The Guinness® Collectors Club

FAKE POTTERY SWOOP!

This headline was used with a colour picture of a fake Toucan lampbase on the front page of Stoke-on-Trent's premier paper, The Sentinel, on Saturday, February 15th, 1997.

The story continued on an inside page and revealed a complaint about the counterfeits following the purchase of a selection of fakes at a Tuesday market on The Stones in Newcastle-under-Lyme. The six month investigation was launched and the successful (dawn?) raid by Staffordshire Trading Standards Officers, who had kept the property under surveillance for a number of months, resulted in the seizure of biscuit ware and moulds.

So, at long last, the net was closing in on some of the people who were responsible for the manufacture and sale of counterfeit Carlton Ware Guinness advertising ware. The crusade by Carlton Ware International to protect those who collect these wares was finally bearing fruit and was fully vindicated with the prospect of a criminal prosecution.

The original backstamp was used!

On several occasions during the years 1995/97, Trading Standards Officers contacted Carlton Ware International and sought their help in identifying items of alleged Carlton Ware. Confused members of the public who had been unfortunate enough to purchase Guinness advertising ware carrying a Carlton Ware backstamp had approached them when doubts were raised as to their authenticity. With their fears confirmed, many who complained got refunds with the help of the officers. To the best of our knowledge non of these incidents resulted in a prosecution against the seller and the source remained untouched. Game maybe, but not set and match.

John Pepper, a Senior Enforcement Officer working for Trading Standards in Staffordshire, contacted Carlton Ware International in 1995 and asked the club's advice about the Guinness figures. Several months went by but then Carlton Ware International were asked to purchase some of the counterfeits from the suspect pottery which would then be raided with the help of a search warrant. It seems that to catch the people involved they actually had to find them in their factory with the counterfeits in production around them. Two or three buying excursions were planned only to find in the last moment that the owner was not in residence. He seemed to have a sixth sense so the idea for C.I's involvement was abandoned.

Then during the early part of 1996, John Pepper contacted C.I. again and asked if they would be prepared to take part in a line-up or identification parade. Confused, they agreed, only to find that it was a pottery line-up that he had arranged and he wanted C.I. to look at and comment upon a number of pieces! There were a small number of genuine pieces identified amongst the group that C.I. later learnt had been loaned to the Trading Standards Office by The Guinness Archive Department at Park Royal.

At the Annual Carlton Conference in Stoke 1996, Mr Pepper was able to view the lit cabinets which held the extensive display of genuine Guinness that had been kindly loaned to C.I. by two of it's members. Also to interest of him was the table full of counterfeit pieces which he was able to photograph alongside the genuine pieces giving him excellent references to be used later, perhaps in court.

Carlton Ware International became aware of the raid on Saturday 15th February 1997. Trading Standards Officers and the Police had raided a factory in Longton, arrested a man and confiscated all his pieces of Guinness in the factory.

The final stages of the saga finally drew to a close on the 11th February 1998, almost one year from the date of the raid. The following report appeared in The Sentinel, a Stoke-on-Trent newspaper on this day.

Pottery pirate admits using famous trademark. A businessman tricked pottery collectors into buying reproductions by making them think they were expensive original designs, a court was told.

Robert Snow, 48, of Meir Road, Normacot, admitted nineteen charges against the Trademark Act and nineteen charges against the Trade Descriptions Act between September 1996 and February last year. The charges related to falsely applying trademarks to counterfeit Clarice Cliff pottery - owned by Wedgwood - and Carlton Ware.

Prosecuting, Mr.Graham Cliffe, told Newcastle magistrates that Snow had been asked to clear the Carlton Ware factory by it's official receiver, Grosvenor Ceramics Hardware Ltd, in 1989. He said "In September 1996 items of Carlton Ware began appearing on antique stalls in Newcastle market". The receiver became suspicious and notified trading standards. "A search of Mr. Snow's factory in Uttoxeter Road, Longton in February last year revealed 350 pottery items under protection and bearing the trademark of Carlton Ware. Several items of Wedgwood pottery from the "Bizarre" range, now highly collectable, were also discovered".

Defending, Mr. Jeremy Wright said: "Mr. Snow maintains he bought the mould from the official receiver who allowed him to photocopy pages of a patterns book before it was given to the City Museum. Mr. Snow asked whether he could reproduce the designs and the receiver replied he didn't care as long as he was paid cash for the moulds and other items. Unfortunately the original receipt has been lost. "In September 1996 the receiver told Mr. Snow to stop producing the designs, but he did not."

The case was adjourned for reports until March 10th, when Snow was granted unconditional bail.

Note: Carlton Ware International inform us that the above report was incorrect in stating that Grosvenor Ceramics was the official receiver. This was not so - they were the owners.

The change of plea meant that Carlton Ware International were not required to give evidence for the prosecution.