Perfect Pieces Specialists in British Pottery

Buying antique pottery and ceramics can be a risky process. It’s all too easy to get home and find that you’ve missed a hairline crack, a restored handle or one of the hundreds of other faults that might
exist.

While there is nothing wrong with choosing to buy ceramics in less than perfect condition, I am sure that you, like I do, prefer to know about it beforehand and make sure the price paid reflects the condition.

Poor saleroom and fair lighting, inaccurate descriptions and even unscrupulous dealers can all combine to make buying safely harder than it should be.

To help you avoid these pitfalls, we’ve put together a guide to checking ceramics - from identity and authenticity through to checking for damage, restoration and wear.

We’ve divided this guide into two parts:

Part 1 - Checking the authenticity and identity of a piece

Part 2 - Inspecting a piece for faults, damage, wear and restoration

1. What is it?

Sounds obvious, but is the piece you are looking at what it’s being sold as?

Check that the shape, pattern and pottery markings are all consistent with each other and with the piece itself. Mis-described and incorrectly marked (when manufactured) pieces aren’t unknown, although
they are uncommon.

Don’t be afraid to dig out a pattern guide or reference book to check a pattern or shape number - no one remembers them all!

Once you are happy with the authenticity of the piece, check it is complete.

Should it have a lid, frog (for flowers), detachable handle (e.g. biscuit barrels) or perhaps an accompanying spoon, knife or box?

It’s a case of caveat emptor, I’m afraid - you need to think about what you’re seeing and ask any questions before you buy. Any reputable dealer should be happy (and able) to explain why something is the way
it is.

2. Have The Years Left Their Mark?

It should always be apparent if a piece has some “age” or not. Even if it is in immaculate condition and has been stored away from bright light, dust and dirt, it should still feel old.

This is a hard one to describe - but if unsure look for small details:

• Do the pottery markings look old?
• Is the base a little worn/dirty where it has stood on different surfaces?
• Is there any crazing?
• Is there any dirt, discolouration or wear? Look in nooks and crannies or where lids, etc. fit on the main body

If you’ve been through each of the checks I’ve descrbed, you should now have a fairly good idea of the identity and authenticity of your piece - and you will probably already have noticed any obvious damage
or restoration to it.

To learn more about how to spot and understand damage, wear and restoration, check out Part 2 of this post by clicking on the link below:

Part 2 - Inspecting a piece for faults, damage, wear and restoration

As I’ve mentioned before, decent British antique and collectable websites appear to be few and far between on the internet, but there are some.

One example is the Digital Museum of Cornish Ceramics.

It’s home to a huge range of information about many of the studio potteries that have been based in Cornwall over the years. Most notable for many collectors is its collection of information on Troika pottery marks and artists.

Although we also have a fairly wide selection of Troika marks and decorators’ marks, John Mole, the curator of the Cornish Ceramics Museum site, is in touch with many of the original artists at Troika and has been able to verify many of the trickier and more controversial marks - making his site a very useful reference tool.

John also has a fairly comprehensive guide to Troika pottery designs and shapes.

Although the site covers a vast range of other material, I have concentrated on Troika as it is currently one of the most popular and collectable of Cornish potteries.

Also notable and popular at present are the work of the Leach Pottery and that of Carn Pottery, which is still active today.

A note of warning on Carn pottery: If you go to an antique and collectors fair around the UK and see large amounts of the blue/white carn for sale, be aware that it is probably new or very nearly so. Pieces such as these are still being made in considerable quantities and are available from gift shops and the like in Cornwall for quite competitive prices:

Be warned and a little sceptical if anyone tries to tell you they are hard to get hold of. Only older pieces are hard to find. See http://www.fired-specialists-of-carn-pottery.com/ for an excellent book on Carn.

Throughout the time we have run the Perfect Pieces website we have received regular requests for appraisals and valuations of British collectable pottery. Last year we decided that the volume of requests we received meant that this couldn’t be managed on an ad-hoc basis anymore, so we introduced our Valuation & Appraisal service.

Valuing antiques and collectables is not an exact science and is based on a combination of experience, historical sale data and observation of current market trends.

Although we make all of our past sale prices available freely on our site, we also access other databases of sale results and use our own experience of the marketplace to judge how a piece might sell.

We’ve been very pleased with the response we’ve had on this service - with a steady stream of collectors and other antique dealers requesting valuations and often providing very positive feedback on the service.
In return for a small fee, we provide a one-page document covering the history, identity and retail value of the piece concerned. We are also happy to negotiate a one-off fee for a collection valuation and can advise on auction values if preferred.

Although our service does not provide insurance valuations, it’s also much cheaper than most insurance valuation services and includes a guaranteed turnaround of 5 working days from payment.

If you would like to learn more about our appraisal and valuation service and see a sample valuation, have a look here.

In this month's newsletter we have taken a closer look at the three decorating techniques behind the vast majority of 20th century decorative wares. At least one of these three techniques features on pretty much every piece of stock we've got - take a look if you'd like to learn more.