Hull Logos and Trademarks
When searching for Hull Pottery, the pottery lover will come across dozens of different Hull logos, trademarks, numbering systems and even names. A good knowledge of these marks will help the Hull Pottery collector find rare and unusual items.
A.E. Hull Pottery Company purchased the Acme Pottery Company in 1903. Acme markings included the words ‘The Acme Pottery Company’ surrounded by an eagle. The earliest Hull (circa 1910) mark included a wreath with a number (signifying a gallon size) and the Hull name. This mark was used on utilitarian jugs and jars.
During the next several decades Hull used a capital ‘H’ in a diamond or a circle. Sometimes a mold and/or size number was included in the markings. This mark can be found on a variety of kitchenware, stoneware, and artware items.
Hull’s oven-proof trademark was used on kitchenware starting in the 1930s. Many items would have also originally had a foil label. Finding one of those foil labels today would be quite a find!
It is not uncommon to see USA or U.S.A. along with the word ‘Hull’ on a variety of items. However, some artware pieces such as Sueno, carried no “Hull” mark, but were incised with a style or mold number. Some novelty pieces from the 1930s and 1940s were also not marked though some were marked ‘Hull Made’.
Hull Ware logos were typically trademarks for 1940s kitchenware as well as cookie jars and Little Red Riding Hood items (LRRH). LRRH collectors know there is no question as to the identity of items incised ‘Hull Ware Little Red Riding Hood’.
The embossed beautiful flowing script ‘Hull’ was first presented in 1949 on the company’s Woodland line. Other Hull lines such as Coronet also used a script trademark.
Hull lovers can identify many of the artware lines by the mold/size numbers. For example, Bow Knot pieces carry a ‘B’ followed by a mold number and then a size. Some artware pieces have a mold and size number, but no letter designation.
Another interesting marking one might find on a Hull piece is the decorator mark, usually found on artware pieces. Many decorators marked pieces with their identification number, for example ‘28’. It is not uncommon to see people at Hull shows looking for pieces decorated by family members, which they can identify by the decorator number.
The potter at the wheel logo, which is now used by the Hull Pottery Association, was used through the company’s entire history of production. It was used for advertising, brochures, letterhead, and even on foil labels.
Another characteristic of Hull trademarks are the different line names. Foil labels were for such lines as Rosella, Granada and Classic. Other lines were incised with the name such as Coronet, Pagoda, Tokay, Imperial, Crestone and Gingerbread Man.
Hull started using a lower case ‘hull’ in the 1960s on the House ‘n Garden dinnerware lines. A copyright symbol (c in a circle) was added to some later productions.
To learn more about Hull’s logos and trademarks pick up a copy of Brenda Roberts’ 2006 ‘The Collector’s Ultimate Encyclopedia of Hull Pottery, Volume One.’ Roberts notes 85 variations of Hull trademarks. Her book is available on Amazon. 