Birthday Delphis

If the last post made out that I was lucky at Christmas, that's only half the story. My birthday falls in December also and I was given two more Poole pots to mark the occasion. The first one was from my Mum and Dad who gave me this Delphis bowl, which they cleverly found in a charity shop (something I've often hoped to do myself but never managed). It's signed by Mary Albon and the shape number is 56. 

Lucky Lad

Look what Santa brought me this year! It was a complete surprise unwrapping this very shapely (no. 204) V pattern (AKA Leo the Lion) vase on Christmas day.  The friend who gave it to me has often joined me on buying expeditions to Newark and other places and must have learned enough about the Poole I like to find the perfect gift.  The vase was painted by Phyllis Ryall in the mid 1930's.

Merry Christmas

Four candles with fashionable facial hair, that also came from Newark.  I can see why someone would have treasured them, and though it seems far from in keeping with the spirit of the day, they will light our table tomorrow.

Last, but Not Least

This Delphis planter was my last find at the Newark fair this December.  Shape number 78, painted by Christine Tate, in about 1968.

More Delphis from Newark

These two 5 inch pin dishes were on the same Newark stall.  Both are signed by Jean Millership, one of my favourite painters at Poole.

BY Jug

This is my most exciting find from Newark last week.  Painted by Hilda Trim in the early 1930's this BY pattern is one of my favourites.  The pattern always reminds me a a Kandinsky painting - there's something quite musical about it.  But then there are also some ancient Egyptian references too - the blue and white striped scepter and the lotus flower.  I've got a couple of smaller pots where this pattern is much more condensed, but on this 7 inch tall jug (shape no. 303) the design works equally well and loses none if it vibrancy.

One I Couldn't Let Get Away

This is the five inch pin dish missing from the photo of the Newark stand in the previous post. Painted by Shirley Campbell in the last 1960's.

Newark Bonanza

I've returned empty handed from the last few Newark fairs. But on Thursday those early, cold, damp mornings were finally rewarded.  The showground seemed full of stuff that I'd never seen before and maybe never will again. There was a knitted Dalek, a zebra's head, and a huge set of children's building bricks with illustrated instructions for building a range of  Escheresque mausoleums.
And then there was so much Poole. So rare that it would have shone in any collection. So much that I had to leave some of it behind. Including these shape No. 4 Delphis plates below that were a little out of my price range. Though the empty stand is a bit of a give away that I took at least one small prize from this stall too.  I'll post that soon along with my other treasure from the day.

Worth the Wait

I must have been a bit blogged down last week and didn't post any photos, but I hope this one is worth the wait.  This large Atlantis vase came from eBay about a month ago.  It's only the third piece of Atlantis ware in my collection and is at least four times the size of the others.  Shape number A92 it stands 8 1/2 inches tall and is stamped with a CC potters mark, used at Poole by Catherine Connett's between 1973 and 76.

Multi-tasking

I'm spending Saturday morning following the Cottees Poole Pottery sale online.  So while waiting for the my lots to come up, thought I could usefully use the time to blog.
This vase I found quite a while ago, it's shape number 583, LD pattern painted by Hilda Trim.

Real Love?

I do worry that this blog might give an impression that there is only room in my heart for small ceramic objects.  Of course, that isn't really true: I was touched tonight by the John Lewis penguin Real Love Xmas ad.
John Lewis must love making money, but I think they could have manipulated me so much better if only they had thought to include just one gay or lesbian couple beside the four or five (six, I think including the penguins) heterosexual couples shown in the ad.  I would have got my wallet out for that. But maybe they had thought of it, and thought that maybe gay love, isn't after all "real love"! Now, that's not very festive of you JL.
Anyway these guys say it better http://www.blgbt.org/is-it-real-love/ And sticking to what I do best - it's a little cream jug 326/GT.

More Ruth Pavely

This CA pattern jug (shape no. 377), like the salt dish in the last post, was also painted by Ruth Pavely in about 1922.

Sweet

This salt pot was painted by Ruth Pavely at the start of her career at Poole in 1922.  EU pattern, shape number 299, and just over one inch tall.

Hornsea Pottery

I found these at the Elsecar Antiques fair.  They are marked on the underside Hornsea Pottery Craft Studio, Regd England, with an image of a horn, some waves and a stamped number 236. Which is the mark used from 1960-62 http://eastgatenhornsea.com/backstamp.php They're just over 5 inches tall.  I bought them mainly because they were a pair, but now I realise that I have no room for them, and if I keep them I'll risk starting another collection.  So I'm going to list them on eBay later today.

http://mypotshots.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/groovy-westminster-vases-1960-1961.html

Mini Me

Hot from the Doncaster Race Course Antiques fair today, I'm happy to present this 4 inch high fully functioning clockwork wonder.  I don't think its that old, It's stamped made in China but sports a little bit of corrosion on its seams.

