Pottery & Porcelain maker
Hall China Company marks
Robert Hall formed the company in East Liverpool, Ohio, on August 14, 1903.
- Active
- 1903–2021
- Based in
- East Liverpool, Ohio, United States
- Marks listed
- 4
- Typical pieces
- teapots, kitchenware, casseroles, bowls
The marks, by date
Each mark’s wording is written out as a transcription: the words and line breaks, not a picture of the mark. Where a source describes a mark instead of quoting it, the description is shown in italics.
Where: base
A plain circle with 'Hall China'. Some versions add 'Made in U.S.A.' between 'Hall' and 'China'.
Where: base
'HALL' in capitals inside a plain circle, usually in black ink. Search-result excerpts say it was registered in February 1930, first used in October 1930, and put on most items except kitchenware and dinnerware. This is the most common mark on collectible Hall teapots.
Where: base of kitchenware
The kitchenware mark, in a square with lines above and below and 'MADE IN U.S.A.' underneath. Many variations exist. Hall introduced its kitchenware line in 1932.
Where: base
A square 'TV screen' backstamp, reportedly first used January 6, 1969, and seen on most Hall made from the early 1970s. Hall also changed its colors around 1969–1970.
History
His son Robert T. Hall perfected a single-fire, lead-free glaze in 1911, and it became the basis of the firm's durable teapots, kitchenware and institutional ware. Hall added kitchenware in the early 1930s and produced Autumn Leaf for the Jewel Tea Company from 1933. Homer Laughlin bought Hall in 2010, and the company was listed as defunct in 2021; the Hall line continues as a food-service brand under Steelite.
Dating clues
- A plain circle reading 'Hall China' points to the 1920s. A plain circle reading only 'HALL' points to the 1930s–1970s.
- A square 'TV screen' backstamp means 1969 or later.
- Reissued Hall products are marked differently and come in different colors from the originals.
- Autumn Leaf pieces were made for Jewel Tea, and early examples may carry Jewel marks instead of the plain Hall mark.
Look-alikes and reproductions
- Reissues and later production in revised colors, marked with the post-1969 square mark.
Other names on the marks
The Hall China Company; Hall's Superior Quality Kitchenware
Where sources disagree: Substituted for Watt Pottery. Mark dating for Hall comes from weaker sources. The circle-'Hall China' (1920s) and circle-'HALL' (1930s–1970s) dates come from Our Pastimes, a general how-to site. The October 1930 registration, the square kitchenware-mark layout and the January 6, 1969 'TV screen' mark come from search-result excerpts whose pages I couldn't open (K&M Antiques returned 503; WorthPoint returned 403). A content-farm page (vintagegreenantiques.net) gives a conflicting chronology and was not used. The Carnegie Library and Wikipedia pages confirm the history only. Hall used more than 150 marks, so treat these as the main forms only.
Sources
Marks help identify a maker and a date range, but they can’t prove a piece is genuine. Reproductions and later reissues can carry old marks. This entry isn’t an appraisal.