Corfe Castle Regicide

This 8 inch diameter screen printed plate marks the one-thousandth anniversary of the Martyrdom of Edward, king of England at Corfe Castle on 18 March 978.  Which, on my fingers, adds up to it been made in 1978.  It comes with a certificate signed by the chairman of the Saint Edward Millennium committee, and is numbered 704 out of 1000 made.

Here's the Wikipedia entry for Edward the Martyr 

Unglazed geometric pattern jug

Here's a bit of retro design that came to me from eBay earlier this month.  These unglazed patterns (this one YX), designed by Truda Carter, date from the early 1920's, but were based on earlier designs by James Radley Young, who inturn was said to have been inspired by more ancient  Roman pottery that had been dug up in the local area.  The jug has quite a nice feel to it, very thinly thrown for the size of the pot (this one about 6 inches tall) and quite a hard metallic "ring".  With no shiny glaze to protect them these pots can get quite grubby, but they do wash up really well, I think quite safely, as the body is fired at a high enough temperature to make it quite impervious to water and stains.
The jug can now keep this vase company.

Another mustard pot

You can never have too many of these tiny little 2 inch mustard pots.  This one was painted in QO pattern by Ethel Barrett between 1925 and '27.  I don't know whether these would have been sold sepately, or as part of a cruet set originally, but it was for sale alone on eBay last week, so maybe has just outlived its companions.

Iowa spill vase

Same shape 586 as the previous post, this one is painted in LD pattern by Iris Skinner sometime between 1928 when she started working at Poole and 1934 when the pottery stopped using red clay.

There's been a run of these little pots on eBay this month and I've managed to catch quite a few of them. This one had made it all the way to Iowa.  There's a fair amount of transatlantic trade in Poole Pottery.  Some of my favourite pots have spent most of their lives in the US and Canada and there's a extra feeling of satisfaction in bringing them back to blighty. 

Finally joining the 21st Century?

Reluctantly, after the old PC blow-up earlier this month, I've been forced into dumping my old photo editing software.  Given away free in a magazine sometime in the mid 1990's, it's had a hand in improving most of the photos I've taken since: Cropping, adjusting the brightness, cleaning up the background, and almost always leveling the horizons (I've never managed to hold a camera straight).  Anyway, my new PC is running on something other than Windows 3.1 and with this new version, apparently, my last last century software is incompatible!  So above is my first effort, with the new software.  Which I think looks no different to all the other photos I've posted - so much for progress.

The vase, that arrived from eBay this year, really couldn't be improved upon.  Shape number 586, 3 1/2 inches tall, painted in the lovely KZ pattern by Phyllis Way who worked at Poole from 1928 until 1934.  

I've read recently (in a book) that the first pottery was made about 16,500 years ago.  I'm sure a lot of the first ones were a bit dodgy, but by the 1920's I think Poole Pottery had really cracked it and in my eyes nothing since has bettered it. 

Big old bowl

This bowl is quite a bit bigger than most of the geometric pattern pots that I've collected over the years and, at 22 cm across, bigger than i'd like really.  Relatively plain but large pots are quite hard to display and this one might at some point end up like so many others under a bed.  And that would be a shame as its quite unusual I think.  The pattern is FY and was painted by Ethel Barrett who worked at Poole from 1922 until 1927, so its quite early and is made from a grey (almost pink) stoneware that was used before the standard red body was introduced. Anyway, i found the bowl on eBay last December,so its high time i posted it here.

Early Poole Stoneware Vase

I won this vase on eBay before Christmas, so I'm pleased to be giving it an outing now. It's an early one made from a grey stoneware which dates to 1921 or 1922, and it has the first Carter, Stabler, Adams stamp on the base. The shape is D210, with very curvy shoulders, that are repeated in later vases like the one in the previous post. It's decorated in a lovely simple AH pattern and was painted by Anne Hatchard who began working at Poole in 1918.

A bird in the hand......

Despite still been without a pc I've finally managed to get the third of my 3 Poole birds uploaded to share on here.
Anyway, it's probably my favorite of the three. It's shape 208, QB pattern painted by Nellie Bishton between 1927 and 1934. The pattern is also called "Comic Bird", which refers to the slightly George W Bush expression that the bird has.

One too many posts

I would have been posting a photo of a fantastic Comic Bird pattern Poole vase I found at an auction recently, but today my PC exploded. Well not quite, but there was a very strong smell of electrical burning just before I pulled the plug. Maybe it was to be expected as it had been grumbling through my enless eBay scrolling for quite a while now. Poor thing, it's been a constant companion and workhorse from the very first post on here. Determined as I am, it's not pulled the plug on my blogging, but it has stopped me uploading any new images. So hope to share photos of the comic bird vase before too long.

Two Swallows Don't Make a Summer, or Spring

Here's another surprisingly animated little bird that I found on eBay last month.  The SN pattern was painted by Marian Heath in the early 1930's on this six inch tall biscuit jar (shape 230).  It has it's original wicker  handle, and later hairline cracks and a matched lid.