Perfect Pieces Specialists in British Pottery

For enthusiastic PenDelfin collectors and dealers from all over the UK (and further), the annual PenDelfin Auction has long been a keenly-anticipated and enjoyable event. Organised by Stella Ashbrook (the author of the definitive PenDelfin Collector’s Handbook), the auctions have always provided a chance to view and buy some of the rarest and most interesting pieces of PenDelfin, as well as to meet other like-minded collectors.

We attended last year’s PenDelfin auction, at Chester - you can see pictures of some of the pieces that were for sale here. The sale was attended by PenDelfin founder Jean Walmsley Heap and seemed quite successful.

However, this year there is not going to be a PenDelfin Auction, according to a message posted by Stella Ashbrook on the PenDelfin Collectables Message Board. According to Stella’s message, there will be a selection of PenDelfin for sale at Byrnes Auctioneers in Chester on 16th April, but no full-scale auction.

Now I’m even more glad we went last year! Hopefully the auction will resume in 2009, but I won’t be holding my breath, as the sale and subsequent offshoring of the factory means that the company doesn’t have the same kind of presence in the UK that it once had - nor the quality output, sad to say.

In the meantime, here’s an example of the kind of piece we saw at last year’s auction - and have seldom seen anywhere else (For more PenDelfin, click here to see our selection of PenDelfin for sale):

Perfect Pieces is in print again this month in the March/April 2008 edition of Antiques Info magazine.

The Crown Devon feature is written by Roland, with pictures taken from the our database of past and present stock. The article takes a look at the current market for Fielding’s Crown Devon and highlights some of the rarer and more collectable pieces that are available.

If you’re interested in learning more, the new edition of the magazine should be in your newsagents very shortly - any feedback will be more than welcome.

A few days ago, I reported on the impending launch of a new art collection inspired by Troika Pottery. I’m pleased to say that The Art House have now launched their new ‘Troika Collection 2008′ and it does look rather interesting.

The new collection is described as “modern textured art on canvas” and each piece has been named after a Cornish village - Marazion, for example. The photos give the impression that the artists have really captured the texture and colour of Troika’s textured wares and the designs have certainly captured the Troika Pottery style - without just directly copying it.

You can see full details of the collection here, including close-up photos and prices.

Waterford Wedgwood’s financial troubles have been ongoing for some time now, but according to reports this week things have now taken a turn for the worse, with 300 jobs to go from the company’s factories in Germany.

It turns out that the redundancies are part of a restructuring plan for German ceramics company Rosenthal - I hadn’t realised until now that Rosenthal were owned by Waterford Wedgwood.

As its name suggests, Waterford Wedgwood incorporates Waterford Crystal, Wedgwood (which itself includes Coalport and Masons) and also Royal Doulton - as well as Rosenthal. The company recently reported funding and supply chain problems that prevented it meeting Christmas seasonal demand - a bitter blow at one of the most important times of the year.

Although it’s not widely known (or seen), the Carlton Ware brand has been resurrected in recent years by well-known collectables publisher Francis Joseph.

Examples of the company’s new wares can be found on it’s website, www.carltonwaredirect.com and they also offer a newsletter (free initially, but then you have to make a purchase or subscribe for £35 per year…).

I haven’t seen much of this new Carlton Ware around on the secondary market yet - which isn’t surprising, as it is being made in extremely low volumes. This means you can at least be assured of exclusivity if you do buy any of these pieces.

The designs available are a mixture of licensed version of timeless classics - such as the Golliwog and the children’s designs of Mabel Lucie Attwell - and genuinely new designs, mostly by Marie Graves, a ceramic artist based in Stoke on Trent. Many of the shapes, however, are clearly freshened versions of old designs.

If you’re interested in Carlton Ware then it is well worth taking a look, although to me, these wares don’t seem to be being made or marketed intensively enough for Carlton Ware to take a significant place in the market again.

Troika Pottery’s collectable appeal has been stronger in recent years than at any time since its 1960s/70s heyday.

It’s perhaps not surprising, then, that contemporary art website “The Art House” will be producing a new studio collection of artwork paying homage to the designs and themes of the Troika Pottery.

