Merry Christmas

 1966 Delphis plate painted by Shirley Campbell.  The third post in one week, must mean I'm on holiday.   Happy Holidays to everyone.

Mmmm

This one came with the old jam staining and a glued chip on the lid close to the spoon hole. Occupational hazards for a jam pot really, and I dont mind this time as the pattern is so good and rare.   

Mmm

I found some M pattern egg cups a couple of months ago.  They were the first examples of this pattern I'd seen after a few years of collecting.  Then this month tow more examples appear on eBay.  The first this vase, shape 341, and in the same week a jam pot (see next post).  Either I'm very lucky or else the pattern is less rare than I thought.  

The observant collector may also have noticed a) the yellow circle missing from pattern at the centre of the photo, and b) how there are similarities with the more common FK of "oak leaf" pattern shown here .

Plate or Pot Stand

When I saw this plate on eBay I thought it might have been the base for a cheese dish, and was even more convinced once it arrived, because it's so flat in profile.  But having just looked through the Hayward and Atterbury Poole Pottery book, there's a similar, shape number 282, listed simply as a plate, so after all I think this is a complete thing, with no missing parts.  The pattern is TK painted by Gertie Warren, between 1925 and 1927.

Sweet Pea

This Sweet Pea pattern vase was painted by Dorothy James in 1935. It's marked VY, but looks just the same as others I have are marked TY and XP. Shape no. 433, about 7 inches tall so big enough to fit in the fancy border around the top.

Flash

I love this EH pattern.  It really has that Art Deco industrial/futuristic look, a little like the Chrysler Building or film posters for Metropolis.  Shape number 559, it's just under 6 inches tall and was painted by Marjorie Batt in the early 1930's.  It came to me via eBay from a fellow collector.

Tall Jam Jar

There doesn't seem to be very much daylight around at the moment for taking new photos.  This pot came from eBay a couple of months ago when the days were a little longer.  You don't see so many of these tall jam pots shape no 287, and the QO pattern is always good, this time painted by Nellie Bishton.  Nellie, or as she was later known Mrs Blackmore, had a career at Poole that spanned an amazing 49 year, from 1927 until 1976.

Chicken brick?

I remember keeping a lookout for one of these twin-tone butter boxes for quite a while before finding this one. I really loved it's Tupperware looks - not a bit like pottery really -so it's not helping at all with my current feelings of ceramic cold turkey.
It must be well over a week since I last found any Poole Pottery, but I am hoping to make up for this next weekend.  Cottess Auctioneers in Wareham have just sent me the catalogue for their latest Poole Pottery Sale on Saturday 17th November.  It's like eBay on speed.  And although the sale is too far for me to travel to, they do a great packing service.

TP or QL

I love this weird pattern and this vase shape isn't a bad match, so despite it's cracks, I snapped up the vase from eBay a couple of weeks ago.  Shape number 599, TP pattern (at least thats what it says on the bottom) painted by Marjorie Batt in the early 1930's. The same pattern as this QL pattern vase

Pear-shaped?

This was probably the first Poole vase in my collection, though I'm not sure it's ever lived anywhere other than in it's box under the spare bed.  In the early days of collecting I had different ideas about budgets and how much was reasonable to spend, so this fitted the budget pretty well at the time, though it's all gone a bit pear-shaped since. 

Anyway the vase is from a range called Calypso and dates from 1984. They came in various pastel colours as well as lustre-like glazes and, I can see from Hayward and Atterbury book, quite a lot more shapes that I thought.

Bokhara JC Pattern Storage Jars

These JC pattern Bokhara storage jars were made in 4 sizes.  I've had the little one for quite a few years and its taken until now to find a second., I think these two are the smallest and second to largest, though neither of the seem to match the dimensions given in factory catalogue.

M

This pattern (M) I have never seen before, and  I bet it wasn't made in big numbers, as those little black circles would have been a devil to draw. Can't wait until next weekend when there'll be time for breakfast.

Jumping the Queue

These wonderful egg cups landed on my doorstep only yesterday, after been sold by a fellow collector, who  had found them a few years earlier on eBay.com, listings in the US.  I was a stranger to this yellow and brown chevron pattern six months ago, but now, although I know its rare, I seem to be collecting more and more of it.  These two are marked DL, the others pots I have are marked YM, theres no logic to it but you can have a look at the others here and here.

