The history of SylvaC
A chronology of the factory, the people, and the years collectors use to date what they hold. Each year sits in the margin; open an entry for the short version of that chapter.
1888 to 1990
1888The pottery story begins
The wider Stoke-on-Trent story that leads to Shaw and Copestake is already under way in the late Victorian Potteries.
1894Shaw and Copestake founded
Shaw and Copestake pottery is founded by William Shaw and Mr Copestake.
1898The works take shape
The factory that collectors later know as the Sylvan Works is established in this period as the firm grows in Longton.
1924Richard Hull Jnr joins
Richard Hull Jnr joins Shaw and Copestake aged 18 and marries Eileen, daughter of John Grundy of Thomas Lawrence — a personal link that later matters for Falcon Ware.
1935A new partner
Richard Hull Snr dies and Richard Hull Jnr becomes a partner.
1936SylvaC takes hold
The SylvaC name and the animal and novelty ranges that collectors prize become increasingly established in the later 1930s.
1942Wartime production
Like much of the Potteries, output is constrained by war. Surviving pieces from this period are part of why some early numbers are scarce.
1955Post-war boom
The 1950s see the ranges that fill most collections today: animals, jugs, vases, planters and novelty wares in a wide run of glazes.
1962Renumbering and later ranges
Later production includes renumbered models (often noted in catalogue comments) as the factory refreshed older moulds for a new decade.
1982Voluntary liquidation
Shaw and Copestake Ltd goes into voluntary liquidation.
1989The factory closes
The business subsequently changes hands. The Sylvan factory closes.
1990Portmeirion
The premises are eventually purchased by Portmeirion Potteries. Original SylvaC production, as collectors mean it, is over.
How SylvaC and Falcon Ware became connected
Collectors often meet both names on the same shelf — and sometimes on the same numbering list. Falcon Ware is the Thomas Lawrence line; SylvaC is Shaw and Copestake at the Sylvan Works. The firms became connected through family, later business arrangements, and overlapping distribution, which is why mould numbers, marks and “Falcon Ware lists” can look as if they belong to one catalogue.
They are not the same pottery. A piece can be SylvaC, Falcon Ware, or (more confusingly) a later copy wearing the wrong story. Read Falcon Ware for the collector’s distinction, and marks for what actually appears on the base.