An email from a reader:

Dear Johanne: Today I bought a teacup that I’m having a hard time finding what year it was made. It’s quite a plain yellow teacup with a black rim and white inside and a green stamp on the bottom saying “Salisbury crown China English” I thought it was quite odd that it said English, not England, and haven’t been able to find anything on the Internet to help me. The inside of the cup too has lots of little dots and impurities (if that’s the word) which didn’t seem to fit with the quality of the factory from what I could see online. I’d be ever so grateful if you could give me any tips on where to find info, or if you know of anything.                    Robyn

My response: 

Robyn: You are absolutely right to be suspicious. The mark is very strange. I checked my books to see if it looks like any of the British marks and it does not. I thought it might be a copy, possibly American, but could not find the mark anywhere either.

I suspect this was made by a smaller pottery, perhaps in the US or even abroad. The word “England” was a legal requirement of any wares that were imported from England. The McKinley Tariff act was enacted in 1890 requiring imported goods to show the country of origin. Then, around 1919, the law also required that the country where the object was made also needed to be identified.

This cup, if made in or imported from England, would show the word England, not English.  If you look at images of Salisbury china online you will see that your cup and saucer is nothing like the English Salisbury china, and that the mark doesn’t resemble it either. You also mentioned that the quality was lacking and that’s often another clue. I suspect your cup and saucer is a knock-off, made anywhere but England.

Thanks for showing me this anomaly!