Pottery

antiques?

2008-08-13T04:06:00Z

this is all stuff i've found in my grandpa's attic after inheriting his house. Any help on pricing any of it would be greatly appreciated we really need the money to fix the house.

http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f364/shari411/antiques/

Unknown Pottery

2008-07-26T18:31:00Z

I purchased the Woodpecker at an auction in North Carolina. It is approx. 7 3/4" high of iridescent blue, green, cream and rose on his belly. There is a hand written tag on the bottom that says "From Grandpa to Mom" Cardiff, Wales 1912. The potters mark looks like a pari of outspread wings from the side. It was painted on before the firing. If anyone has any information, I would really appreciate any guidance, I talked to a lady in the UK and she informed me that there was a pottery company in Cardiff named Poole,but that it was definately not Poole so I dont know where to go from here. Thanks Sheryl iammissinglink@gmail.com

Ceramic Elephants Majolic?

2008-07-10T03:32:00Z

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what my Ceramic elephants are worth. They have a cracked finish on them and the person I had take a look at them, repairs Ceramic's and pottery for a living. He said he thought they were Majolic Ceramic elephants and worth alot of money. I saw online another pair of them and they weren't Majolic, but they looked very similar and they said they were 20th Century and they were from China. I find there are no marking on them as to who did the work on them, but I did receive them from my grandmother who passed two years ago. She rec'd them as a gift from her brother who flew for Tiger Airlines (they shipped freight of all kinds all over the world). He lived in California at the time he gave them to my grandmother.

Mc Coy Cookie Jars

2008-05-27T16:53:00Z

McCoy Pottery

McCoy Pottery of Roseville, Ohio, was a leader in production pottery for almost sixty years, and their cookie jars have always been a popular part of the McCoy line of products. First made in the 1930's, McCoy produced cookie jars in hundreds of forms and finishes. Blanks were glazed in a wide variety of colors, and decorated individually and by hand. Occasionally, a potter would modify a blank, creating a true one-of -a-kind piece. Nelson McCoy Jr. once told me that the most valuable cookie jar he'd ever heard of was a version of the 1955 Jack-o-lantern jar in which the potter had cut out the features to create a lantern. Only one of these is known to exist.

The McCoy Mark

Sometimes, a piece would be taken out of production, only to be brought back years later, occasionally with changes in glaze or detailing. Because of this, the best way to date a particular piece is by the style of the backstamp, or manufacturer's mark, usually on the bottom.

Depending on the age of the McCoy, it can be marked on the bottom with an embossed NM or NM USA (1930-40's), the McCoy logo or McCoy USA (1940's-60's). McCoy from the 70's and eighties show an LC and McCoy or MCP and McCoy, McCoy inside a circle or a silhouette of a pitcher. The most recent logos tend to be more elaborate. Some McCoy products were unmarked, however, and some were marked simply USA.

How to Spot the Real McCoy

Dating and/or authentication genuine unmarked McCoy is more difficult but not impossible. The most obvious step is researching at your public library, where information is readily available. Having been a popular collectible for a number of years, many collector books have been written on both McCoy and cookie jars. If you can't find a book, a clue for authenticity can be found on the bottom of even an unmarked piece of pottery. McCoy products always have a dry foot, meaning a portion of the bottom that is unglazed where the bottom rested on the kiln. This either shows up as a ring that follows the contour of the bottom, or lines that resemble feet. Check the bottom of your cookie jar. If it's completely glazed on the bottom with three or more small unglazed spots (from where the spurs, or racks held the piece during firing) it probably isn't a real McCoy, even if it looks like one.

McCoy's Most Popular Cookie Jars

At present, some of the most popular and valuable cookie jars are McCoy's various Black Americana models. Collectors refer to these as Mammy jars, and since they have crossover appeal (items sought by both collectors of Black Americana as well as cookie jars) prices remain high, but have dropped significantly in the last ten years or so. The line of Black Americana jars are popular, especially the Mammy and Broccoli version, and the early 1940's jar that had the words, "Dem cookies sho gots dat Vitamin A" on the skirt. This cookie jar was never in full production, so examples (which are found in yellow, white and aqua) are rare. Other highly collectibel cookie jars include the Davy Crockett model, The Negro Chef, the Majorette, and the Reclining Cow with the words Cookie & Milk. This one sold in 1998 for $10,000!

