DUBLIN--Waterford Wedgwood, the Irish maker of crystal and pottery, was scrambling to stay afloat on Monday after failing to secure a buyer amid a global economic slowdown, placing at risk thousands of jobs.

Financial experts Deloitte have been called upon to try and save from bankruptcy the group that was born as Waterford Crystal in 1783, as trading in Waterford Wedgwood shares was suspended on the Irish stock exchange.

The group that produces under the Waterford, Wedgwood, Royal Doulton and Rosenthal brands employs almost 6,000 people worldwide. Only jobs in Ireland and Britain, totalling about 2,000, were immediately at risk.

Deloitte said it would continue to seek a buyer for Waterford Wedgwood.

"The administration team will be working closely with management, customers and suppliers during this time to ensure operations continue whilst a sale of the business is sought," said Angus Martin, an administrator from Deloitte.

"Waterford, Wedgwood and Royal Doulton are quintessentially classic brands that represent a high quality product which is steeped in history," he said.

Waterford Wedgwood chairman Anthony O'Reilly said the board had "acted tirelessly in its efforts to resolve the company's issues as a going concern.

"We are consoled only by the fact that everything that could have been done, by management and by the board, to preserve the group, was done," he said in a statement.

Waterford Wedgwood said its board and executives had been receiving "remarkable support" in its effort to survive from the Irish and British governments as well as from certain Irish banks.

Waterford Wedgwood has struggled in recent years owing to competition from Asian companies making cheaper china and glassware, leading to the axing of thousands of jobs.

It has also suffered from a weaker dollar, which has cut into revenues in the company's key US market.

Trade union representative Jimmy Kelly said it was "a disgrace" that Waterford Wedgwood workers were being greeted with the news having just returned to work after the festive holiday season.

"We would have known obviously over the past number of months that the situation was getting more serious by the day. We put to the (Irish) government the possibility of under-writing certain financial help that the company needed. We were refused that," Kelly said.

A spokesman for Waterford Wedgwood said the company employed 1,100 staff in Britain, 800 in Ireland and about another 4,000 worldwide mainly across Germany, the United States and Japan.

Josiah Wedgwood founded Wedgwood in 1759 in Stoke-on-Trent, England, and began making bone china in the 19th century. Brothers William and George Penrose set up crystal maker Waterford in the late 18th century.

In 1986 Waterford, based in the Irish town of the same name, acquired Wedgwood to form the present company, listing it on the stock exchange and expanding overseas during the 1990s.