324/EU

Slowing down on the blogging does mean I'm accumulating a useful backlog of pots to post on here in the coming weeks.  This sweet little jug has a pattern that (believe it or not) I've not collected before - EU. It was painted by Vera Bridle who started working at the pottery in 1923, and the grey coloured slip covering the jug dates it pretty much to that year.

Tardy blogging

This Poole Studio bowl came from eBay, along with the pebble vase in the last post.  Nice they're still together after 50 years, even though the bowl has developed a small chip on its rim.  But maybe small resentments can creep into the best of relationships after that length of time. They were made for each other though, and it's hard that they've been separated, on my blog now at least,  for the past week.

Anyway, I've been in a new job for the last two weeks, and that seems to have crowded out my blogging time, but once I settle in I'm sure normal service will resume.

Pebble

Small though it is, at just two and a half inches tall, this vase is the middle sized of three pebble shapes (nos 51, 52, and 53) designed in 1963 for the Delphis Studio range.  Decorated with a green reactive glaze, this particular vase dates to between 1964 and 1966.

684/LD

I think this is the first one of these little geometric patterned Art Deco vases that I found.  It came from the Keddlestone Hall Antiques Fair in 2007, the first time I went there.  Shape number 684, LD pattern, painted by Phyllis Way at some time between 1928 and 1934.

A starter for 10?

This hors d'oeuvres tray is a little later in date than the last, but shows the same pattern, complete and in full colour. The decorative veg, now labelled KUB (KUA, has a fishy theme) were painted by Gwen Haskins, and the dish has a factor mark used from 1959 to 1967.

Ruth Paveley Hors d'oeuvres

Here's a pot from under the spare bed, which I found first a few years ago at the Doncaster Race Course antiques fair. It was painted by Ruth Paveley in the late 1930's, which was the main reason I bought it as, at the time, it I didn't have anything else that she'd painted.  Shape number 501, in KU pattern designed by Truda Carter, it would have originally stood with five other companions on a wooden tray.

On eBay this Week

This model "The Bull" was designed by Pheobe Stabler in about 1914 and must have been made at Carter Stabler and Adams soon after the company was formed in 1921.  

Its currently on eBay and in true eBay spirit the seller started the listing at £0.99, but by the time I found it on there, eight hours later, it already had a bid of £900, with six days yet to go! So unfortunately I'll be leaving this one and make do with the image I've pinched (hope the seller doesn't mind).

See here for the full listing

Royal Lancastrian

Here's a Poole Pottery look-alike from eBay.  The base is stamped Lancastrian Pottery England, and the vase was made by Plilkingtons Royal Lancastrian Pottery. But the shape and dimensions are remarkably similar to the Delphis shape 41 vase below, a shape first introduced to Poole by John Adams in the 1930's.  I don't know if this is the result of an early cross-pollination between the two potteries but in 1964 the two tile factories did in fact merge, with Poole Pottery too being absorbed into same conglomerate in 1971. 

Timeless pattern

At first glance my latest eBay find looks pretty convincing as a piece of Art Deco pottery.  But don't worry, I  wasn't fooled!  Although the BM design is by Truda Carter, the factory stamp dates the plate to after 1970 and it's signed by Carolyn Davies who worked at Poole from 1976 until 1987.  It's painted on the same 10",  shape No.4 used for the Delphis and Aegean ranges made during the same period.  Which is a really satisfying shallow-bowl like shape, and unlike older pots, it has no crazing, rings like a bell and cost a fraction of the price.

Royal Copenhagen

This Royal Copenhagen dish was also at Newark last week but now lives with me.  I couldn't resist buying it because it was so cheep but it's such a quality pot in pristine condition.  I suspect it's hand painted because of its wibbly wobbly lines and the sheer number of monograms, numbers and squiggles on the back. It's differnt in style, but the same shape as this Royal Copenhagen dish I found last year.

T G Green Sugar Sifter

There are just so many lovely pots to stumble over while hunting for Poole at antiques fairs, and it's hard to ignore their charms for ever.  So this is the first of two non-poole items I found a Newark last week.  