Beware of McCoy Reproductions

Anything as popular as McCoy is in danger of being reproduced, so collectors should be cautious, especially of online bargains. A quick check on eBay today turned up a large number of Cookie Jars that are probably fakes, even though they have the McCoy backstamp. One cookie jar that appeared numerous times was called "Sassy Mammy", an Aunt Jemima type with her hands on her hips. I have never seen this jar, nor is it in any of the five McCoy collector books in my library.

Sometimes, the unscrupulous use a geniune McCoy piece to produce a mold, then make copies the same way McCoy would have done 60 or 70 years ago, but these jars are smaller than the originals. This isn't much help unless you have access to the exact dimensions of the originals, or are able to make a side by side comparison. A better method of spotting a fake is by the condition of the painted decoration. A large majority of McCoy cookie jars with details in colors in addition to the base glaze were decorated with a "cold paint" technique, that is, the paint is applied after the glazing. This type of paint has proven to be not terribly durable, and highly suseptible to chipping.

Unlike art pottery, McCoy was made to be functional. Housewives loved and used their McCoy cookie jars, and most authentic vintage jars show their age. Be leery of purchasing a highly decorated cookie jar with perfect paint, especially in the most popular forms such as Black Americana, as the chances are strong that you are buying a Fake McCoy.

Early Lladro Unmarked Lamp

2008-05-17T06:41:00Z

I'm trying to find out what this Lladro lamp is worth. I can't find it anywhere. The mold number I think is 40 or 41. It's faint and hard to read. The piece is unmarked but does have an imprint of Made in Spain on the bottom. Thanks for any info you can provide

CRAWFORD POTTERY DALTON OH SUGAR AND CREAMER

2007-12-16T23:02:00Z

HI ALL- NEED HELP ON RESEARCH ON SUGAR AND CREAMER. DON'T KNOW HOW OLD THESE ARE BUT I WOULD SAY 30'S TO 50'S. THE BOTTOM IS STAMPED CRAWFORD POTTERY DALTON OHIO BUT I CANNOT FIND THEM ANYWHERE. COULD SOMEONE PLEASE HELP. THANK YOU PAM

Antique Ironstone Bowl

2007-12-02T22:13:00Z

I recently found my sisters grave. It was 50 years ago in January 2008 that she was layed to rest. Her grave was somewhat grown up and when I cleaned it off I found a Ironstone bowl that reads "Designed by tackett" Genuine Ironstone 1958. It is a large white in color that apparently has been out in the weather for 49 Plus years. I tried to pull up "Tackett" designs but had no luck. Does anyone know anything about the name tackett or possibly the value of this bowl if any?

Thank,

Teresa

Need help...

2007-10-05T19:57:00Z

I recently went to a garage sale and came across a vase/pottery. There was a gold sticker on the front that read Bay Keramik. On the bottom, were the words; West Germany, the numbers 534-25, all were molded on the vase. Then there was the number 28 stamped in gold in the center. At the top, it starts out gold colored, then blends into a cream, then into a chocolate brown at the base, and has a gold pinstripe ring around the bottom. I know that this company was started in the 1930's, and I would really like to know what it is worth. I paid $5.00 for it, and think it is a beautiful piece nontheless. I will try to find my camera so I can take some pics of it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Using pottery to tell time in archaeology

2006-10-09T16:10:00Z

Pottery is one of the most enduring materials known to humankind. In most places it is the oldest and most widespread art; primitive peoples the world over have fashioned pots and bowls of baked clay for their daily use. Prehistoric (sometimes Neolithic) remains of pottery, e.g., in Scandinavia, England, France, Italy, Greece, and North and South America, have proved of great importance in archaeology and have often supplied a means of dating and establishing an early chronology. Pottery has also been of value as historical and literary records; ancient Assyrian and Babylonian writings have been inscribed upon clay tablets. Simple geometric patterns in monochrome, polychrome, or incised work are common to pottery of prehistoric and primitive cultures.

