Kevin,
 
You asked about impressed marks on the back of ceramics, specifically
pearlware.  We have found similar marks (heart, asterisk, anchor), which
George Miller tells us are, for the most part, jobbers' marks (i.e., only
the topmost item in a job lot was labelled, so the potter could be credited
for number of pieces per job).  Now, George is not to my knowledge on the
internet, but can be reached at work at Greiner, Inc., Florence, NJ.  I
have his phone number & proper address at home, it seems, not here in my
office.  He's a bit beside himself at the moment, dealing with his new
house & work & impending nuptuals!  But he's always ready to help out with
ceramic IDs, so I urge you to get in touch with him.  If you can't locate
his coordinates in the SHA membership list, let me know and I'll send the
info from home.
 
Cheers,
mcb
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Mary C. Beaudry
Editor, Northeast Historical Archaeology
Associate Professor
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Archaeology
Boston University
Boston, MA 02215
 
tel. 617-353-3415
fax. 617-353-6800
email [log in to unmask]
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~