Tuesday 1 February 2011

Early Poole Storage Jars

I've wanted one of these pots of ages, then like London buses they all arrive at once.
This happened today while I was at the Lincoln Antiques Fair.  I've never bought so many damaged and dirty pots before.  They have washed up quite nicely, but on the stall they didn't so much look like they'd been in the garden shed for 50 years, more like buried underneath it.  All the lids have some damage - one or two quite obvious.  And the coffee pot is so cracked its just about falling to pieces.  But i didn't know which one to buy, mainly because I've only ever seen one for sale before,  so got them all.  
The big ones (with finials 19 cm tall ) Tea, Coffee, Rice, Tapioca, Raisins,  Sultanas and Salt: The small one (11.5 cm) is Pepper.  There are others and based on the selection here I should think Currants is a likely one, and as I write this have just seen in Jennifer Hawkins book a photo of 2 jars, Currants and Pepper, both those attributed to Margaret Holder c1927 and housed in the V&A. 
They are made by a novel method for Poole, the writing is incised, removing the blue glaze/slip to reveal the white body of the pot, a bit like the stripes on T&G Green Cornishware. The white body must have been used specifically at this early date just for these jars.
I think they would have been designed by John Adams.

1 comment:

  1. Hello Rob, what a fasinating find, I love them, & how exciting to find them in a dirty state ! wonderful. Janet.

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