Services with armorial bearings have always been a speciality of Spode. Earthenware was ideal for everyday use but for special occasions a dessert service with full coat of arms in proper colours would be a way to impress the guests. Some dessert services of the Spode period are entirely hand decorated. Armorial services were also commissioned by large institutions, such as the Honourable East India Company, and regimental messes.

Throughout the firm's history many designs have been produced to customers' requirements and these were not given pattern numbers. This applied to many armorial designs and especially to the bone china dessert services. It is not always possible to locate any reference to these individual designs especially before 1847 because the recording of armorial services only began in that year and does not seem to have been completed comprehensively until about 1880 when the regular Arms Books were started. Three volumes starting in 1847 record many services up to about 1865. In general if an heraldic device is applied to a pattern which is recorded elsewhere, only the device is entered, with a note of the pattern number to which it applied.

Apart from the three early Arms Books mentioned above there are 13 Books dated as follows:

1. 1 1874 - 1865
2. c1860 - 1865
3. c1856 - 1864

(These three seem to duplicate some of the information on the much neater books above.)

4. c1868 -1869
5. c1864 - 1874
6. c1875 - 1879
7. 1880 - 1887
8. 1887 - 1891
9. 1891 - 1895
10. 1895 - 1905
11. 1905 - 1930
12. 1930 - 1967
13. 1967 - 1980

There are also four volumes of Armorial devices applied to patterns to special orders for Thomas Goode & Co of London. These books are marked GA on the spine:

GA1 1895 - 1899

GA2 1899 - 1905

GA3 1905 - 1912

GA4 1912 - 1967

As well as the armorial services, the arms books contain information about other badges. Thousands of badges and crests have been applied to Spode wares over the years from the names of hotels, railways and steamship companies to mustard, toothpaste, chocolate and clotted cream manufacturers to private individuals in the UK and overseas.

Much of the above information is extracted from;

Note: The owner of a badge or crest would often remain anonymous as the orders were placed with Spode, the manufacturer, by a third party such as a retailer. Even though badges etc are recorded in the archive many remain unidentified.

Further reading: Robert Copeland; Spode and Copeland Marks and Other Relevant Intelligence: Studio Vista. ISBN 0-289-80172-9