Cracked Egg Cup

This early Carter Stabler and Adams egg cup is made from a light brown clay, marked with shape number 289 and /A/GE.  I liked it enough to buy it despite it having a cracked rim perhaps as a result of someone missing their egg and bashing it with their spoon.

Dephis Jardiniere

The shape of these Delphis range jardinieres, with their pedestal base, I always think, harks back to the earlier Poole Studio shapes of the earlier 1960's from which the Delphis range was spawned. The genealogy is even more obvious when they are carved like this one.  They were made for just a couple of years from 1968 and were certainly replaced by the later plant pot shaped form by 1973. They come in 3 sizes and this one is middle sized shape 79, painted by Angela Wyburgh.

Bad Habits

During the 1930's Poole Pottery made the most sweet and innocent looking ashtrays.  Every time I see them on eBay, I'm tempted to buy one. Whether it's the little rowing boat with a central bench formed to rest your fag, or the fledgling bird with outstretched wings and tail feathers again scooped into rests for cigarettes.

This one is advertised on eBay now as a Sylvan ware ashtray designed by John Adams and again I'm sorely tempted, despite it having a small chip, but maybe I'll make do with my photoshopped image here, ripped off from the sellers listing.  I hope they don't mind, but in case they do here's the link to their eBay page.

Pick 'n' Mix

Nearly all of the "Traditional" Poole Pottery in my collection is made from the red clay that was in use at Poole from the mid-1920's up until 1934.  The pots from this period have a particular feel that is hard to describe.  There's a softness to the decoration, that seems to be bonded deeper into the body of the vase.  So this vase is just a couple of years too late for me, but I wanted it for it's unusual, strangely random pattern.  It is shape number 112, GD pattern painted by Hilda Trim between 1934 and 1937.

Scotland Envy

The increased media focus this week, on the Scotland's independence vote, has prompted me again to make an inappropriate mix of pot and politics.  I think more than anything, with the opinion polls narrowing, it's the sense of the British state mustering all of it's resources to defend the union, that makes me want to (quite ineffectually) react against it.  I'm not Scottish, and I've only been to Scotland once.  I don't have a romantic view of Scotland, and I've never seen "Braveheart", but if the Scots vote yes, I think moving north of the boarder would be a very attractive option.
I'll be taking my pots with me of course, including this sweet EQ pattern egg cup Dorothy James in the early 1930's.

A Wash and Brush-Up

When it was advertised on eBay this OR pattern spill vase was in looking pretty grubby.  Which is something that often draws me in to make a bid.  In part because I know just how well they can clean up but perhaps also because I want to make sure that the pot has a chance to shine again. The shape number is 262 and it was painted by Anne Hatchard between 1922 and '24.

Sprig

 Here's a fairly early "sprig" (FE) pattern vase made between 1922 and 1924, shape number 586 painted by Vera Bridle.

Be Careful What You Wish For

A couple of posts ago (leaky), I was bemoaning the crack on the side of the EE pattern soup cup I'd bought from eBay and wishing that another would turn up.  And then behold, they appear, in the least expected place, and with matching saucers too!
I  was in the Yorkshire Dales with my partner last weekend, and late on Sunday afternoon, walked through a village at the bottom of Wensleydale called West Burton.  West Burton only has one pub and one shop, and while we made good use of the pub,  it was in the antiques shop that I found these soup cups.
They were painted  in TK pattern during the early 1930's by Marjorie Cryer, and there are seven in total. The six above are made from red clay and one of those has a broken handle, glued back on.  The seventh is made from white clay with a pink coloured base, which dates it to a couple of years later (it's still painted by Marjorie Cryer), and it has slightly different decoration on the handles.  So I imagine the original owner of the set must have purchased this seventh cup as a replacement at a time when they were still quite new.

Original

 Replacement

How Could I?

How could I have forgotten to post a picture of this little jug.  My pottery buying has slowed down a bit this past month of so, but luckily I've found this photos to post and there are quite a few similarly forgotten photos in waiting.  This one is XK pattern, shape 324, painted in the late 1920's or early 30's by someone using a share as their mark, who's contribution to Poole, perhaps like the jug, has also been overlooked.

Leaky

Unfortunately this very sweet  EE patern soup cup painted by Ruth Pavely has a couple of deep hairline cracks.  It was only ever big enough to hold a ladle full of soup and now it cant even do that.  Shape number 859, I'd love to find another one.

middle sized

This vase was in the same lot as the honey pot posted a couple of weeks ago.  It's painted in Sweet Pea (TY) patter by Hilda Trimm and can be dated by it's pink base to somewhere between 1934 and 37.  A lot of the sweet pea pattern pots I've seen come from this period.  The two simlar shaped vases in this pattern I already own are both made from red clay and date to a year or so earlier. http://www.robspoolepottery.co.uk/traditional_poole_sweet_pea_patterns.htm#122 TY   In terms of size this vase fits nicely in the middle of them.

