2 Jean Millership Delphis Dishes

The one on the right is a 5" diameter pin dish, shape no. 49 found at Keddleston Hal last week, the one on the left shape no. 361 found on eBay the week before. Both from the late 1960's.

Poole Flying Bluebirds

I've had some really successful visits to antiques fairs so far this summer.  These are my latest find from the Keddleston Hall Antiques Fair in Derbyshire last week.  The small one (the fledgling) has had a hard landing at some point and lost its tail, which was badly glued when I found it.  A bit of soaking in water and rejoining and you can hardly tell now though, and even with the damage £4 for all three was a steal.

They're shape number 807/1, /2 and /3 and were designed and modelled by John Adams and Harry Brown in the mid to late 1930's and sprayed with the "Picotee" glazes (used for the stripy pots of the same name)  These particular bird's probably date from about that time, and would have been sold separately , but the 3 make up the complete set.  Seagulls and of course the ubiquitous ducks were also available from Poole, and while these were made by other potteries too, I think bluebirds would have been a unique production from the Poole Pottery, lifted, as they are, straight from the popular PB pattern on vases and pots.

Sprig Patterns

During the 1920's and 30's, when new decorators were employed at Poole Pottery, they began learning their craft painting these simple "Sprig" decorations, before moving on after a year or so to learning some of the elaborate patterns.  This style of decoration also pre-dates the more elaborate patterns and was introduced by James Radley Young in the 1910's.   These two pots I found at fairs recently.  I'm not really so keen on them to be honest, I guess they're not so fashionable either, and I keep telling myself not to buy them.  But then they always seem so cheep its hard to resist.

Twintone Sweetcorn and Brazil

Sweetcorn and Brazil C107 was one of the later Twintone colour combos: In production from 1956-68. These oil and vinegar bottles came from eBay recently.  I'm not 100% sure I like C107, but I was driven by the urge to get at least one example of everything and the colour with this quite striking shape really looks the business.  The stoppers too are thought to be original (please tell me if not).

Poole Pottery Hoard Found at Lincoln

I was so excited to find all this pottery on one stall at Lincoln Antiques Fair last week.  I needed a friend to help me back to the car there's so much of it.

Some closer views of the same nicest pots

Apparently they found their way to the stall holder via a job-lot at auction and I think they must have come from a collector with a special preference for blue.  From left to right; bowl 688/OR Ruth Gough 1927-34; lidded preserve pot 287/OR unknown decorators mark, but stamped with  mark no.11(1921-34) and with a grey glaze likely to date from the early 1920's; bowl 972/HH Ethel Barratt 1922-27; and vase 587/VW Anne Hatchard 1918-late 50’s.

These are both unusual shapes I think and complete with matching lids.  Shallow lidded bowl 505/CU Ethel Barratt 1922-27; and deeper lidded bowl 497/TO unknown decorators mark (same mark as OR preserve pot above) stamped mark no.13. (1922-34) likely to be from early 1920's.

Early Delphis Pin Dish - Christine Tate

This little shape 49 pin dish has an early blue coloured dolphin back stamp and a small painters mark that my best guess is that of Christine Tate.  Sometimes marks are squashed up close to the base rims on pots and can be harder to read.  On this there's a clear T and a blob that I'm reading as a C.  The other possibility is that the blob is an M, but thinking that this was painted by Tony Morris would be stretching it.  Anyway it dates from about 1966 or '67.

A photo of this same dish taken before it joined my collection appears on page 86 of the Robert Prescott-Walker book "Collecting Poole Pottery"

Heptagons Reunited

These two Poole Delphis plates were painted by Jeanette Spode in either 1973 or 1974.  They are shape number 42, which is probably my least favourite shape, but on these the painting makes up for it.  The CCC pattern on the left came via eBay  from Sheffield a couple of years ago: The EC one via eBay from Basingstoke last week.  Separated at birth, but together again!

Traditional Poole Geometric Pattern Pot HB 583

I shouldn't have bought this one, as I already have a small vase with this pattern and another geometric pattern vase in the same shape.  My plan been to get as many different patterns in different shapes as I can.  But I couldn't stick to that - as this one looked so good.  It stands just 8.5cm tall and was painted by Ruth Gough between 1927 and 1934.

Traditional Poole Blue Bird Pattern Vase HE 970

This is one of my biggest vases.  It was painted by Ruth Pavely and dates from the early 1930's.  The pattern was a popular one at the time and you still see quite a few examples around.