The Troika Collection 2008 will be available soon on their website and you can find an example picture and a little more information on the The Art House Blog.

The single picture (the second one actually is Troika) doesn’t give much idea of what to expect, but I will certainly be interested to see what’s on offer and will post here when more information is available.

From travelling around the various antique and collectors fairs and auctions we attend, it has become apparent that some dealers own and some dealers rent.

I refer of course not to their stock but to their means of transporting it - the indomitable van.

It’s a choice we’ve been faced with in the past, as it gradually became completely impossible to fit all our stock, shelves and tables into even a large car. This left us with two realistic options:

1. Sell the car and buy a van
2. Hire a van whenever we needed one and keep the car for everyday use

In the end, we decided to sell the car and buy a van. This had two advantages - unlimited usage and lower costs. The question was question of cost was determined by considering whether the extra fuel costs of a van would exceed the costs of renting one when we needed it. For us they didn’t - making it cheaper to buy a van and run it as our only vehicle.

Of course, this does have some restrictions - car parks with height barriers are out, it only has three seats (including the driver’s) and it’s a bit thirsty and agricultural to drive compared to a car.

These downside - plus the sometimes thorny issue of residential parking - are probably the reasons why some dealers obviously just rent a van to use when they are standing at a fair and manage without the rest of the time.

Sometimes I’ve felt tempted by that path too - but for now, I’m going to stick with my trusty Transit. What do you do?

Note: If you are not sure where to start with vans, these links might be useful:

• Guide to van sizes
• UK Local van hire directory

Carlton Ware is undoubtedly one of the more popular potteries amongst the visitors to this website, and with good reason.

During nearly 100 years of production, the company produced some wonderful pieces - from Art Deco to Chinoiserie to tableware. Unfortunately, Carlton Ware didn’t always keep very good records of their shapes and patterns - or if they did, they’ve got lost since!

As luck would have it, there are some very dedicated collectors out there who have gathered together a vast amount of information on Carlton Ware and put it together into two extremely useful books and a website.

CarltonWare.com is run by Dr Czes & Yvonne Kosniowski - two extremely expert and dedicated Carlton Ware enthusiasts. Thanks to a combination of careful research and obsessive collecting, they have built up what must be the world’s most comprehensive database of Carlton Ware patterns and shapes.

Obviously this is too good to give away completely for free - but what they have done is combine books and the internet in a very effective way.The Kosniowskis have published two extremely useful books:

• A Pocket Guide to Carlton Ware
• Carlton Ware Catalogue and Price Guide

The way it works is simple - you just have to enter a piece of text from a certain page of one of the books - then you get full access to that section of the website.

To get online access to CarltonWare.com’s complete Carlton Ware pattern database, you need a copy of the Pocket Guide - an excellent book which we own and use regularly. This also gives you limited access to the shapes database.

To get full online access to CarltonWare.com’s database of shapes, you need a copy of the Carlton Ware Catalogue & Price Guide.

Although you do have to buy at least one of the Kosniowski’s books to be able to use their website, the books (especially the Pocket Guide) are really good and an essential tool for anyone interested in collecting, buying or selling Carlton Ware. Our copy of the Pocket Guide is incredibly well used and there is no better way of identifying Carlton Ware patterns.

Of course, if you want a more limited but completely free resource to get you started, you can take a look at the Carlton Ware Price Guide section of our site - which includes photos, full details and sale prices of all the Carlton Ware we have sold in recent years.

The Kosniowskis also run a VIP membership section which provides a regular, free Carlton Ware newsletter and notification of updates to their website. The newsletter never fails to include some great Carlton Ware pictures - it’s worth signing up for that alone!

For some months now, www.poolepottery.co.uk has been sadly non-existent.

I’m pleased to report that this sorry state of affairs has now come to an end.

New Poole Pottery owners Lifestyle have now launched a very smart new website for the pottery, along with some new designs.

www.poolepottery.co.uk includes information about the pottery’s designers and decorators, an online shop and a section about upcoming new designs.

The items on sale in Poole’s online shop look suspiciously like designs that were being made before Lifestyle took over, but it will be interesting to see the new designs in the flesh. Some look like rehashed versions of older designs, but I quite like the look of the “African Sky” range.