Devon Vineger Pourer by JR.

A little vinegar or oil pourer, obviously made for the tourists, but who was J.R.? The decoration has been well executed with the design incised into the body prior to being glazed.

As they are my initials, should I lie?

The way it is signed suggests "hobby potter" but it is well done and the image plus glazing are complicated.

One possibility is that it was originally unsigned and someone with my initials put the mark on the base later i.e. 1996.

I was going to suggest that it was why JR was shot but it's not that bad.
I think it was sold through a gift shop. I'm sure there was a price sticker on when I got it, one from a pricing gun, so I assume a working potter rather than a hobbyist.

What kind of vandal scratches their own initials into someone elses pot? Sacrilege is what that is.
Hang on, are you confessing to something here, s-p?

Now it's been pointed out it's clear that the initials and date have been scratched into dry clay rather than incised while it was still wet, i.e. prior to first firing. It's a bloody graffiti tag rather than a maker's mark......and it ain't Banksy.