Factory mark
A factory mark is a marking affixed by manufacturers on their productions in order to authenticate them. Numerous factory marks are known throughout the ages, and are essential in determining the provenance or dating of productions.
History
The manufacturer's marks are very old: the ones found on Korakou culture pottery are four thousand years old, and the ones on ancient Greek and Roman vases date back to 5th-4th centuries BC. While the production marks are technically distinct from the ownership marks, at these times, when a craftsman typically was the same person as the merchant, and many people were illiterate, a single mark frequently served both purposes.Medieval guilds set up the system of compulsory marks for the craftsman, intended to trace the defective items and punish the offenders, with most typical examples provided by the bakery trade. In English weapons manufacturing the regulations concerning the manufacturer marks were firmly established in the 14th century: no weapon shall be sold without a personal mark of the craftsman, misuse of the mark was subject to court actions.
The distinction between the factory marks and trademarks in England became clear by the 17th century in the cloth trade: the manufacturer marks were required from the producers by regulations and represented a liability, while the trademark represented the goodwill, an asset, not of the actual craftsman, but of the capitalist who furnished the capital for the production. The rise of factory marks was also occurring elsewhere, De Munck links this to changes in the labor relations and methods of production.