Identifying stamps from Hewitt Pottery

To determine exactly who made a pot here at the Mark Hewitt Pottery (originally the W. M. Hewitt Pottery) and when it was made, below all the various stamps and markings that identify the pots made here. We hope this list will also be of interest to customers and collectors alike, and we encourage anyone with questions about individual stamps to get in contact with us.

Until 2020 Mark usually had two apprentices working with him, usually here at the pottery for about two years. All pots made at the W. M. Hewitt Pottery are stamped by the individual potter who made them, and each potter is responsible for making and decorating their own work. For instance, when Mark makes a pot, he glazes and decorates that pot and stamps it with his own individual stamp, and the number of the firing. Likewise, when an apprentice makes a pot, the apprentice decorates and glazes that pot and stamps it with the generic stamp of the pottery, their own initials, and the number of the firing. For example, the Spring 2015 firing was the 92nd firing of the salt kiln and the pots are marked 92.

After an apprentice leaves they may spend a few more years working or traveling before setting up their own potteries. Web site links and/or email addresses of each former and current apprentice are also listed in the table below if anyone would like to follow their progress.

We know pots made at the W. M. Hewitt pottery are sometimes incorrectly identified, on eBay, at auctions, etc. Always remember, especially when buying on the secondary market, the Latin phrase “caveat emptor” = “buyer beware.”

Mark Hewitt’s Stamps

DATE	STAMP
1984 – 1995	WMH
1995 – current
“Willie Mark” – Hewitt’s “nom-de-terre,” scratched on occasional pots that accidentally escape stamping

Additional number on pots

25	25th firing, December 1991
10	10th year anniversary firing, April 1994
xxxx	Mark’s 40th birthday firing, November 1995
1999	All pots made during 1999
50	50th firing, November 1999
00	All pots made in 2000
60	60th firing, April 2003
66	66th firing, April 2005
69	69th firing, April 2006
71	71st firing, August 2006
72	72nd firing, December 2006
The numbering pattern continues with the number on the pot reflecting the number of the firing.
Occasional glaze experiment abbreviations/indicators are incised on the bottom of pots too.

Letters identifying pots from the new kiln

DATE	STAMP
February 2007 (Test Firing)	A
May 2007	B
The lettering pattern continues….

Apprentice stamps