This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Please note: Artists not classified as American in our database may have limited biographical data
compared to the extensive information about American artists.
 The following, submitted November 2005, is from Katharine Murphy:
I had asked a person in Belleek, Ireland about a vase I received from
my aunt. My great grandmother owned it. Imprinted on the
underside was the word "Belleek" and a script letter "B" and a little
artists palette and attached some photos.
A Mr. Fergus Cleary, Head of Design Belleek Pottery, wrote me back and I attach copies of the e-mail we exchanged.
Dear Katherine,
Thank you for your Email. Unfortunately this piece is not
Belleek. The piece you inquire about is American Belleek from the
'Ceramic Art Company.
Let me explain - In the 1880's a number of people left the Belleek
(Ireland) factory and emigrated to the United States, notable amongst
these were William Bromley who in fact had originally come from 'Goss',
Stoke-on-Trent England to Belleek. In 1882 he and his son also
called William, went to work for the Ott & Brewer Company of
Trenton, New Jersey.
In the ensuing years the Belleek recipe traveled among all the New
Jersey Potteries, and they made a product likened to Belleek, sometimes
in form, but they all used the name "Belleek "as part of their
trademark.
As you can imagine, Belleek Ireland was not too happy about this
infringement of their name, so in 1929 they sued the Morgan Belleek
Company for copyright violation. In the lawsuit following,
Belleek won the right to exclusively use the name 'Belleek' and the era
of American Belleek came to an end.
For further information read "American Belleek by Mary Frank Gaston
Kind regards
Fergus Cleary
Head of DesignBelleek Pottery
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Below is the background on the pottery that prompted the letter and the
wording of the letter sent to the Belleek company by Katharine Murphy.
The attached (photos) belonged to my grandmother, gone now 20
years. My aunt, who had possession of the vase, gave it to me. I always
loved it for its beauty, but when I got it home, I was fascinated that
the name "Belleek" was stamped on the bottom, but the mark bears no
resemblance to anything on the web about authentic "Belleek" pottery or
porcelain. Perhaps I have not researched long enough.
In any event, the story of the vase is that my grandmother acquired it
from her art teacher. This story sort of changed into
"grandmother's art teacher made it." So, in researching "Belleek"
and noting the stamp on the bottom of the vase, bearing only the name
Belleek and a script letter "B" along with an artist's pallette, made
me wonder whether this was a raw piece that was manufactured by Belleek
for artists to paint or something to that effect.
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