievership and in August, a Management buyout created “Staffordshire Tableware.” Royal Winton was also the subject of a Management buyout (Flowergrove Ltd).  In fact, the receivers, Ernst and Young agreed to eight management buyouts.  Most of those companies are still trading.  The timing of these sales was propitious as the recession hit hard soon after and it would have been almost impossible to sell the companies a year later.

1995                  Another mangement buyout, this time for Biltons

1999                 One third of the Meir airport site was sold to Sainsburys Homebase. Some of the site is now housing. On 29th December the company went into recievership.

2000        Staffordshire Tableware went into recievership when the Bank of Scotland failed to extend their ₤6 million loans. Hundreds of workers lost their jobs.

2001       Staffordshire Tableware Worldwide Ltd (Gibraltar) was set up in 2001. They had acquired the designs, equipment and rights to the old Staffordshire Tableware. They continued as Staffordshire Tableware (Romania) in Northern Romania, Maramures County, BaiaMare Street, Warehouse 7. The company commenced in 2001 and in 2010 averaged 48 employees. They make cups and saucers as well as mugs, especially the red and white Nescafe mugs, mainly for export to other European countries. Their raw materials are brought in from Germany and France. Following in their predecessors footsteps, they also make promotional mugs and mass produce for the supermarket and homewares market. 

2005       High gas prices and currency market fluctuations in the let to their products becoming less competitive. Unfortunately insolvency proceedings were issued in 2009 and the future is unclear. Their balance sheets over the past few years make depressing reading. They did make a very small profit in 2010 but were only shown as having two employees.  

2012          Sadly, in September, insolvency proceedings were concluded.
  
 

Taiwan (Onion Soup Bowl)

Designer
Maker	“That’s Entertaining!”
Marks	Impressed “Made in Taiwan” to base
Description	Lidded heavy stoneware bowl with large diameter handle
Condition	Unused, new in box, no damage, small unglazed area to 1 lid.
Number
Production Date	1980s
Width	120mm
Depth	65mm
Height (with lid)	100mm
Length (with handle)	185mm
Weight	495gm
Volume	500ml
Acquisition	Uniting Church Store Dandenong 10 Jan 2112
Rameking Reference Number	TEN 001-004

Question;            What do you do to an item that has lost its gloss? 

Answer;            Call it something that is even trendier; Re-invent them.

Back in the 1970s, you remember them, the decade that style forgot; ramekins were starting to go out of fashion.  What were makers to do?  Easy, re-name them.  The big thing at dinner parties those days as a starter was French Onion Soup.  Ramekins are ideal for this type of soup because they can be put into an oven.  There have always been French Onion Soup bowls in France, usually made from brown earthenware.  The handle was used to transfer it from oven to table.  Having the ramekin in the oven can give you a crust to the soup.  These ramekins come in different sizes, from entrée to mains.  Many have lids to keep in the heat.

I don't know anything about this maker except that these ramekins are made in Taiwan and are stoneware, which is a dense, fine-grained, non-translucent, vitrified clay body that is impervious to liquids and fired at a high temperature (1200º–1350ºC). The clay contains significant amounts of aluminum silicates. Stoneware has partially vitrified bodies and most often are brown, grey or white. An opaque ceramic containing a naturally vitrifying clay e.g., a stoneware clay or a suitable ball clay. Sometimes a non-plastic constituent and a flux are added. Stoneware is known for its colour glaze as it is inferior to porcelain in whiteness. Stoneware bodies are heavier than Porcelain and Fine Bone China and are not transparent and is usually made of local clay. Stoneware is less expensive than both Bone China and Porcelain products.

The history of pottery in Taiwan goes back over six thousand years and combines traditional and modern methods and techniques.  Makers have recently evolved new manufacturing processes and now export worldwide.  Like many Asian countries, the tradition of pottery and ceramics runs deep.  The town of Yingge is known as a pottery town and has an annual festival to celebrate ceramics, as well as a large modern pottery museum.  There are dozens of manufacturers operating in Taiwan today.

There is some question about the glaze used in those days.  Some people believe that lead glazes were used.  If in doubt, do not use them for serving food.  Have a look on this site for more information.

http://www.fda.gov/food/foodsafety/foodcontaminantsadulteration/metals/lead/ucm233281.htm

If you surf the net you can find many variations on a French Onion Soup recipe.  There are lots of complicated ways of preparing what is a simple dish.  Here is my version.  It serves four to six depending on the size of the serves.  Forget all the crap about preparing some of the ingredients days in advance; you can if you want to but you don’t have to.

