8 Antique Vintage Blue Willow Bread Plates & Small Fruit Bowls BCM Nelson Ware. Please note that 7 pieces are marked BCM Nelson-Ware and 1 bowl has no markings but is quite old so I added it to make it an even number of 8 pieces. Includes 4 blue willow pattern bread plates that measure 6 1/8" wide and 4 small fruit berry bowls 5" wide. The 4 plates are essentially fine with some age crazing. The 4 bowls have no chips but they do have age lines on the back side. Please see my detailed photos. 

B.C.M.
British Commercial Monomarks
Under the headline 'An interesting invention', The Times Newspaper of Friday 10th July 1925 reported that "A luncheon was held at the Hotel Victoria yesterday for the purposes of explaining the aims of a company which has been formed to develop an invention known as Monomarks which was devised and developed by Mr. William Morris". 
The company was known as British Monomarks Ltd., London.
As the company explained when its service was launched on the 5th November 1925, "by arrangement with the General Post Office" it simply provided a Post Office Box and mail forwarding service to its customers. 
However the distinctive feature of its service, heralded as "the greatest invention of its kind since people adopted names", was the 'William Morris System of Monomarks'. The idea being that every individual and business should have an unique identifying code such as 'TR3T', and that by prefixing this unique code with the letters 'BM' (for British Monomarks) and the addition of 'London WC1', everyone could therefore enjoy the "shortest name and address in the world". 
The letters 'BCM' (for British Commercial Monomarks) were to be used on goods along with an identifying name to uniquely identify the manufacturer and provide a method of corrispondance. Only a small number of pottery companies used the BCM system  
The company claimed that this "would make a decided impression on British trade", and that some four hundred "prominent companies" had applied for "commercial monomarks" prior to the service's launch.
However by 1929 it was reported that profits were "negligible", talk of establishing an "international chain of Monomark companies" had been abandoned, and there it was even suggested that the company be wound up. 
The company nevertheless carried on trading, and for decades afterwards continued to advertise the advantages of "A London address, wherever you are!".

Lord Nelson Pottery
NELSON WARE
LORD NELSON WARE
ELIJAH COTTON
Elijah Cotton (Ltd) Hanley 1880-1981
Earthenware manufacturer at Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent
Elijah Cotton started his business in 1880 at the Lichfield Street Works, Eastwood, Hanley.
He outgrew these works and in 1885 built the Nelson Pottery on the corner of Nelson Road and Commercial Road. This was a large works alongside the Caldon Canal, built on the site of a former pottery established in 1758.
The business continued to grow and acquired another works - an existing works on the corner of Broad Street and Victoria Road, Shelton.
Elijah Cotton died in 1895. It was later said of him that he was "a man of great individuality who, by his own efforts and the driving force of his strong personality, eventually became one of the leading manufacturers in the Potteries".
The business remained in the family and was run by Elijah's eldest son Edward and by 1956 was still actively run by one of Elijah's sons, Arthur assisted by his own son Nigel.