Crown Ducal by Charlotte Rhead

AGR1 & AGR9 are the earliest backstamp styles and can be found on items manufactured from Charlottes’s arrival at Richardson’s to about 1934 when the AGR2 style replaced them.

The reason for the addtional text on AGR1 of ‘REGD No. 784158’ is unknown but may have been applied to items destined for export. This is supported by the observation that patterns such as 3169, 3191 and 3218 seem very rare in the UK but often crop up in the USA. These examples have always had backstamp AGR1.

The youngest pattern seen so far with these backstamps is Padua 3636, (which is a post late 1933 pattern). The oldest pattern commoly seen with no examples of an AGR1 or AGR9 backstamp is Hydrangea 3797, (introduced in February 1935). Unfortuately there are a number of patterns recorded by Bumpus between these two, so when exactly the changeover occured is uncertain but sometime during 1934 is a good guess! One example of Blossom 3257B has been seen with AGR2.