You will need

700 grams of onions, they don’t have to be French, any nationality will do. (That’s about six; Red onions are sweeter, if you prefer)

40 grams of butter (That’s about four tablespoons)

2 tablespoons of flour (or cornflour)

1.75 litre of beef stock.  (add more stock or water to taste)

1 glass of white wine. (If its not good enough to drink, don’t cook with it)  Non drinkers can just add more water but remember that the alcohol in wine is boiled off during the cooking.

2 (or more) slices of toast.  (A lot of recipes go into great detail about crouton or baguette preparation.  Once the diced toast is in the soup and covered with cheese, no-one cares.  Many people use a toasted slice of baguette, but this can be too thick.  A layer of croutons is much easier to get through.

Cheese.  One slice per serve.  Use the traditional Gruyere, or maybe Swiss; forget all the other rubbish cheeses.  You can sprinkle some Parmesan over the finished product and allow to brown if you wish.  Some people tell you to melt it over the sides, but that is just a waste.

What to do;

• Peel and thinly slice the onions lengthwise.  Put into a large uncovered saucepan and add the butter.  Stir regularly over a low to medium heat.  Cook for at least 35 minutes until they have caramelized.  (That’s when they are very soft and a sticky consistency and golden brown.)  Some recipes tell you to speed up the process by adding sugar.  This means that you only have caramel in the bottom, not caramelized onion.

(At this point, lots of others add salt or herbs or bay leaves, or even sugar.  If the onions are OK you don’t need the rest.)

• Add the flour if necessary when you see caramelization on the bottom of the saucepan.
• Add the stock, cover and  simmer for about 45 minutes.
• Ladle into ramekins and place croutons on top.
• Cover with thinly sliced cheese
• Bake in a hot oven (pre-heated to 350 degrees for 20 minutes or grill until the cheese has melted and slightly browned.
• Sprinkle with parmesan.
• Serve and consume, preferably with a nice merlot. (a soft red goes really well with French Onion Soup)

ENJOY.

Oh, by the way, if anyone out there in Webland has any information about this maker, I would be glad to hear from you.

ALB (Alcock Lindley & Bloor)

Designer
Maker	ALB Alcock, Lindley & Bloor
Marks	Large black stamp to base Large “A” with L & B to inside
Description	Two handled bowl with dark brown exterior and harlequin interior.
Condition	Good. Some minor age related crazing to interior and small chip to edge
Number
Production Date	1950s
Width	110mm
Depth	50mm
Length (with handle)	145mm
Weight	195gm
Volume	250ml
Acquisition	Waverley Antiques 8th Jan 2012.
Rameking Reference Number	ALB 001-003

Not Australian and by my definition, not Ramekins, but too cheap to ignore.  I have included them because there was an Australian maker who copied, sorry, paid homage to the original design by recreating it.  Design copyright was viewed somewhat more flexibly back then.   I will trawl through the vast archives at Rameking Central because I have some of them stashed away somewhere.

ALB or Alcock, Lindley and Bloor were Victor George Harris Alcock, Walter S Lindley and William and Robert Bloor.  The business was started by B.J. Swinnerton in Burton Place, Hanley, Stoke on Trent.  The factory was called the “Vulcan Works”; originally built in 1864 in Broad Street, Hanley by John Adams and Co.  Later the factory was bought by Elijah Cotton.  ALB became a limited company in 1911 and merged with W Lindley to take over the old “Chelsea” Works.  (A previous generation of Bloor brothers had operated “Chelsea” back in the 1840s.)

ALB started their factory in 1906 at Hanley, Stoke on Trent.  They operated from their works “Vulcan Pottery” in Clough street in the town of Hanley, Stoke on Trent   Originally “Smith & Co” from 1882, they commenced in 1919 and closed in 1975 after being taken over by Royal Doulton in 1975.  Best known for their “Brown Betty” teapots, they were one of the smaller works in Staffordshire, having around 100 people coming from the same five families.

Following the death of B.J Swinnerton, prior to World War One, V.G.H Alcock became Chairman of the Company.  During WW1, William Bloor joined the company and the “Washington Pottery” was acquired.  In 1925, they bought the “Victoria Pottery, and began making teapots.  This was followed by the acquisition of the “Scotia Pottery” in Burslem that also later made teapots.  Around this time, a new works for production of Samian and Rockingham teapots was constructed.

In 1929, ALB invented a new nozzle for depositing slip on teapots and other items to form a decoration.  A redevelopment of the Vulcan works commenced in 1938 and was completed in 1952.  This lengthy process was due to the inconvenient interruption of World War 2.  In 1952, acquisitions continued with Davidson & Son Ltd, Burslem, (1898-1952) another long established pottery company being purchased.

