Featured 1909 "Cupid's Reflection" by Bessie Pease Gutmann. A knock-off signed by.... who?

1909 "Cupid's Reflection" by Bessie Pease Gutmann. A knock-off signed by.... who?

This is a transfer decal on an old lusterware plate, signature at lower right under lily pads:


Here is an example of an original print with Bessie sig, lower right, on the lily pads:




The plate is a 12 sided dodecagon shape. No maker marks on the back. 8 inches diameter.

Hoping someone can read this signature!

Have found 10 or so advertising, souvenir and calendar plates, bowls and a couple little shell shaped dishes out on the internet. Some marked, some not. McNicol Carnation mark seems desirable for some reason. Some are calling her a Gibson Girl.

 

I know this doesn't make sense, but maybe it is a start for someone else: Lb Galnedy.

 

I see a capital Y at the beginning, another three letters, a small f or l, an n, then coff.

 

This probably looks like chicken scratch, but that's what I came up with by lightly overlaying the letters with a slightly darker blue.....maybe not English??? Who knows, it MIGHT help!!

 

I don't know the name, but I hereby propose that from this day forward, all talented artists must submit to a simple test: TO SIGN THEIR NAMES LEGIBLY! I'm not an artist, nor do I aspire to be, but how hard is it to write you name legibly on your work. Isn't that the whole point of a signature. I'm convinced more and more that there is a secret rule that good artists simply must not sign their names clearly...People with arguable the steadiest hands on the planet, and when they are done with their masterpieces they just spew a scribbled mess on the bottom...rant complete

 

@MrNate LOL! I agree wholeheartedly!

That helps alot! And looking at that, I don't think it's English either.

A few days ago, I decide to try and find old decal catalogs that supplied pottery companies to track this down, but so far no luck.

I have learned alot about 'decalcomania' though!

CeramicDecals.Org History of Decals
http://ceramicdecals.org/History_of_Decals.html
[...] Things were going along pretty good until disaster struck. It happened about 1876. It had a name. It was "Popular Demand". Somehow, somewhere, someone started decorating with decals as a hobby. Maybe it was because decals had become much easier to use. Maybe it was because the lithograph process could turn out such high quality. Maybe it was because the emerging consumer class couldn't afford hand-decorated china, but they sure could afford to decorate their own. Nobody knows. But we do know this: in 1875, there were only about 300 designs available to decorate with; 2 years later, there were 10,000 !!!

It is from this period that the word "Decalcomania" was coined (meaning "decal craze" or "love of decals"). And even today, Decalcomania is still a common word for decals in many countries. (The singular is "decalcomanie".) But the actual word "Decal" is short for the French word "Decalquer" (pronounced "De-Kalk "), which means to "copy by tracing". Remember our friend, monsieur Ravenet?

Other names for decals have been "mineral transfers" in the United States; "diaphanies" and "cockamanies" in England (and, yes, that's where we get the word "cockamamie" from); and "lithographs" and "lithoplanies" in Europe.
http://ceramicdecals.org/History_of_Decals.html

 

Agree, and if it really is that hard, they are allowed to only sign their first name:



Or a short but recognizable nickname:

 

Haha yes, see the "true masters" know how to do it

 

Now it looks Hungarian.