By 1500 B.C. the use of glazes, such as the famous greens and blues, was known in Egypt. Especially noteworthy is the early Aegean pottery of the Minoan and Mycenaean periods with its curvilinear, painted decoration. In Assyria and Neo-Babylonia, painted and glazed bricks were in common use. The Ishtar gate in Babylon, with its ceramic reliefs, is an early example of the majolica technique.

The Greek vases (800–300 B.C.), famous for symmetry of form and beauty of decoration, include red, black, and varicolored examples. The last were for tombs only, as the colors were painted, unfired, and easily marred. The red ware is decorated with black figures, or the ground is black and the figures shown red. Water, oil, and wine jars were numerous. Of the Greco-Roman wares, the Arretine or Samian, also a red ware, was molded after first being turned on the wheel to the size of the mold, which carried the decoration in intaglio.

Painted pottery of the Neolithic period has been found in China. By the 2d cent. B.C. the Early Han period had developed a green glaze which may have come from the Middle East. In the Sui period (A.D. 581–618) and the T'ang period (618–906), porcelain and porcelaneous ware (the envy of the Western world) began to be made and exported to Korea and Japan and to the Islamic world. Technical knowledge, however, was not exchanged, and Islam made no true porcelain.

Islamic pottery making was centered at Baghdad in the 10th cent. Blue and green clear glazes were used, and lusterware was first employed as an overglaze. Lusterware was highly developed under the Fatimites in Egypt (969–1171), and the technique continued in use at major pottery centers over the centuries that followed. During the 13th cent. Mongol domination of Persia brought renewed Chinese influence to Islamic pottery making. Fine examples of Hispano-Moorish pottery date from the 14th cent. Islamic architecture in the 15th cent. utilized ceramic tile in immense quantities, as on the Blue Mosque at Tabriz.

In Europe there was little pottery of great aesthetic importance before the 15th cent., except perhaps some German stonewares. Majolica was mainly developed in Italy and from there spread to Spain, France (where it was called faience), and to Holland (where it came to be known as delftware). Majolica and stoneware were the main pottery forms in Europe until the advent (18th cent.) of porcelain.

Article Source: http://www.factmonster.com/index.html

Poole Pottery - A Potted History

2006-09-22T00:14:00Z

The history of the Poole Pottery can be traced back to 1873, when Jesse Carter purchased the East Quay Pottery in Poole from James Walker, after that gentleman's pottery business went bankrupt. Jesse Carter's background was as a successful builders merchant in Surrey, but he believed that the architectural ceramics business offered a profitable future and determined to put all his efforts into this. Moving to the area with his family, two of whom were to play a major role in the future of the pottery, he began to work. By the 1880s, Carter & Company had become very well established locally, overshadowing some longer established local companies and beginning to encroach on the territory of some of the well known Staffordshire potteries.

At this time, the output of the Poole Pottery was revolved around decorative tiling and other architectural pottery, such as fire surrounds. Carter & Co's wide range of decorative tiles were being widely used in shops, pubs and hotels, as well as for advertising and mosaic flooring.

During this time two of Jesse Carter's sons, Charles and Owen had begun working for the family business, and when Jesse Carter retired in 1901, control of the business fell the them. Over the next twenty years, the output of the company changed to include a growing variety of decorative wares, and the end result of this was the formation of Carter, Stabler & Adams as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Carter & Company in 1921. Harold and Phoebe Stabler and John and Truda Adams brought between them a wealth of creative experience in design, modelling and decoration and the mission of the CSA company was to produce decorative and table wares from the East Quay works in Poole.

Over the next forty years, the Carter, Stabler & Adams company proved very successful, producing a very wide variety of decorative and domestic wares. One of the most easily recognisable and successful CSA styles is that of the red earthenware body with a white slip ground and a clear glaze. This style was used until the mid-thirties, when C.S.A. moved to using white clay bodies, probably because they were more suitable for tableware than the red earthenware bodies were. The decorative pieces were all hand painted with patterns that were largely the work of Truda Adams. These colourful and stylish patterns played a key part in the success of CSA and have endured superbly, still looking fresh and attractive today. CSA's output during the 20s and 30s also included a range of skilfully modelled pieces, often by Harold Stabler or John Adams. Today these models have become highly collectable and hard to find in perfect condition.

