Question:
i recently bought a random harvest dinner plate, but on the back of the plate is a written "F2" under the glaze. what does it mean or just a mold number? increase value? value?

Answer: I’m not sure what the handwritten "F2" indicates, assuming the front of the plate has the standard Random Harvest artwork. If the artwork varies from the standard then F2 could refer to a test pattern or glaze. Or it could indicate a new batch of glaze, the start of a day’s production, a specific firing in the kiln, or something similar. I’ve seen a blue "S" on quite a few Concord pieces made in the early 1950s but not an F2. As for value, a plate with a handwritten mark such as this F2 would have a small increase in value over a standard plate due to the curiosity factor. It might be worth double or triple the value of a standard plate. But unless there are other differences it wouldn’t make the plate worth any more than that.

Larry