Description:This notice at first seems to lay down a brave challenge to the global ceramics industry:
"We have no hesitation in challenging the World to produce a superior article of China and Earthenware than what can be, and is manufactured daily in the Staffordshire Potteries... and will sell the same on as low terms as any other house in town."
It suggests that an unknown company, perhaps a Scottish firm, is trying to muscle into the market by underselling the established makers.
However, it may be that a third party had cooked up the story to coax manufacturers like Enoch Wood into lowering prices.
Wood himself added a note that seems to confirm this impression, recording that this notice was produced "without our knowledge or consent - a very foolish act."
About this Document
This document was collected by local industrialist Enoch Wood and is now part of the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.