Thirteenth Period Mark - Jan 2008-Dec 2010

13th Period Mark or 2nd Brown Mark. Down through the years Belleek have introduced numerous variations on the original trademark introduced by the founders in the 1860s. Initially no great thought was given to changing trademarks and it was first changed in 1891 due to the McKinley Tariff Act that compelled imported product into the United States to state their country of origin. Belleek already had a large export market in the United States among the many Irish emigrants and they immediately saw the benefits of marking Belleek products with "Made in Ireland" This second mark remained in place until 1926 when Belleek introduced its third mark probably to coincide with the Wembley Exhibition of 1926. A circle with Celtic knot work was added with the Gaelic words "deanta in éireann" meaning made in Ireland.

The fourth mark was introduced in 1946 with the only difference between it and the preceding mark was that the colour changed to green. No one is quite sure why the colour changed. Perhaps it was simply to have a different colour of mark. However one explanation given was that a green mark was less noticeable looking at it from the inside of a Belleek piece! 

The green fifth mark was introduced in 1955 and a registry "R" replaced the old registered number "0857" It remained until 1965 when the green 6th mark was made smaller and the "R" was positioned above the harp on the stamp.

In 1980 a gold coloured stamp was introduced, shortening the banner inscription to "Ireland" and removing the Celtic disc altogether. Although the original plan was to replace the trademark every ten years after 1980, this did not work out and the next new mark did not come into place until 1993! This blue mark was based on the old second mark but due to its small size and difficulty in firing it successfully, it was decided to replace it in 1997 with a second blue mark larger and with a new representation of the Wolfhound, Round Tower and Harp. 

In 2000 Belleek celebrated the Millennium by issuing a black trademark for that year only. It differed from the older black stamps with a banner saying "Millennium 2000" A green mark was introduced in 2001, using a darker colour of green based on Belleek’s corporate green.

In 2007 Belleek celebrated its 150th anniversary and to mark that occasion a special black stamp was issued to commemorate the year. The style of the mark was subtly altered and a banner added above the mark saying "Celebrating 150 years".Bringing us up to date and introducing a new brown 13th trademark that will remain until at least 2017 when Belleek will hopefully celebrate its 160th birthday!