Little Geometric Patterned Salt Bowl 570/TO

This is just 4.5cm tall so the handles are amazingly delicate for an earthenware pot.  Painted by Gertie Warren 1922-27.

Freeform Bowl - Totem Pattern, PY 356

It was starting to look a bit biased towards the traditional Poole on here, but this Freeform bowl makes a nice change.  This is one of my favourite patterns, painted by Glenys Hallett in the mid 1950's.  But I've not added much Freeform pottery to my collection recently as the prices seem to have rocketed.  This one was more affordable because it has a small chip!  I try not to buy damaged pots but every so often I can't help myself.

Yet Another Jam Pot

Maybe you can have too many of these.  So this one is going on eBay tonight.  It's FL pattern painted by Ruth Gough who worked at Poole between 1927 and 1934.  It's potted in white clay and then coloured on the base and  interior with a pink slip which dates it accurately to 1934.

1950's traditional Jam Pot LE Pattern

Unlike the one below, here's a perfect and complete  pot - not even crazed.  The catch is it was made 20 years  too late in the early 1950's. 

I've got a few jam pots like this, though generally I tend not to buy traditional pots that are this late in date.  It seems that they're just a bit old fashioned - even at the time, but then they are technically perfect hand-thrown and hand decorated pots, that really do come very cheep.

Jam Pot AS Pattern - No Handle and Missing Lid

I try not to buy too many pots that are damaged or incomplete, but this one is such a great pattern and with its lid I'm sure I would have been out bid.  This little bird (a wren maybe) was painted by Gwen Dry who worked at Poole from 1928 until 1935.  I imagine there's more chance of me winning the lottery than finding a spare AS pattern lid, but you never know what eBay will turn up.

Little Red Clay Jug137 EE Pattern

This was painted by Rene Hayes who worked at Poole from 1926 until 1940.  This jug dates the early 1930's.  I found it on a stall at the Newark Antiques Fair a couple of weeks ago. 

Vases sold on eBay

I've been spending far too much recently, I'm running out of space and money, and something has to go.  I've got both of the patterns below in shapes which, I think, fit in better with my collection, and as much as I'd like to, you really can't collect everything.  So these are been listed on eBay later today.

Red bodied vase shape number 353, FQ Pattern painted by Marian Jones between 1930 and 1934.  Sold for £36.00

Red bodied vase shape number 336, WM Pattern painted by Marjorie Batt between 1925 and 1934.  Sold for £35.00

Traditional Poole Pottery Pattern Variations

One thing I really love about these mid and large size vases (these are still only 7 inchs tall) are the different borders you get at the top, or bottom.  They're like a extra bonus and on the vases above they're also the most immediate sign that the patterns have differences.   

Truda Carter designed a number of variations to this pattern.  The middle vase (TS pattern) is already on my web site, together with other variants EE, ED,and ZY here.  The two vases either side are new, since the last update of that page.  On the right is XA pattern painted by Vera Bridle, and the left YO painted by Marjorie Batt.  They all date from the early 1930's  

I don't know how many more variations there are out there, but I wont be too upset at finding an excuse to buy another one of these.

Poole Bokhara Preserve pot 656 OEB

This is another hand thrown and painted Bokhara Preserve Jar to add to my collection of these.  Designed by Robert Jefferson in 1964 there are nine different shapes of jar/vase in the range, but as some come in two or more sizes and most have more than one surface pattern collecting all of them will be a challenge.  This is number 6 for me with another 23 to go!

Poole Delphis No. 49 - 5" Dishes

Even when you find somewhere to keep them they don't all fit in.  These are the best of my shape number 49 Delphis ware pin dishes.  

Poole Shop Display Plaque

I've been wanting one of these for ages.  Maybe not this particular one, as it's probably the latest incarnation of shop display plaque, or certainly made this century.  I also wonder if it's actually made by Poole Pottery, or if they just brought them in.  Anyway it's now in my Delphis display cabinet in case I forget who made the stuff in there.

Updated Delphis Galleries

Finally, after weeks of planning, and hours of work, I've more or less finished updating the Delphis Ware Galleries on my website.  A lot of the pots remain the same, but as I've developed the web site the photos were starting to look really quite poor quality.  Hope I don't feel the need to do this again for a while now.

Late Delphis Glazes

I've been taking some photos recently to update my web site.  I'm not sure that I will use this photo though, as I'm not sure I really like the pots.  

In 1971, towards the end of Delphis production at Poole, for greater profitability, the glaze palate was restricted to 4 less expensive glazes (red, yellow, orange and green): The hand-thrown dumbbell vase (shape number 84), and the spear shaped sweet dish (shape number 82) above, are the best examples I have of these very late Delphis glazes.

I do quite like the Jean Miro/Native North American looking design on the spear dish, and the glazes too work OK, but the colours just sit on top of each other in thick pools and there's no interaction or reaction between the glazes.  

With the earlier Delphis glazes you can see that the glazes have reacted together in the kiln and you can imagine that, when the kiln was opened, the artist might not only have felt relief at the survival of the pots but also real surprise at the magic that had gone on inside the kiln.  

Without this element of serendipity, these later pots can sometimes look a bit dead.   Particularly, where the orange or green grounds are used, the ones I've seen anyway, they either they "work", like the ones above, or perhaps more often than not fail badly, the colours sliding, running, marbling on the surface, but never interacting.  It's like either the kiln made no magic and the potters got out just what they expected, exactly what they put in, or else some sort of reverse alchemy took place, they put in gold and took out....