How should I clean these pieces?

Wash them by hand using warm water and a mild detergent. The soft earthenware body absorbs moisture quickly if submerged for too long. Don't put them in a dishwasher. The harsh environment and sudden heat will expand the crazing and ruin the glossy finish.

I recently inherited a large leaf-shaped dish from my grandmother and it has a strange purple and green mottled pattern on the back instead of a maker's mark. Is this normal?

That mottled finish is standard practice for the period. Decorators wiped excess oxides onto the underside of plates and dishes to seal the porous clay. Dealers call this a tortoiseshell back. It saved the factories money on clear glazes while providing a functional waterproof base. Many factories left standard production runs unmarked. They relied on pattern numbers or simply the distinct style of their moulding.

Can I serve food on them?

It isn't safe. You'll want to use them strictly for display. Nineteenth-century recipes relied heavily on lead to achieve that characteristic bright gloss. As the surface crazes over time, acidic foods can leach those historical compounds out of the pottery.

There is a dark brown stain spreading under the clear glaze inside a jug I bought at a local fair, and I want to know if soaking it in bleach will fix it?

Bleach is too aggressive for old porous pottery. It might temporarily lighten the mark, but harsh chemicals will ultimately break down the fragile earthenware structure. Staining happens when tea or grease seeps through microscopic cracks in the glassy surface. It's a natural part of the ageing process. Accept the discolouration as part of the object's history rather than trying to force it out chemically.

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Antique Majolica in East of England

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Victorian antique majolica is brightly coloured, relief-moulded earthenware finished with a glossy lead glaze, originally made to bring bold naturalistic designs into nineteenth-century dining rooms and conservatories.

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