iAuctionShop to donate backstamp collection to the Wedgwood Museum

SANDBACH, CHESHIRE, UK / Dec 11, 2006. iAuctionShop, having located a large number of impression and printing stamps and bought them to keep them from the forgery market is to donate them to the Wedgwood Museum, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire

iAuctionShop Ltd (trading as Rebecca & Simon’s Antiques and Collectables) of Cheshire, UK is to donate its collection of factory backstamps to the Wedgwood Museum. A senior executive from Wedgwood contacted iAuctionShop Director Simon Russell after hearing an interview given by him on BBC radio.

Agreement was made between the Wedgwood executive, Gaye Blake Roberts, Director of the Wedgwood Museum Trust and Simon Russell that a presentation ceremony will be conducted at the Museum before Christmas this year. The press and BBC radio will be present.

The backstamps will form part of a specific display in the Museum when it reopens after a £7.5 million refurbishment. One backstamp appears to date from the Second World War and is marked Export Reject. During World War II, pottery and porcelain manufacturers were banned from producing decorative items for the domestic market.

The original press release detailing the initial purchase of the backstamps is summarised below.



iAuctionShop acts to protect pottery market from possibility of fakes

SANDBACH, CHESHIRE, UK / Nov 15 2006. iAuctionShop locates over eighty impression and printing stamps from major and minor Staffordshire pottery factories and buys them to remove them from the marketplace.

iAuctionShop Ltd (trading as Rebecca & Simon’s Antiques and Collectables) of Cheshire, UK acted swiftly when they heard about the availability of a cache of ex Staffordshire pottery factory backstamps. About 80 stamps are in the cache from manufacturers such as Aynsley, Coalport, Royal Doulton, Susie Cooper, Wade, Wedgwood, the Wedgwood Collectors Club together with a large number of smaller factory marks.

Concerned with the ever-increasing number of fakes and forgeries appearing on major on-line auction sites as well as at traditional auction, iAuctionShop immediately offered to buy them at an inflated price aiming to protect the marketplace.

Photographic images and further details are available at http://www.rscollect.co.uk/backstamp%20collection.htm.

As large suppliers of pottery and porcelain figures, iAuctionShop along with other dealers has become concerned at the rise in fake Beswick, Doulton and Worcester figures in particular finding their way from the Far East to western markets. The effect has been to dent buyer confidence and to drive prices for genuine pieces down.

The stamps are being stored in a secure location but are available for inspection by appointment.

iAuctionShop Ltd trades as R & S Collectables listing about 5,000 product lines across several internet sales venues;

http://www.iauctionshop.co.uk
http://www.rscollect.co.uk
http://www.specialistauctions.com/shop.php?userid=101862
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/REBECCA-AND-SIMONS-COLLECTABLES

As well as selling its own stock, iAuctionShop markets items on behalf of clients. Notable recent results include a solid gold Faberge vesta for £6,200.

Simon Russell / Director / 8 December 2006 / Cheshire, UK