Some pottery catches my eye because of the maker. Hollinshead & Kirkham catches it because of the detail: English floral decoration, shaped plates and, on some pieces, a tiny unicorn on the back. It is exactly the sort of name worth learning if you collect Staffordshire china in Australia, where these pieces have travelled a long way from the potteries that made them.

Who were Hollinshead & Kirkham?

Hollinshead & Kirkham, often abbreviated H&K Tunstall, made pottery in Tunstall, one of the towns in England’s Staffordshire pottery district. The firm is associated with the Amicable Works and later the Unicorn Pottery. Its wares are part of a much wider Staffordshire story: practical ceramic forms made memorable by printed pattern, gilding and the tastes of their time.

Reading an H&K Tunstall mark

A green unicorn in a woodland setting above “Made in England / H & K / Tunstall” is one mark to look for. Turn a plate over before deciding what it is: the backstamp, shape and decoration together are more useful than the floral motif alone. A mark can help narrow an era, but it does not make every piece with that mark the same age or condition.

When a plate looks like needlework

One particularly charming decorative style imitates petit-point or cross-stitch embroidery. The flower shapes can look stitched from a distance, although the texture is part of a printed ceramic design, not actual thread. On surviving examples, a floral centre may be surrounded by busy scrolls, roses and gilded detail. I love the meeting of two domestic crafts in one object: the visual language of needlework on a plate made of clay.

Collecting and caring for older pottery

Condition matters more than a romantic backstory. Look closely at the rim for chips, the glaze for crazing, the gilding for rubbing and the underside for staining. Those details can differ even between matching plates. Heavily crazed examples, particularly those with stained areas, are best enjoyed as decorative pieces rather than used for food. Keep them dry, dust gently with a soft cloth and avoid soaking or abrupt temperature changes.

For me, the appeal of H&K Tunstall is not that every plate must complete a formal set. A single decorated piece can bring colour to a cabinet; a pair can make a satisfying wall display. Collecting this way gives old things a place in the home again, without pretending their decades of use never happened.