Zaklady Polish Pottery Dinner Plate Patterns

Do you own Polish Pottery Dinner Plates? My favorites are from the Zaklady Boleslawiec Factory--number GU1014. Polish Pottery stoneware has a good heft to it--it is not your wimpy, cheap stuff you will find at Walmart! This style is 10.75" in diameter, and the plates stack well together.

My personal favorites vary from the typical blue and white traditionally stamped Polish Pottery patterns. I really love greens, reds, and handpainted blue florals! What about you? Do any of these float your boat?

A Polish Pottery book?

I have always been addicted to books. I blame it on my mother, who used to take me to the public library with her when I was a child. While she loaded up on several novels to satisfy her speed-reading abilities for the week, I wandered throughout the library, and discovered the joy of learning.

When I wandered away to college and later up to Alaska for a summer job, I called my Mom one Sunday afternoon and asked her what was going on back in the Northeast corner of Kansas, where I was raised. She shared the normal gossip about work and friends, but before hanging up, she mentioned, “Oh, and I discovered Polish Pottery!” “Polish Pottery? What is that?” I asked. She then leapt into a description of its vibrant kobalt blues and playful circular patterns. “You mix and match all the patterns, and they all go together! You really should look it up, you would love it!” she said. Doubtfully, I replied, “Umm…okay…well…is there a book about it?” When she said “No,” I was dumbfounded. “What? No book?” In my little world, it seemed that anything worth knowing about could be found in a book. But alas, my subsequent searches for a history of, or better explanation of, Polish Pottery were fruitless.

A trip to Kansas that coming winter introduced me personally to my Mother’s expanding Polish Pottery collection. Wow—she was obsessed! And after she served a few meals with these Polish Dishes, I was also hooked! Within a few years later, my husband and I had our hands deep into the world of Polish Pottery business, but we had to learn everything through the school of hard knocks.

There are hundreds upon hundreds of Polish Pottery patterns, and rather than give them individual names, all factories label their patterns with numbers. To make it easy on American collectors, American retailers each give the patterns names, such as Mosquito, Peacock, Blue Floral, Valley, Forget Me Not, etc. But with each retailer naming the pieces their own made-up names, it has made a lot of confusion for buyers trying to shop around for the best deals.

Now wouldn't it be dream-like if someone published a comprehensive book with ALL of the factories listed, and photos of ALL of their patterns, codes, shapes, etc?! It would be a TON of work, I know...and they'd probably have to republish the book each week, since the companies are always growing, expanding, and changing their Polish Stoneware collection!

Alas...a woman can dream!

Polish Pottery Patterns--The Truth!

If you spend any time shopping for Polish Pottery Stoneware, you’ll start to hear all sorts of talk using words like: Unikat, Art, and Signature. All three of these terms are virtually interchangeable. They signify that beyond a piece being 1st Quality in construction and painting, the piece is crafted with more hand-painted detail than others, and therefore more expensive and highly treasured. Fewer artists can paint an “Art” pattern, as it is requires a great deal of training, experience and skill.

The word “Unikat” means “unique” in Polish, and all “Art” pieces are stamped with this word on bottom. And of course, each “Art” piece is signed on the bottom with the artist’s full signature, which is why it is also known as a “Signature” piece. The signing of the artist’s full signature on the bottom is a distinction from the other patterns, which typically only have the artist’s initials or a company logo.

But don’t think it is that simple. With 7+ major Polish Stoneware factories (and many smaller ones) producing this fine quality stoneware, there is a lot of variation to how they structure their pricing scale.

For example, one of my favorite Polish factories is Zaklady Ceramiczne. There are four different price levels used in this factory. And you can learn which patterns are which in each level by looking at the pattern code, often listed on the bottom of the pottery, or on retailers websites.

The prices vary depending on the detail of the hand-painted work. For example, when selecting a Polish Pottery product, a code of GU596-56 signifies that you are looking at a teapot (shape number 596), in the Peacock (number 56) pattern, just as a GU814-ART104 pattern would signify a Salad Plate (814) in a Daisy (ART104) pattern. The pattern level is always the second part of the product code, coming just after the dash. The first, and least-expensive level is the “Classic” level, and has numbers without any letters attached (i.e. 41, 56, 111). The “Upper Classic” is the next level up, and always has an “A” attached to the end of the pattern code (166A, 205A, 224A). The third level is the “Subtle” level, labeled as DU (DU1, DU8, DU60) which is sometimes a signed Unikat level, and the highest level is the “Signature Series,” which is labeled with the word “ART” before the pattern number (ART104, ART126, ART129). As you move up the levels, the detail and work gets noticeably more complicated, which is why the prices go up as well.

For example, look at the bottom of a cookie tray below. The blue tag shows "GU1103" and "104ART" as well as "GAT 1":



If the blue tag is missing, your "Unikat" pieces may still have the necessary codes on them, like this "818" piece, as "ART123" pattern!

Why do they switch off writing the "ART" coding before or after the number, such as ART123 or 104ART above?
Just to confuse us. Yup--that's why!

So the truth is...you can ignore American retailers names they assign to Polish Pottery patterns (like the above "Peacock, Daisy, etc" that I just used). They do not originate from Polish factories, but are selected by individual US retailers to make it easier to sell the patterns to collectors. But the names can change from retailer to retailer. In reality, the numbers are what count!!