Tea Cup and Saucer, same pattern - different dates?

I've been quietly lurking around this board for the past year... honestly I haven't been so lucky in my antique finds - for all kinds of complicated reasons. This is a piece I am not sure why I haven't posted before. It's been in my China cabinet for quite some time, but honest to goodness I have no idea where it came from. I don't recognize it as a piece given to me by my mom and step dad, and my husband doesn't recognize it from his family. So there it's sat a mystery. As I was cleaning today though I noticed something, it's a set(or at least I am almost sure it's a set), but the tea cup and the saucer look like they might be from different time periods?

They're both from a print called "Ye Olde Willow" or that should be the case, but the maker's marks are different, the tea cup spells it with the 'e' and the saucer drops that letter at the end of "Old"; the saucer also has a completely different maker's mark that includes a bull dog and no longer has "Royal House Pottery" included with it.

I've found this site: https://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/428.htm

It explains a little bit, like apparently the owners of Gater House & Co moved locations and bought out or merged with other pottery companies such as Royal Overhouse, but I'm missing a maker's mark in there. The page includes the maker's mark from the saucer, but cannot confirm a date(I am guessing it's post 1940s), but the maker's mark on the tea cup is nowhere to be found. My best guess is that whoever owned the set broke one of the pieces and replaced it, but I have no way of knowing which is the replacement... or I am way off and companies would use two different maker's marks sometimes? Anyone who can shine a light on this is greatly appreciated.

Gater Hall & Co Cup and Saucer by B.Stirling posted Jun 8, 2026 at 5:19 PM

Gater Hall & Co Cup and Saucer2 by B.Stirling posted Jun 8, 2026 at 5:21 PM

Gater Hall & Co Cup and Saucer3 by B.Stirling posted Jun 8, 2026 at 5:22 PM

Gater Hall & Co Cup and Saucer4 by B.Stirling posted Jun 8, 2026 at 5:24 PM

Gater Hall & Co Tea cup and Saucer5 by B.Stirling posted Jun 8, 2026 at 5:27 PM

Gater Hall & Co tea cup and saucer6 by B.Stirling posted Jun 8, 2026 at 5:28 PM

 

Marks, like logos, evolve over time for a variety of reasons. In this case, I would think it's because ownership and the location of the company changed in the 40+ years of its existence. Yours do appear to be a marriage, with the cup being -- to my eye -- the older piece.

Debora

 

Thank you I kind of understood about the logos evolving, I just didn't think I would see a set that seemed to go together like this one with one piece that was older, and one piece that was newer. It had me scratching my head as to whether a company would bring out older stamp markings and maybe use them in congruence with more of what would have been their recent markings. Makes me wish I knew the story behind what happened to this though, especially if it seems like the tea cup is older.

 

I suspect someone accidentally broke Mother's favorite saucer and found a clever way to make it right when it was discovered the pattern was still being made.

Debora

 

Ah, it is a "marriage" in a way -- that is, similar pieces put together to make a set. Now the cup is from an older production time than the saucer as the differing marks would suggest (note that there is no "England" in the mark on the cup). Note the border on the saucer is not present on the cup. I would guess that this "set" comes from the early part of the 20th c. -- post 1907 when the company operated out of the Overhouse pottery.

 

According to the internet, the "Made in England" back stamp dates the saucer to 1921 or later.

Debora

 

Fair enough, so best guess would be 1921-1943. At least according to the write up on the website I found in my first post; Gater Hall & Co was only in production under that name until 1943, then it was renamed "Barratt's of Stafforshire Ltd." when William Barratt took control of it.
Neat marriage of pieces regardless.

 

Yes, "Made In..." usually dates from 1921 and marks with just the country name, not "made in," is from 1891 onwards. But these rules were not always strictly followed. I would say the cup is an earlier production and the saucer a later one, and I wouldn't think they were originally sold as a set.