Worcester Porcelain Trough with Maiden and Shells

• Registered Design - During the period 1842-1883 the Patent Office issued a diamond mark along with the registration number when a design was registered.
  
  Besides indicating that the design had been registered, a diamond mark offered the buyer the reassurance of knowing an item was of British design. It assured the person registering the design a degree of protection from copying.
  
  The mark was created to identify the type of material used (known as the class), how many items were included, (sometimes known as bundles or packages), and the date of registration.
  
  On the diamond mark the year of registration is shown along with the month code. However, there are two ranges of year codes; 1842-1867 and 1868-1883. By looking at the design of the diamond mark you should be able to determine the correct year from the design of the diamond mark and the placing of the day number.
  
  Source and further information: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/reg-design-diamond.htm
• A/f, as Inspected - The letters "A/F" or "as inspected" as part of a description is the cataloguer's shorthand for "all faults" or "as found", meaning the item has some type of damage or deficiency, it is of uncertain date or provenance, and/or that the seller takes no responsibility for the completeness of the item or the accuracy of the description.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• Worcester (England), item types - other items 521