Identifying Pilkington's Tiles

From the very beginning all Pilkington's tiles were marked. Initially with a single letter "P" impressed into hand made  (plastic bodied ) tiles and then from about  c1900 with 2 letter "Ps" on the opposite side of a tile with a 5 bar back. Numerous other types of back were produced which we can identify from a comprehensive database.

However that is not the exciting part. Some of the best tiles were designed by famous artists, Lewis F.Day, Walter Crane, C.F.A.Voysey, A. Mucha, L.Solon, etc. these tiles are relatively speaking valuable. Some, like the giant panels by Mucha, are very rare. Walter Crane's tiles are similarly scarce.

The problem is that with some rare exceptions they are not signed. But there are clues. On occasion a tile might have a Pilkington reference number written on the back of it e.g.. R.23 or M233 or even E433. These numbers can be in pencil, in paint or ink.  In our research we have been able to link these numbers with  certain artists.

So this is the deal. If you have a Pilkington tile with one of these numbers on the back send us an image of back and front and we will tell you if it is a known design. We cannot value them except to say if they are scarce or not but we can help you identify the artist. To send an image it is best if you lay the tile gently on a scanner and send us a screen image. This is better than a photograph which will do but can miss detail.

There is no charge for this - but we will use the image if it is interesting.

E mail to

Pilkington's were formed to make tiles and began production in 1893. In addition to in house designers they also commissioned several well known artists to design tiles. These included: W.Crane, A.Mucha,C.F.A.Voysey, L.F.Day, F.Steele, C.Rowe, J.Chambers, F.C.Howells. Several of their designs are shown above.