By Porter Lang
Gift season sends people to the second-hand shelf. A porcelain figure from Valencia looks like a safe present, until you wonder whether it is what the seller says it is. The base is where you start. It is also where the sources start to disagree.
Where the firm began
According to Lladr贸’s own history page, the company began in 1953, when the brothers Juan, Jos茅 and Vicente Lladr贸 started making plates, vases and ceramic figurines at their home in Alm脿ssera. It says headquarters opened at Tavernes Blanques, near Valencia, in 1969.
A business reference entry on encyclopedia.com tells it slightly differently. It says the company was incorporated in 1951, that the family were farmers in a ceramics region, that they bought a kiln in 1950, and that they moved to larger premises in Tavernes Blanques in 1958. It also says construction of the “City of Porcelain” began in 1967 and the complex opened in 1969. The company’s 1969 and the entry’s 1969 may be the same event, the complex opening. The entry’s 1958 is a different date for the first move to Tavernes Blanques, and we show both without choosing.
The entry itself warns that it spells the place names inconsistently.
How it was made, as the firm describes it
The company page says that in the 1960s a single-firing method replaced the traditional triple firing and helped create the brand’s pastel tones. It says the 1970s brought gres, a durable material with earthy tones, and that from the 1980s greater control of porcelain allowed more detailed modelling. The reference entry adds that liquid porcelain was poured into moulds, that every piece is finished by hand, and that a training school opened in 1962.
Neither page gives production steps in detail, and neither mentions marks.
The marks, period by period
For marks we turn to a collectors’ reference site, Antique HQ. It sets them out like this.
- Before 1960: no official mark. The site says three marks are confirmed for this period, with an extended “L” under the name and, in some, the words “Valencia” and “Espanna”.
- 1960 to 1963: the first official mark, impressed into the base, reading “Espanna” and “Made in Spain” under the name.
- 1964 to 1970: a second impressed mark that drops “Espanna”.
- 1971 to 1974: a blue-black stamp replaces the impressed marks and introduces the bell-flower logo.
- 1974 to 1977: the blue and black mark with an accent over the “O” and a trademark symbol.
- 1977 to 1984: a black stamp with DAISA, which the site says stands for Dise帽os Art铆sticos e Industriales, S.A., a subsidiary used to protect designs and copyrights.
- 1984 to 1989: a similar mark with a copyright date beside DAISA.
- 1990 to the present: a blue-black stamp with a simplified logo (now a tulip) and a new font.
- 1986: a four-digit number embossed on the base; before that, the site says, such numbers appeared on the original box.
A Florida auction house, Lion & Unicorn, gives a shorter outline. It says pieces from before 1960 are often unmarked or carry a simple handwritten signature, that 1960 to 1970 pieces have a stylised logotype with “Made in Spain” and sometimes an incised model number, and that the blue bell-flower stamp appears from 1971, reading “Hand Made in Spain”. From 1974 on, it says, the refined stamp is usually joined by an engraved or impressed model number, and some limited editions carry a handwritten serial number.
Where the two outlines part
| Question | What the pages say |
|---|---|
| Pre-1960 marks | Antique HQ lists three confirmed marks. The auction house says such pieces are often unmarked or hand-signed. |
| Model numbers | Antique HQ says a four-digit ID was embossed from 1986. The auction house says most are four or five digits and some were incised in the 1960s. |
| Trademark symbol | A reply on the Antique HQ page puts the circled R around the mid-1970s and suggests production after 1977. The article itself places a trademark symbol on the 1974 to 1977 mark. |
| Flawed pieces | The reference entry says flawed pieces are destroyed. The auction house says a line scratched through the blue stamp marks a piece that failed quality control and is sold as a second. |
We do not choose between these. Our reading: the entry may describe a policy and the auction house the practice, but neither page says so.
What sellers and collectors tell buyers to check
The three pages that cover authenticity agree on one thing: look at the base first.
- Antique HQ says a piece made after 1960 with no identification mark is most likely a counterfeit.
- The auction house says to check for the bell-flower stamp, the name and “Hand Made in Spain”, and to match the model number against a catalogue. It adds that rough edges, uneven paint or inferior porcelain suggest a fake, and that you should not clean, polish or repair a piece before it is assessed.
- An Australian online retailer, which says it is Lladr贸’s exclusive distributor in Australia and so has a commercial interest, says the logo is usually in bright blue ink and that some early pieces have a small handwritten etching. It also cautions that a logo that differs from the examples shown does not prove a piece is fake, since the style has changed over the years.
- The same retailer says genuine porcelain rings when lightly tapped, that Lladr贸 uses real 24-carat gold lustre, and that colours are painted before firing, so painted-on colour that flakes is a warning. It adds that limited editions come with a certificate carrying a reference number and an edition number, and that the firm’s own website does not list every piece, so a missing listing is not proof of a fake.
Some Lladr贸 pieces are made in gres or finished to look like stoneware, the retailer says, so appearance alone does not settle it. It also says that Nao is a separate brand owned by Lladr贸 with its own catalogue.
Dates in order
- 1950 and 1951: a kiln bought and the company incorporated, according to the reference entry.
- 1953: the workshop, according to the company.
- 1958: the move to Tavernes Blanques, according to the reference entry.
- 1962: the training school.
- 1969: the headquarters and complex open.
- 1971: the bell-flower stamp, according to both mark guides.
- 1986: the embossed ID number, according to Antique HQ.
What kind of sources these are
The company’s own page, which tells its own story; a business reference entry that spells names inconsistently; a collectors’ site whose comments disagree with its article; an auction house that sells appraisals; and a retailer. None of them is an independent authenticator, and we cannot tell you how to authenticate a piece.
Questions a buyer would ask
Does a missing mark mean a fake? According to Antique HQ, after 1960 most likely yes; before 1960 the pages say it can be normal. Is every genuine piece in the catalogue? The retailer says no. Is a certificate needed? Only for limited editions, according to the same retailer.
What we left out
Prices and valuations, named auctions, collector clubs, repair advice, retired model lists, and the second-hand market’s claims about rarity.
Quick answers
When did Lladr贸 start? The company’s own page gives 1953, when three brothers began making plates, vases and figurines at home in Alm脿ssera.
What does a line through the blue stamp mean? An auction house says it marks a piece that failed quality control, sold as a second. The reference entry says flawed pieces are destroyed.
What does DAISA on the base mean? A collectors’ site says it stands for Dise帽os Art铆sticos e Industriales, S.A., a subsidiary used to protect Lladr贸 designs.
Related on this site: lugo-roman-wall-walk-the-circuit, ensaimada-de-mallorca-igp-what-the-name-covers, manises-lustreware-reflective-gold-and-blue
Roam first. Shop later.