W. G. Nixey Products in Doulton Ware Bottles

Items that can often be found for sale or auction on the eBay website are Doulton Ware salt glazed stone bottles produced by Doulton & Co. at Lambeth, stamped with the wording “W. G. NIXEY   12 Soho Square   LONDON.”

There were five sizes of these cream coloured stoneware bottles used by W. G. Nixey, as seen above. they are often incorrectly listed as having once contained ginger beer, black lead, or ink. Ginger beer and ink were never sold by the company, while black lead was only sold in solid tablets. According to historical advertising, there were only two products sold in these bottles, Egg-Shell Enamel “Berlin Black”, which by the turn of the twentieth century was being sold in all five sizes, and Fine Black Varnish which was only available in two sizes.

Doulton & Co. was first and foremost a manufacturer of industrial ceramics, including water filters, drainage pipes and sanitary fittings. In the early 1860’s, however, the company began the manufacture of domestic and ornamental salt glazed stoneware that became known as “Doulton Ware.” Their decorative stoneware produced in association with the School of Art at Lambeth had enormous success at International Exhibitions in the 1860’s and 1870’s, culminating in acclaim at the Philadelphia Exhibition in 1886 and also at Chicago in 1893. Public interest and production peaked in the late 1890’s when about 370 artists were employed at Lambeth making the salt-glazed ornamental stoneware.

References

Histories of UK Potters and Pottery Manufacturers – Doulton History 1854-2005

Credits

The photo of the five sizes of stoneware bottles produced by Doulton & Co of Lambeth for W. G. Nixey appears by kind permission of Andrew Nixey.

The three photos of the rare stoneware bottle complete with a paper label for Egg-Shell Enamel “Berlin Black” appear by kind permission of Liam Ferrall.