In 1953 the “Washington Works” was sold and in 1959, Swinnertons was taken over by  the Lawley Group and the Swinnertons name gradually disappeared.  In 1964, ALB. Along with Shore and Coggins, Chapmans and the Paragon China Company became a subsidiary of Allied English Potteries; a combination of the Lawley Group and Thomas C Wild & Sons Ltd.  In 1967, Allied English Potteries were acquired by the Standard Industry Group, then in 1971 AEP became part of Royal Doulton and ALB closed in 1979.  Royal Doulton then became part of “Steelite International”.  Their Chief Executive is a former Royal Doulton employee.

Ji Stonecrest

No doubt you will have seen these ramekins all over the place.  Sometimes they are unmarked, sometimes they are marked "Korea" or "Made in Korea".  The pattern is standard 1970s, common to most makers in Asia at the time.  You can find them from Japan, Taiwan and China.  What follows is my version of what some of them are. 

Ji Stonecrest is (or more accurately was) a brand name of Jepcor International Inc. formerly of Chalet Office Plaza, 1000 Skokie Avenue Wilmette Illinois 60091, and 41 Madison Avenue New York.    Wilmette is a village in the USA with a population of over 27,000 located approximately 25km north of Chicago on the Western shore of Lake Michigan. They registered various trademarks over the years, that were;  Andre Ponche, first registered on the 20^th of January 1973, Decostone,  Wiltshire House,  Stonecrest,  Country Cupboard,  registered 1973 and Haeng Nam and  Mario Registered 1980.

These trademarks have now lapsed so if you want to use them, they can be purchased, except Haeng Nam Chinaware was incorporated in Korea as a Limited Company in 2003 and are still going; also having an office in Los Angeles.  Jepcor originally manufactured in the USA but later moved production to Korea, with additional manufacturing in Japan.  Jepcor had some of their American-made pottery manufactured by Homer Laughlin Ohio.  This company still exists and is a leading manufacturer of foodservice china.

Haeng Nam Chinaware inc. began production in Korea during the Japanese occupation of the Second World War in May 1942.  They later manufactured a wide range of chinaware to many well-known companies including Noritake and Corning. Because Jepcor had registered their name in the USA, Haeng Nam could not use it there until the registration lapsed.  In Chinese, Haeng Nam means "Apricot South".  Haeng Nam are located at 251-32 Sang-dong, Mokpo-si Jeollanam-do Korea.  They make a variety of homewares and export mainly to Hong Kong.  The company has also recently started making bathroom products.

We can thank the Koreans in part for the demise of the Australian Studio ramekin.  Making and selling ramekins was the bread and butter of many Australian potters.  When this market was invaded, most local makers folded.   Australia still has the economic blinkers on today.  We still expect to earn Australian wages and yet we want to pay Asian prices for our manufactured goods, and our Government wants our industries to compete on a level playing field. 

Some people advertise these ramekins on Internet auction sites as being RARE.  Not true!  This stuff is everywhere.  Please note, Asian counties and cultures have a strong tradition of pottery making dating back centuries.  It is better made and glazed than the local stuff, holds more and is generally stronger.  It is completely understandable that it outsold our domestic makers.

Their ramekins are larger than earlier Australian products and are similar to those made by the Taiwanese.   Their ramekins are of a standard size and shape and come in a profusion of colours; one of the most popular being “Desert Sun”, a yellow striped design.  Much of their output is advertised as being designed by Andre Ponche (if you like flowers).   I have never heard of him, but that isn’t saying much.  

To my knowledge, Andre Ponche, one of their popular designs is about as real a person as Micky Mouse.  Anyway, they are well made and are great as a serving dish at parties.  According to the Company registration documents, they are described as making; ‘CHINA DINNERWARE, PORCELAIN DINNERWARE AND EARTHEN DINNERWARE AND CHINA, PORCELAIN AND EARTHEN COFFEE MUGS AND TEAPOTS”.  “THE NAME "ANDRE PONCHE," WHICH IS THE MARK, DOES NOT REFER TO ANY PARTICULAR LIVING INDIVIDUAL”.

Stoneware is a dense, fine-grained, non-translucent, vitrified clay body that is impervious to liquids and fired at a high temperature (1200º–1350ºC). The clay contains significant amounts of aluminum silicates. Stoneware has partially vitrified bodies and most often are brown, grey or white. An opaque ceramic containing naturally vitrifying clay e.g., stoneware clay or a suitable ball clay. Sometimes a non-plastic constituent and a flux are added. Stoneware is known for its colour glaze as it is inferior to porcelain in whiteness. Stoneware bodies are heavier than Porcelain and Fine Bone China and are not transparent and are usually made of local clay. Stoneware is less expensive than both Bone China and Porcelain products.

There is some question about the glaze used in those days.  Some people believe that lead glazes were used.  If in doubt, do not use them for serving food.  Have a look on this site for more information.

http://www.fda.gov/food/foodsafety/foodcontaminantsadulteration/metals/lead/ucm233281.htm