I’ve just spotted this Pilkingtons Royal Lancastrian lustre lidded bowl on eBay. It is an extremely finely-decorated piece by Gladwys Rodgers, one of the most collectable of the Royal Lancastrian artists.
Royal Lancastrian lustre wares are quite often worn or may have cracks, hairlines or crazing. Their thin bodies and the glazes that were used make this inevitable. However, this piece appears to be in excellent overall condition and is illustrated with no fewer than 12 photographs!
It’s a truly stunning and rare example of early 20th century art pottery.
Some of my favourite pieces of Troika pottery are the early and unusual smooth glazed sculptural wares in white. Simple in design and decoration yet strangely appealing. At the time only the smaller pieces from this range proved popular with collectors, along with the ever popular textured range. The larger pieces didn’t sell well possibly because of their high price tags.
Due to the unpopularity of the larger pieces fewer were made making them relatively scarce today. However I noticed a couple of these large pieces have appeared on eBay recently including this unusual double candleholder, and this large white glazed fruit bowl. Quite striking centre pieces on anyone’s dining table!
This piece of Moorcroft Pomegranate is a rather nice and attractive shape, with looped handles at the top of a fluted vase. Not only does it have this stunning pattern on the outside of the vase, but the inner rim has also been carefully decorated.
Moorcroft is a quality pottery still operating today. The original pieces such as this one, offer a glimpse into the past at the remarkable skills and imagination of the designers and modellers. Very rarely nowadays do we equal such imagination I think.
Once again this eBay seller has included plenty of photographs and also indicates that the vase does have crazing and some restoration. It’s always good to be sure about the condition of items on eBay not everybody’s idea of perfect is the same! If you’re unsure there’s no harm in emailing the seller to verify an item’s condition and ask for furtehr photographs, I’d always reccommend it.
I have just spotted a PenDelfin Cyril Squirrel on eBay. Cyril Squirrel was designed by Doreen Noel Roberts and only produced for around two years from c1963-1965.
I always advise people to be careful when buying off eBay. Be sure to ask the seller any questions before you bid and check out the photographs properly. It’s all to easy to be disappointed when you receive something that isn’t as good as you were expecting, and quite often it can be prevented beforehand.
So it’s nice to see this seller has included plenty of photographs of Cyril. They illustrate that he isn’t in perfect condition (far from it!) but it gives a clear indication of all the little bangs, nicks and paint flakes that he has so you can judge quite clearly how much to pay for him.
This month’s Antiques Info magazine includes a feature article on the current state of the PenDelfin market - along with a full three pages of captioned photographs! You may recognise a few of these photographs - they were all provided by Perfect Pieces.
The article itself was written by the other half of Perfect Pieces, Roland Head, and is well worth a read for anyone interested in building a worthwhile collection of PenDelfin figurines.
This issue also has the first of a series of articles about collecting, written by the magazine’s editor, John Ainsley. This makes interesting reading for anyone who is just starting out in the world of antiques, or who is interested in improving the quality and value of their collection.
The PenDelfin article is in the May/June issue of Antiques Info magazine and it’s in newsagents now.
The earlier pieces of Troika are among my favourite, especially those in the dark oxide or bronze glazes. It’s a special area for Troika collectors some staying well clear of these darker more unusual pieces and some collecting them with a passion.
The Troika D-plate, such as this one, offers an interesting alternative to standard round chargers and are almost always decorated with the bronze and dark glazes. This version has the standard printed Troika St Ives pottery mark. Occasionally they can be found with the moudled Troika St Ives mark along with the moulded Trident mark which is always nice. Nevertheless it is a nice example with some fantastic coloured glazes in the centre. At around 8″ square these D-plates always look good and offer a change from the many vases that often dominate collections!
Following on from my recent post about eBay Australia forcing its users to use PayPal, it seems that eBay’s users aren’t the only people who are unhappy about this decision.
eBay Australia is being investigated by the Australian Competition Commission to see if it is abusing its near-monopoly position in the online auction market to gain an unfair advantage in the online payments market (eBay owns PayPal).
If eBay get away with this in Australia, it seems highly likely they will extend the policy worldwide - we wait with baited breath…
More details here.
Some of the Snowman figurines and Snowman China made by Royal Doulton are highly collectable. I’ve just spotted the very rare Salt & Pepper shakers on eBay - one has the Lady Snowman on and the other has the gentleman Snowman. Quite simple in design but beautifully decorated this set can fetch considerable amounts.
The Snowman figurine collection by Royal Doulton was started in the mid 1980s with James, item DS1. He was designed by Doulton designer Harry Sales, modelled by David Lyttleton and in production from c1985 to c1993. He was accompanied by his friend The Snowman, model DS2, who then was transformed into a variety of characters including the Highland Snowman DS7, the Drummer Snowman DS15 and the Snowman Skiing DS21!
While many collectors like to have the full set of the Snowman figurines, especially the first version ones, some are often keen to include some of the china pieces such as the Salt & Pepper shakers.
I feel it’s always best to collect what you love rather than what you feel you should, it always makes collecting much more fun. So whatever your collecting choice, be it the Snowman figurines, the Snowman china or both(!) the decoration of all may be simple but the quality is just what you’d expect from Doulton.
eBay Australia will be banning all payment methods other than PayPal and cash on delivery from June 17th, it has emerged.
The changes are supposedly aimed at preventing fraudulent and problem transactions but have widely been seen as a way of generating more income for eBay, who own PayPal.
PayPal fees can add several percent to an auction price and are also charged on the cost of postage - netting eBay a nice extra source of revenue.
We’ll have to hope that similar changes aren’t rolled out in the UK, as both sellers and buyers are likely to be put off by the extra costs and the lack of choice to use a cheque, for example.
I know that cheque payment is still popular with our customers and we would not dream of removing this choice voluntarily. Even if such a ban were to come into force on eBay, we would certainly continue to accept cheques and postal orders for website sales.
You can read more about the changes here.
Derbyshire-based Denby Pottery has just been voted the ‘Tabletop Supplier of the Year’ for the second year running.
The award, given by retail organisation AIS, is based on feedback from tableware retailers and takes into account the support and service provided them by Denby over the last year. The pottery has also recently won an award for its visitor centre, which incorporates an exhibition of older Denby wares and a large retail section.
The Denby Homestore and Cookery Emporium was judged the Best Independent Housewares Store in the UK at the International Home and Housewares Show in the USA. The Denby Pottery Visitor Centre is popular with locals and visitors to the area - offering a combination of new Denby pottery for sale, an excellent cafe and an interesting museum of early Denby wares.
It’s well worthwhile if you are in the area and it’s good to see one of the few remaining wholly-British potteries having some success.