Range Names and Surface Techniques
Confusion is sometimes caused for new collectors by the backstamps "Bizarre" and "Fantasque", as if they are unfamiliar with Clarice Cliffs enormous range of patterns they may think that these are pattern names rather than the range names they really are. Bizarre was applied originally from 1928 to the early geometric patterns, its use later being expanded to cover also early florals and landscapes up to 1937, when it was finally discontinued. The term "Original Bizarre" was
Banded dinncrware in the Odilon shape (£2004295).
used instead for the geometric patterns from 1930. Fantasque was brought into use from 1929 to 1934, in order to offer an alternative range to
Bizarre,
though in
fact the two ranges
overlapped and the use of the two range names was primarily a marketing device, as Clarice Cliff herself admitted, when she said in her notes for the 1972 Brighton Exhibition, that "Fantasque was supposed to be a little different" in order to sell to a second retailer in a town where Bizarre was already being sold through an established outlet. Motif like Butterfly were used against a striped background (£250043700).
Another range name was Biarritz, introduced in 1933 with its own backstamp for use on a particular
rectangular
shape
of
tableware,
sometimes being seen alone, sometimes along with a Clarice Cliff mark, sometimes together with a Bizarre mark or even with all three. The Biarritz
V^fr
range usually had a shoulder pattern applied, often a stamp-sized version of the original pattern, though sometimes too the whole surface was covered or covered apart from the central circular area where the food would go. In addition to these basic ranges,
Bizarre,
Fantasque and Biarritz, a particular surface
A
vase in
(£80041185).
33
'Castellated Circle' (£5004740)
with Broth (£3004445) and Melon