Clustered around the Ohio River Valley in Alliance, Ohio and nearby towns was a group of companies that had a relationship with Homer Laughlin and the other Larger Potteries in the area. Best described as Marketing Companies and/or sort of a Sub-contractors, they would buy "blanks" from the larger companies and apply their own decorative decal by hand, over-stamping the piece with their own special "Mark" or back stamp.

Some of the Companies doing this were Century Service Company, Lifetime, International D S Co, and Cunningham & Pickett. It is very interesting to study this collection of  Marketing Companies that orbited and prospered around the success of their much larger manufacturing partners. Quite of a few of these Marketing Companies' patterns are highly sought after and valuable today - some 70 years later.

One nice advantage to the collector is the fact that these over-stamps usually had the name of the pattern included within the stamp along with the Production Stamps from the original company, (HLC, etc.). Having both stamps and the Pattern Name provides a handy reference for the admirer and it is right there on the back of the dish...

Another interesting fact is that if you are a HLC Fan, you will recognize the Shape of most of these pieces surviving today and originally sold by these associated companies in the Ohio River Valley - are mostly Cavalier or Rhythm shape. 

There were other shapes where this was done throughout HLC's history, but the fact that most of the pieces surviving today are often these two particular shapes reflect the fact that these Marketing Alliances were at their peak during the Mid-50's when these shapes were mostly produced. 

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