During the discussion of Kent's "polychrome" transferprint, and 
whether it was "really" polychrome or whether it was a monochrome 
print with hand-applied color, I sent a private e-mail to Pat Samford.

As is not uncommon, I made the blanket statement that other than 
bichromes, which we see here in the midwest pretty commonly in the 
ca. 1830/50 period, there was no such thing as prints with more than 
two colors.

Well, Pat proved me wrong and I am humbled ...  She sent me a very 
nice photo of a printed plate in four colors: black, pale blue, pink 
and green, and added the following comments (with her permission):

"This is not true - multicolored transfer prints appeared around 1840 
- as cited in Majewski and O'Brien - The use and misuse of ceramics 
in archaeological analysis - Advances in Archaeological Method and 
Theory Volume 11, page 143.  They cite Geoffrey Godden British 
Pottery and Porcelain 1963 as their source. We also have numerous 
examples of multi-colored printed earthenwares in our lab. See 
attached file.  Since this process did not begin until around 1840 
and the only referenced maker of this Harvest Home pattern is Clews, 
who ceased production in 1834, it is likely that the sherd Kent has 
may be clobbered.  Again, without a photo, it is difficult to say for 
sure.  Since potters purchased engraving plates from defunct 
businesses, it is possible that it was made by someone else after 
Clews went out of business.

The reference to Harvest Home is from Coysh and Henrywood  Dictionary 
of Blue and White Printed Pottery, volume 1, 1982:171 and also from 
Petra Williams and Marguerite Weber Staffordshire II Romantic 
Transfer Patterns 1986. P 643."   

I will try to find a way to post the ceramic photo in the next few 
days.  Although I have been proven wrong (again), I have to believe 
that these were quite expensive in their day, and certainly have to 
be relatively rare.

Thanks, Mark

-- 

Mark C. Branstner, RPA
Historic Archaeologist

Illinois Transportation
Archaeological Research Program
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
209 Nuclear Physics Lab, MC-571
23 East Stadium Drive
Champaign, IL 61820

Phone: 217.244.0892
Fax: 217.244.7458
Cell: 517.927.4556
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