There is going to be an interesting display of Carlton Ware pottery at the July (24th - 27th July 2008) Antiques For Everyone Antiques Fair at the NEC in Birmingham this year.
The Antiques For Everyone fairs are held three times a year - Spring, Summer and Winter, and offer the visitor vetted and datelined antiques from over 350 exhibitors.
Dr Czes Kosniowski and Yvonne Kosniowski, renowned Carlton Ware experts, will de displaying 500 pieces from their private collection. It’s bound to be truly spectacular and definitely worth visiting.
For full details of the fair and the exhibition, please click here.
The weather these past few days has greatly improved on the fog and rain from last week. The bright sunshine made me think about the Geoffrey Baxter range for Whitefriars Glass - the strong shapes and bright vivid colours. One shape inparticular came to mind, the Sunburst!
The Sunburst shape is pattern number 9676 and was designed by Geoffrey Baxter around 1967. This vase depicts a typical full sun and stands approximately 6″ tall.
Here is a selection of Whitefriars glass currently on eBay:
To read more about this fantastic range of retro glass check out our
Whitefriars Glass guide.
The Newcastle based Maling pottery produced some fine examples of pottery including some stunning lustre ware pieces decorated with exotic birds and windmills to name but a few. I have however just spotted this piece on eBay, it’s an example of real Art Deco styling. Decorated with pattern number 5495 this trumpet shape vase dates c1930-1932.
This example does have some stained crazing shown in the photographs by the seller, it’s obviously been used at some point in time! It might be wise to verify the condition with the seller before bidding, but it certianly would make an unsual addition to a Maling collection.
It’s definitely a vase that would stand out in the crowd!
You may have seen our June Newsletter detailing the work of Charlotte Rhead and how she became a master of tube-lining. You’ll be familiar with the style - patterns are outlined using liquid clay, as we described in the Newsletter “rather like icing a cake”!
To illustrate her technique I’ve included some that are currently on eBay. You can always find examples of her work here and sometime some real gems come up for auction! Have a look at some of these:
As with all pottery designers Charlotte Rhead designed many patterns some more collectable than others. It isn’t just the pattern that can affect an items value though, its shape and also pottery mark can play an important role. If at all posssible I’d always suggest trying to obtain pieces that have her
signature mark on the base - some pieces even though they are Charlotte Rhead patterns don’t have this.
Always, be sure to check the piece over so you’re confident about it’s condition and are aware of any faults it may have before you purchase. With eBay always feel free to ask the seller questions about the item before you bid. If a seller is unhelpful or doesn’t answer be weiry about bidding, while there are lots of decent sellers on eBay there are also some roque traders.
eBay Australia’s attempt to ban all payment methods other than PayPal and cash has attracted hundred of written complaints to the Australian Competition Commission and Consumer Commission, which is considering the fairness of the proposed policy. The ACCC has promised to make a ruling on the planned change before it’s due to go live in June.
One of the complainants, however, has turned out to be a rather large company that’s worried about the prospects for its own payment processing system. Google has not yet launched Google Checkout in Australia but is likely to do so eventually and sees an eBay ban on its system as anti-competitive and a thorough pain in the neck.
Google’s submission to the ACCC was meant to be kept anonymous but was not - witness this article on the Auctionbytes website.
This Pilkingtons Royal Lancastrian lustre vase is a truly stunning piece. Standing a massive 10″ tall it would make a superb centre piece. It is decorated in a brown and creamy lustre with a dragon pattern around the body and has full markings to the base, including the Pilkingtons bee mark c1904-1914, and the artist mark of Gordon M Forsyth.
The seller has included many photographs of the piece, but as with all photographs of this type of ware it is very tricky to achieve photographs that actually show off the beauty of the pieces. With the way the lustre reflects and the use of flash, you can often find yourself in the vase reflection if not careful!
Nevertheless from the photographs you can see the pattern, shape, base markings and general condition of the vase, and as with all auctions if unsure be sure to contact the seller BEFORE bidding with any questions you may have about the piece.
For nearly two year, Poole Museum has been closed for refurbishment. A short while ago, after extensive renovations and improvements, it reopened to the public.
The museum include a wide range of exhibits relating to Poole’s history, but of particular interest to Poole Pottery fans is the large display of Poole Pottery. The display covers most of the last century of Poole Pottery and the Poole Room Blog has an excellent review for anyone who is interested.
Many of the pieces on display were bought by the local council at the 2004 auction of the former Poole Pottery factory archives - although what’s on offer here is only a fraction of that which could formerly be seen in Poole Pottery’s museum.
For anyone who’s in the area and fancies a look, current opening hours for the Poole Museum are:
- Monday - Saturday - 10am to 5pm
- Sunday - noon to 5pm
(From 21st March 2008 to 2nd November 2008)
Anyone who has been following the trials and tribulations of Poole Pottery over the last year may be interested to know that the pottery has just launched its new official collectors club.
The Poole Pottery Collectors Club is open to everyone and appears to be aimed at both collectors of older Poole and at fans of their newer work.
Membership of the club costs £30 for one or £45 for a couple and provides a number of benefits, including:
- Access to a directory of Poole Pottery marks and artists monograms
- News and articles relating to Poole Pottery
- Members’ magazine
- Discount on Poole Pottery books
You can learn more about the club and sign up on their website, www.poolepotterycollectorsclub.co.uk.
The Cornish pottery Troika based in St. Ives and then later in Newlyn made many different styles of vases including standing, hanging and wall pockets. This flower pocket vase was one example of the more unusal pieces they produced from their textured range.
This example is a piece produced when they were based in Newlyn, c1970-1983, and has been decorated by Louise Jinks. Louise Jinks, who later was Louise McClary, worked at the pottery from around 1976 to 1981. From 1979 she was a senior decorator at the pottery.
The wall pockets are around 8″ by 6.5″ in size and have two holes on the back for hooking onto the wall. Not as striking as some of the pieces that Troika made they do hold a certain appeal especially if one were to mount it on the wall and use it for flowers!
Anyone with an interest in Art Deco ceramics might want to consider making a beeline for Stourbridge at the end of May.
Well-known Stourbridge auctioneer Fieldings is putting on an exhibition of work by designers such as Clarice Cliff, Keith Murray, Poole’s Carter, Stabler & Adams and Lenci at its auction house on Mill Race Lane from Thursday 29th May to midday on Saturday 31st May.
The exhibition has been planned to coincide with Fieldings hosting the first official Clarice Cliff Collectors Club auction ever to take place outside London - something of a coup for the auctioneer. The sale at Fieldings has nearly 300 lots and will begin at midday on Saturday 31st May, allowing plenty of time for anyone needing to travel to the auction.
Fieldings’ auctioneer Will Farmer will be known to many as one of the experts on the Antiques Roadshow. He’s excited about the exhibition and says: “It’s going to be a really rare exhibition, we’ve been building this for five months. Collectors will be coming from all over the country and everybody in Stourbridge can come and see this.”
The Clarice Cliff auction promises to be exciting too and it will be interesting to see how prices are holding up in the current market.
Full details of the Clarice Cliff sale catalogue will be available on Fieldings’ website nearer the time.