These blue and white T G Green Cornishware sifters, also come labeled for flour and salt, but I thought this sugar one would be most useful.  But practicality aside, I love it's sailor hoops, bowler hat lid and the amazing screw thread,  turned or cast into the ceramic, that holds the lid and base together.

My Fine Four Fendered Friends

Sometimes I don't quite appreciate how special something is until it's photographed and posted on here. Which is how it's been with these Carter tiles.  When I found seven of them at the Newark Fair yesterday, I was pretty underwhelmed really, but brought them just because they were cheap.  Looking at them now, I think they have a real 1960's period charm and were a rare find.  

Margaret Mathews designed the set of six (I've got one to swap if anyone's interested), screen printed  tiles in 1960.  They're each six inches square and the set is titled Veteran Cars and numbered VC1 to VC6. They're all in pristine condition and at Newark still carried their shop label below, stuck to the front of one of them and telling a sad story of remaindered stock, even after the price cut from 36 to 27 shillings.  After allowing for 52 years of inflation I still got them at half price.

GZ Jam Pot

Jam pots were some of the first Poole pots I collected.  It's no surprise - they're small, reasonably priced and have that lovely Poole teardrop finial.   This one I found on eBay recently, the pattern, GZ, is simple but quite effective, and I think fairly uncommon.  It was painted between 1934 and 1937 by Iris Skinner.  

Tomorrow, I'm off to The Newark Antiques Fair.  It will be the first time I've seen it on the first day, but then on day two I've often wondered (or annoyingly been told by a holder of a Poole depleted stall) exactly what I've missed.  So a friend has agreed to skip work with me, and splash out on the extra admission, at least for one time, and I'm hoping to be the first to spot more Poole gems like this.

Purple stripes

My latest vase from eBay is this early spill vase or tumbler, painted in fetching purple stripes.  These "Portuguese Stripe" patterns were originally introduced to Poole by James Radley Young in about 1915, but this LC pattern is a later adaptation by Truda Carter and dates to about 1923.  Painted by Ethel Barrett.

Technology lite

I've been a bit distracted from blogging this week, by my efforts to get my new phone to work, so far unsuccessfully, with my PC and email.  I wish we didn't have to think so hard about these things.  Anyway the very appealing low tech lighting solution here is decorated in one of my favorite patterns UL, painted by Marjorie Batt in the late 1920s.

Free side

And here's the tasty little accompaniment to the vase in the last post.  Delphis, shape number 31, painted by Loretta Leigh in 1970.

BOGOF

I found this vase listed with a little Poole companion on eBay a couple of weeks ago, and given its small size and geometric pattern it had to be mine, together with it's lucky (to join my collection) sidekick.  I've got another vase in this KZ pattern and 3 other vases in this 584 shape, but I suppose I wouldn't be much of a collector if I was content with just one.  

Staycation Jar

Besides the weather, shopping is the great joy of holidaying in rural Britain, at least if you prefer vintage Poole Pottery over Louis Vuitton.   

This pot I found last week in Durham House Antiques, located in the lovely market town of Stow-on-the-Wold.  It's made from red earthenware, but has a grey glaze that dates it to between 1922 and 1924, and it's signed by the decorator, Truda Rivers, who also started working at Poole in 1922.  It's painted in a pattern coded YV (which looks remarkably similar to XY pattern!) on a lovely footed apothecary jar shape, numbered 839.

It's a rare shape, that I've only seen a few times before, but then always without a lid, which I never expected it to own, and the lid is unlike any Poole lid I've seen, with the comma shaped decoration and octagonal finial.  So overall, I'm quite chuffed with it.

New Address

I've finally got a proper domain name for my website, and here it is

www.robspoolepottery.co.uk

I'll leave the pages at the old address too for a while, but probably wont update them anymore, so if you want to bookmark the site please use the address above.

Green Lantern

On the way back home from our summer holiday this week we took a bit of a detour, to the Wooley and Wallis sales room in Salisbury, to collect the lot I'd won in their June Arts and Crafts sale.  The photo doesn't do this little lustrous gem justice.  It stands just 11cm tall, on a base that's only 4cm in diameter.  There's a thick pool of lapis lazuli glaze around the circumference of the base which has been  been ground down to make a level footing and visible within that is the white stoneware body and the inscription "Carters". It's my earliest Poole vase (they don't come much older), and is from a range of lustre wares designed by Owen Carter between 1900 and 1908, decorated in reduced metallic glazes that he developed with James Radley Young and Alfred Eason.

