Perfect Pieces Specialists in British Pottery

The Troika Pottery started off in St Ives in Cornwall, England in 1963. The pottery then moved from St Ives to a new base in Newlyn in 1970. For collectors of the early St Ives pieces we have a wide selection of pieces for sale, here’s a small selection:

Troika St Ives Smooth Glazed vase, early Troika Marmalade vase, Troika St Ives Rectangular vase & an early Troika Wheel vase

The first Troika vase pictured here is an early smooth glazed spill vase from the Troika pottery. This vase is completely glazed with the outside being in a vibrant blue colour and the inside a bright white gloss. It has the stamped Troika St Ives pottery mark on its base dating. Click here for more pictures…

The second Troika vase pictured above is an early Troika Marmalade vase. This Troika vase has been decorated by Anne Lewis in an oatmeal brown finished with a deep blue glazed rounded top. Click here for more pictures…

The third Troika vase above is an early Troika St Ives Rectangular vase. This Troika vase has been decorated by Sylvia Vallence and dates c1967-1969. It has a style of decoration typical of the early Troika period – dark colours with incised abstract patterns. Click here for more pictures…

The final vase is an early Troika St Ives Pottery small wheel vase with a very striking pattern on both sides that has been enhanced with small areas of glaze to the decoration. Decorated by Honor Curtis this early Troika vase dates c1969-1970. Click here for more pictures…

CLICK HERE – To view our full selection of Troika Pottery For Sale

Two new pieces to the Perfect Pieces Troika Pottery section are these two lovely Troika Rectangular vases:

Troika St Ives Rectangular Vase and a Troika Newlyn Rectangular vase

Both these Troika vases are known as Troika Rectangular vases and stand approximately 23cm tall. The first is an earlier Troika vase dating from when the pottery was based in St Ives in Cornwall. It has the typical style of decoration from that period and has been decorated by Sylvia Vallence. Click here for furher information…

The second Troika vase is from when the pottery was based in Newlyn in Cornwall, from 1970 until 1983. This vase is more vibrant and textured in design a style seen throughout that period of the pottery. Click here for further information…

We have a wide range of Troika Pottery for sale including a lovely Troika Coffin vase, a large Troika Cylinder vase and a Troika Pottery Marmalade vase decorated by Judith Illsley. Judith Illsley was married to one of the founders of Troika pottery, Leslie Illsley, and only worked as a decorator at Troika for a very short time in late 1980!

A new addition to the Perfect Pieces Troika Pottery section is this lovely Troika Brick vase:

Troika Brick Vase by Sue Lowe

This Troika vase has been decorated by Sue Lowe and is one of the larger pieces of Troika pottery standing 21cm tall and looking like a brick in shape, hence its name!

The pattern on this Troika vase has been vibrantly coloured with striking shades of blue and cream really enhancing the desirable design.

We have a wide range of Troika Pottery for sale including Troika Lamp bases, Troika Marmalade vases, Troika Coffin vases and early Troika St Ives pieces. All our Troika Pottery is currently despatched by Royal Mail Special Delivery which guarantees next working day delivery by 1pm, so if you’re in a rush for a last minute present there’s no need to worry!

Click here to view our full range of Troika Pottery For Sale

The latest addition to the Perfect Pieces Troika Pottery section is this superb Troika Pottery Spice vase:

Troika Pottery Spice Vase by Alison Brigden

This is a Troika textured ware piece with the body being of rough texture and the top a deep brown glaze. Dating from when the pottery was based in Newlyn in Cornwall England this particular Troika vase has been decorated by Alison Brigden who worked as a decorator at Troika from 1977 until 1983.

We have a wide range of Troika vases for sale including Troika wheel vases, Troika Marmalade vases and Troika lamp bases to name a few shapes!

