I will make this quick. I spent too much time researching this Maker's mark, but the results are clear ...to me. I think I have uncovered something that has been mistakenly referred to for a half Century! ...well at least on the Internet. This Detective work was about trying to look up a silly ceramic figurine with a gold foil sticker sporting a poorly conceived logo. I clearly see a tiny "Ampersand" and read this as UC&GC, but only under magnification (remember this is very magnified). It is easy to see the confusion.
Here's the rub. Try googling UC&GC and you'll get nothing. No one can see the ampersand and thinks that is a "C" or an "O" ...so try googling UCGC ...B00M, results by the ton. Try finding out who UCGC is (Manufacturer? History?), lots of product Image search results for their Gift Craftware, but no one knows who is UCGC. So I am closing in and trying different queries against the Googlemachine and I think I have uncovered an as-yet-unknown sticker Identity. GSaleHunter the King and Queen of No One Cares!
I looked for entirely too long and could not find this simple sticker linked to a Manufacturer. The same logo presents with "Japan" and "Taiwan". The important part is *everyone* is wrong about who this represents and are usually only described in product listings as a UCGC Maker's mark, so allow me some bragging rights ...even though my assumption is not verified, it will quickly become an obvious "ooooh yeeeah".
So I did this alphabetically and it became clear. Reading the Japanese porcelain Maker's marks on Gotheborg you can scroll down to the "U"s and read the History of Ucagco - United China and Glass Company, which now seems to be a sadly incomplete story. Ucagco sold in 1956 and it's lead Designer and CEO retired in 1962, and the story ends there ...and so did the recognizable gold foil stickers "Ucagco" on their Gift Craft line. I am supposing that newly led company which purchased the 100-year-old (famous!) United China and Glass Company, wanted to come up with a new logo and sticker design for all their new products.
Ok, you get an "F" on your logo design if it forever defeats anyone knowing who you are, which I believe is exactly the case here. A tiny "&" tucked into cramped letters? Maybe it looked good on the Drawing Board. GSaleHunter hereby rectifies the confusion ...although I could be totally wrong. UCGC is actually UC&GC, the 1962 rebranded United China & Glass Co. of Sammons Enterprises. Please share any information below!
Check your stickers people (magnifier or cell phone camera required!) on all those kitchy porcelain figurines. Verification? What happened to Ucagco products after being transitioned to the new owners in 1962? What products did they make, and how were those Sammons Enterprises Imports labeled? I'm saying with the above stickers. More guessing based on historical trends. The "UC&GC Japan" stickers represent products from the 1960's (post-1962?) and stickers with "UC&GC Taiwan" represent products made as Taiwan stole Japan's export crown in the 1970's
This is an uncovered topic anywhere. Now the conversation is initiated and hopefully you found us when you googled UC&GC Join the conversation and join our Social Media on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, and sign up with your email to get our newest Tips and Tricks and the next episode of "Before and After" See our other Blog "Researching Vintage" to learn how we prep and research incoming new treasures. Thanks for stopping by,
The Struggle for Vintage is Real! The struggle for random obscurity? Oh that just comes naturally.
GSaleHunter
Thanks Amber and Zer01 for adding to the conversation. Oh! A clear sticker …that’s definitely a new one. One of the main points of this whole post is how impossible it is to online search because you have to type the identifying mark into a search box …and how badly a million entries of the wrong ID has literally corrupted top search results.
It would be so cool for a surviving representative (or family member?) from Sammons Enterprises to post some meaningful History from the end of the 20th Century. A permanent add to the Internet …the Untold Story.
Again, thanks to all for adding at least some traction to this little lost Tale of “What the?” …and a harsh warning to any future Graphics Logo Designers —> “No Ampersands!!!”
I got a hand carved duck decoy with a solid brass beak. On the bottom is one of the gold stickers indicating Taiwan.
I have two vases from what I can gather online from people selling identical ones they are from the 70’s. The foil label has been replaced with a clear sticker with the UC&GC and it says Peru instead of Japan/Taiwan.
Well done!!
July 13, 2020
I bought a set of four cups and saucers with the paper label “United China and Glass Co. JAPAN No.72/3532 C” The paper label is a rectangle and not foil. Approx. 1" by 1.75" . The cups and saucers have a ‘catherineholm’ type pattern that is much like “lotus”. Each C&S set is a different color – yellow, deep pink, forest green, or deep orange. White background. Saucers have a ring of the “lotus”-like pattern and cups have the same ringed pattern. Saucers and Cups have a band of color and ring of white lotus on the band. Both cup and saucer are rimed with a thin line of shiny gold. Handles are white with gold teardrop. I put them with my CatherineHolm pieces. Just found out today, from your blog, something about the company. Thank you! Now to find the designer. It may well be the designer S.A. Stolaroff who later became president of UCAGCO when if became Sammos Enterprises in 1956. He retired in 1962. Any thoughts on this being the designer? Do not see where I could post photo(s).