Smallest of Four Bokhara Storage Jars

I've had this little lidded pot in my collection for quite a while, but never posted a photo on here. This jar is hand-thrown in shape 659 and painted in JC patten.

 

Crocodile Tears

I love his square shaped dish, shape number 364. It dates from the mid to late 1950's and is less common than it's oblong counterpart 316, shown in the previous post, that remained in production through the 1960's and 70's for the Delphis and Aegean ranges. The pattern is UFT aka Tears pattern and was painted by Sheila Jenkins. Anyway, I thought for a change I might post a personal note. Though thinking about the title for this post, I'm not sure if the tears might be genuine. I've been working in the NHS for 16 years now but will be handing in my notice in the next few weeks. I never imagined how happy I would feel doing that. I've been offered another job elsewhere and it feels like a huge weight has been lifted from me. But I'm sorry too. I think most people start working in the NHS for pretty selfless reasons. But i'm not sure many other employers treat their staff with more contempt. It's strange how, as a nation, we could imagine ending up with a more caring workforce by increasing targets, monitoring and workload and freezing pay and cutting pensions. Anyway, I'm glad to be out of it, until I get old and sick and need it again, if it's still there.

 

Onion Rings

This dish dates from the 1950's. The pattern UOT, also referred to as Onions, was designed by Ruth Paveley and used on Free form vases at the time. This particular dish was painted by June March.

 

Wonderful Elsecar

I found this rare old jam pot at last Sunday's antiques fair held at the Elsecar Industrial Museum. The stall holder told me that it has been sold, in a mixed box, at an auction in North Yorkshire a few days before. It's a less common shape (no. 286) than the rounder no. 288 jam pot, and it's painted in the same fantastic YM chevron pattern as this vase, which joined my collection just a few weeks ago.  This beauty is marked with the :) mark for Dorothy James and dates from the late 1920's.

Posted with Blogsy

BX Bug-Eyes Pattern

There are lots of reasons why this vase will not be living under the bed.  For one thing, since it arrived in the post today, fresh from eBay, it will need to stand for quite a while, in a prime spot, on the mantelpiece, so I can keep on admiring it.   For another, at close to 10 inches tall, I don't think it would fit under the bed. And then even if it did fit,  imagine how frightening it would be having those bug eyes staring out at you.  

I love this Truda Carter BX pattern, also referred to as "Bug Eyes".   It has a great balance of colours, that are crammed into the whole vase surface.  It has a simple, but maybe one of the most effective top borders, and the main pattern is absolutely bristling with movement.  This is high Art Deco painted by Ruth Paveley in the early 1930's.

Troublesome Numbers

This Aegean vase is also painted by Diana Davis and, although quite different in shape to the one in previous post, it also has the same shape number (31). The trainspotter (or maybe Trekkie) in me really is unsettled by this anomaly. This particular shape 31 is slip-cast rather than hand-thrown,and there's at least one other slip-cast no. 31 shape that I've seen, either in Aegean and Delphis glazes (many of the same shapes were used for both ranges. Worse still, it's not only 31 that does this shape-shifting: 83, 84 and no doubt 85 are all equally plastic. The only way I've been able to put my mind (and need for order) at ease, is to tell myself that these numbers refer to the vase size and not the shape. 31 is a size number - and to be doubly safe both vases are now going away, back under then bed.

Another Rummaged Pot

This Aegean vase has been hiding under the bed for a couple of years now.   It was hand-thrown, (shape number 31, 10 cm tall) and decorated, using the "silhouette" technique, in a swirly style that is typical of many  Aegean designes.  Signed on the underside by Diana Davis, it dates to between 1973 and 1978.

A Wet Weekend Rummage

The plan for shifting my collection towards bigger, better and inevitably fewer pots might be working a bit too well.  In contrast to the weather outside, there seems to have been a complete drought in Poole.  Fortunately, the years of squirreling pots away under beds might finally have paid off, with a weekend of rummaging and photographing producing quite a stash of new pictures to post over the coming weeks.  

The first is a little 7 cm tall jug, with no shape number, made in the early to middle 1960's and glazed in Twin-tone colours Lime Yellow and Seagull (C103).