majolica tiles (1)

Hm.

The inverted back to front word looks like MENS then some illegible letters then U then a couple more letters then ROD .

I’m assuming the S before the M goes with ANTIPO it makes more sense in Spanish or Catalan.

ROD might have a P before it. Producto perhaps. I’m trying to think what word that’s relevant would start MENS . My head is stuck on mensaje and that’s nonsense.

I think we have MENS… producto on the top half of the circle, and SANTIPO…. below. That fits the orientation.

I’m thinking. I’m off to fish out my Catalan dictionaries too, sometimes a book is more useful.

 

Oh, hang on.

An tipo. In the style of, or typical of.

 

I was mistaken re Figueras so not necessarily Catalan in origin.

Debora

 

They’re Catalan figures, so they may be Catalan tiles. I’m checking both Spanish and Catalan dictionaries, anyhow. I think the fact that they say Figuras Catalana makes them vanishingly unlikely to be Franco era, given his loathing for the place, and the fact that all things Catalan were banned. That means they’re going to be pre 1939 or after 1979, and I think the latter rather more likely.

There’s a lot of tile factories round Valencia, which is a Catalan speaking region of course.

 

well my head is spinning with all that info. but thanks for helping out.

 

I'd think that too. Spain being so highly regional... A tile with a Catalan figure would more than likely be produced within the province.

Debora

 

I’m going to be pedantic here. Catalunya is an autonomia, made up of four provinces.

Catalan is used and spoken in other autonomias, including Valencia. The Balearics speak a form of it too. And it pops up in Sardinia and other places. They had one hell of an empire.

 

Thank you. I mis-wrote.

Debora