CLICK HERE to view our full selection of Troika Pottery for sale

A new addition to the Perfect Pieces Troika Pottery section is this superb and very striking blue Troika wheel lamp base:

Troika Pottery Lamp Base

This is called a Troika medium wheel lamp base as the shape is based on the Troika medium wheel vase. It has been decorated in a very striking blue colour with the design picked out in contrasting colours really drawing your eye to the piece. On its base it has the Troika decorator mark of Avril Bennet who worked at Troika from 1973 until 1979. Click here for further details and pictures of this vibrant piece…

We have a wide range of Troika vases and lamp bases currently for sale ranging from small Troika Pottery marmalade vases to large Troika rectangular vases and Troika lamp bases.

CLICK HERE To View our full selection of TROIKA POTTERY FOR SALE

Another new addition to the Perfect Pieces Troika Pottery section is this superb vivid blue Troika Pottery Coffin vase:

Troika Pottery Coffin Vase

This particular Troika coffin has been decorated by Annette Walters and dates from when the pottery was based in Newlyn in Cornwall, England. It has a bright blue base colour to which the designs on both sides really stands out.

The Troika Pottery made a whole range of different shaped and sized vases and vessels – so there really is a shape for everyone!

TO VIEW OUR FULL SELECTION OF TROIKA POTTERY FOR SALE – CLICK HERE

The latest Perfect Pieces newsletter is now out….

Click here to have a read

This month’s edition looks at West Country Potteries and how the scenery and landscape of both Devon & Cornwall have inspired many artists and potters over the years.

If you’d like to receive our newsletter which we try to send out every month but occasionally may miss an odd month(!) then simply put your email address in the subscribe box on our site on the Newsletter page and hit the button. We’ll then send you out the next Newsletter we publish!

If you really have left it this late to find a Christmas present then you’ll need to be sharpish in your choosing!

It’s still not too late to order from Perfect Pieces, but tomorrow, Wednesday 23rd December 2009, is the last day that Royal Mail guarantee Special Delivery services before Christmas.

So if you’re after a Christmas gift then why not take a look at a few of the images below to give you some ideas. Items range in price and style so there’s bound to be something of interest.

If you see anything you fancy just click on the image and you’ll then be taken to the more information page where you can view further information and see more pictures of the item.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

If you’re thinking of starting to collect Troika pottery or indeed have built up a collection of Troika pottery then you’ll find George Perrott’s book Troika Ceramics of Cornwall most interesting.

With very little actually in print about this well-known Cornish pottery this is an interesting read. It includes many colour photographs of the different shapes made by the pottery and also a section on the pottery marks that Troika used over the years.

To view full details about this book then visit the online retailer Amazon, where it is available for sale…click here.

Click here to see reviews on other books we’ve had experience of using…

Approximately two years ago (if I remember correctly), a number of unpainted pieces of Troika pottery came onto the market. Also available at a similar time were some of the moulds used in the creation of various popular Troika shapes.

These had apparently all been hoarded by a mysterious person in the north of England at the time the pottery closed.

The unpainted pieces were being sold at auction houses around the UK as unpainted blanks – quite legitimately. However, as they sold for much less than decorated pieces, there was an obvious opportunity for unscrupulous people to buy them, paint them and then resell them as genuine, decorated Troika.

According to a report in the trade publication Antiques Trade Gazette, this now appears to be happening – with fake pieces appearing on eBay and, I have heard personally, in auction house sales as well.

If you are familiar with genuine Troika then it should be easy enough to determine that there is ‘something wrong’ about these decorated blanks – colour, glaze and quality of painting are all likely to be wrong.

According to the ATG article, the following errors are likely to be apparent on the recently decorated wares:

• Inappropriate colours, poor finishing and obvious brush marks
• Inaccurate decorator/pottery marks
• Lacking proper hard, shiny white glaze to inside of ware – this should not look like paint

If you aren’t familiar with Troika, then it might pay to familiarise yourself a little – at antique fairs and auctions – before you start to buy, thus avoiding the risk of a costly mistake. To get started, why not take a look at our Troika pottery marks guide, Troika pottery price guide and the excellent Troika resources on the Digital Museum of Cornish Ceramics website?

Read the full report in Antiques Trade Gazette here.

Update: Fellow 20th century ceramics dealer Deco to Modern has also posted a comprehensive report on this issue on its website, including photographs of some apparent fakes recently on sale at a provincial auction house.