As with all of the British pottery industry, the Poole Pottery's output was severely affected by the second world war. Whilst output was restricted by government legislation to plain utility wares until the late 1940s, new ranges were being planned and the retirement or death of several key figures such as Harold Stabler and John Adams meant that it was time for an influx of fresh talent to Carter, Stabler & Adams.

The ranges of white earthenware that had been so successful in the past had also become almost unmanageably complex, and these were now rationalised, to become known as Traditional ware, with three levels of decoration - elaborate, medium and simple. Just as in their time, the Truda Adams designs had captured the fashions and styles of their time, something new was needed to reflect the new styles of the 1950s. Several new ranges were introduced, but by far the most striking and successful were the Free Form range of patterns and shapes. Poole Pottery freeform was distinguished by a very modern new range of shapes, mixing angles and curves to create completely new shapes, as well as variations on more traditional shapes.

Alfred Read and Guy Sydenham were the driving force behind this range of shapes, and many of the early freeform patterns were also Alfred Read designs, with both Read and Sydenham being responsible for throwing the new shapes. Also especially notable were the creative talents of Ruth Pavely and Ann Read. Responsible for designing and applying many of the hand painted patterns that were applied to Read and Sydenhams' shapes, Ruth Pavely was Head of Painting at the Poole Pottery for many years, and her mark can be seen on some of the finest Poole Pottery pieces of the 1950s, as can Ann Read's. Although John Adams had retired, many of his tableware shapes were also still in use and gained a new lease of life with the application of free form patterns.

Freeform proved to be just what the doctor ordered for the Poole Pottery, and was very successful throughout the 1950s. Today, fans of 1950s design are keen to collect Poole Freeform shapes and the better examples of these pieces command strong values.

As the 1950s came to a close, Poole Pottery was as ever aware that changing times and fashions necessitated fresh creative ideas and looked to one of their newest designers, Robert Jefferson, to lead this work. Jefferson was experienced in the pottery industry, and as well as new design influences, he led the implementation of more modern manufacturing techniques, essential if Poole were to remain popular and profitable.

In the early 1960s a new range of studio ware was released - the Delphis range. This featured bold, colourful designs on new shapes created by Robert Jefferson and Tony Morris. The Delphis range proved popular and once more in keeping with the spirit of the times and remained in production, with many variations, until the mid-1970s. Delphis was then superseded by another bold and striking range, the Aegean ware range. Leslie Elsden was one of the main creative forces behind this range, providing a fitting culmination to his 50 year career at the Poole Pottery. Much of the Aegean range was decorated using either the silhouette or sgraffito techniques, and the extensive use of browns, oranges and yellows gave the Aegean pieces a very distinctive character. While some shapes were shared with the Delphis and other ranges, both Delphis and Aegean ware have very distinctive and easily recognisable characters.

Poole Pottery continues to produce fine pottery from its factory in Poole today, but its survival in the 21st century has not been easy. In 2003 the Poole Pottery was declared bankrupt, eventually to be saved by a group of private investors. An unfortunate consequence of the bankruptcy was the sale of the entire contents of the Poole Pottery's museum - while the Borough of Poole was able to buy some of the contents of the museum at the resulting auction at Christies, much of it has now been dispersed to private collectors and dealers from all over the world, depriving future generations of the chance to see what was probably the world's most enviable collection of Poole Pottery.

Today, Poole Pottery seem to be finding a new direction, with some innovative new ranges, including the first ever truely red tableware (red glazes have historically not been safe to eat from). Time will tell if they can regain their place in the top echelon of British pottery companies.

Perfect Pieces (http://www.perfectpieces.co.uk) specialises in British pottery from the last 100 years, and has a wide selection of pottery for sale as well as a large database of past stock, searchable by visitors.

Visit the Perfect Pieces website for more information or to contact us.

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