Wobbly Return

Summer holiday over and first day back at work I don't feel overly inspired to blog, but wanted to share this lovely CY pattern vase.  Painted by Gertie Warren and made between 1922 and 1924, it's a shape I've not found before (no 383).  It's very wobbly and only two and a half inches tall.

eBay's Finest

The little bee that forms the finial of the honey box got me thinking about all of eBay's busy bees who put in so much effort to describe their lots in every detail, photograph them from every angle, and then post them so quickly to the winning bidders. All at the cost of postage and done in peoples spare time, no doubt, juggled about work and other commitments.
The honey box arrived yesterday.  I won it at a real-life auction held by Burstall and Hewett about 6 weeks ago (with an online bid of course).  Paid for the same day, it still took several phone calls and emails to get it here, even 6 weeks later and at a cost of postage far more then I've ever paid on eBay. And now it's arrived it turns out that there are several small chips, including one to the lovely bee finial, that were not described in the condition report.

Top Spot

Another reason not to stop buying Delphis is this 10 inch plate painted by Patricia Wells in 1966.  It's probably my best looking Delphis plate with this shape number.  It was on eBay earlier this month and now has a prime position in our living room.

Summer of Love

Throughout the Spring of this year I did a reasonable job at slimming down my collection of Poole Dephis plates, but come mid-summer it's all started to get out of hand again.  But then, how could any man resist this simple, but perfectly executed, little floral pin dish.  Fifty years old and fresh as a daisy. So it's now mine from eBay last week, painted by Angela Wyburgh in the late 1960's.

Missing Letters

A small plate 6 inch diameter, I think the shape number is 199 and the pattern DC.  There's a similar pattern with red triangles that has the code DD hilda-trim-jam-pot. So as ever with Poole pattern codes we're left wondering, where are DA and DB? or maybe that just me. 

And Here's One I Made Earlier

I reckon dating to the late 1920's this time,  a similar (but significantly different pattern to the last post) YO vase, with a more typical mat surface glaze.  (And for anyone who didn't notice, this and the last post were mildly autistic, boy, trainspotting heaven for Rob)

Shiny Development

This YO pattern vase, shape number 202 was painted by Gertie Warren who worked at Poole from 1922 until 1927.  It has a red clay body covered in a white clay slip, but has an unusual  shiny surface glaze similar to that found on the grey slip covered pots that were made up until 1924.  So I rekcon this vase dates to exactly 1924 and  was the final stage of development before the the final Poole look that lasted for the next (and most significant) decade of production.

Blue Aegean

As well as being more or less blue, this Poole Aegean sweet dish has a nice bleached out appearance much more in keeping with something you might find washed up on an eastern Mediterranean beach.  It's signed by Carolyn Wills.

The Industry of Women

A plate from more simple times maybe.  But this little plate has got me thinking again how, almost without exception, Poole Pottery was decorated by women, with probably the majority of it thrown by women and with women having pretty much equal input into the overall designs.  However, like the rest of British industry, this was probably not recognised in wages paid.
So a plate from more simple times maybe, but hopefully there was an equally well commemorated and fun Society of Women, at Poole.
The dolphin on this 5 inch shape 49 pin dish is printed, though i'm not sure if the lettering is hand-done.  The back of the plate has a hand-painted 106, so maybe a numbered edition.

A Little Extra

This one and a half inch tall pot was included in the same Woolley and Wallis auction lot, as the lustre vase I posted on Saturday. Cared for just as well, it is shape number 570, RS pattern painted by Doris Marshall,who started working at Poole in 1926.  It's an unglazed (on the exterior) pot in the style of James Radley Young, designed by Truda Carter.

A Little Jaded?

I went to the antiques fair at Keddlestone Hall near Derby yesterday.  It's smaller than the fairs at Newark and Lincoln, but the park of this grand country house makes a very nice venue.  I came away empty handed, as I often seem to do from fairs these days, but had more luck last week at the Woolley and Wallis auction where I won this green lustre glaze Cater & Co vase.   It was made at Poole Pottery sometime between 1908 and 1918, its pretty rare, in perfect condition and the glaze has a gorgeous petrol on water iridescence. There is a red vase of the same shape in the Haward and Atterbury book "Poole Pottery"

Filthy Sky News

I watch too much of Sky News, usually from bed in the morning in preference to the BBC 1's oddly co-presented and patronising output targeted presumably at children getting ready for school.  But tonight's Sky News disturbed me more then they usually manage.  It was a report on Iraq, that moved within a few sentences from describing a mass grave, (presumable of Iraqi soldiers), to the reporter, someone called Alistair Bunkall (appearing intrepid and maybe soon to be honoured in some media award ceremony), describing the Iraqi army as pathetic. It is unusual to hear war-dead, or victims of violence being described as pathetic, but here's the link http://news.sky.com/story/1290489/isis-massacre-tikrit-satellite-images-emerge.

Mole Hills

I thought eBay bids on theses two Poole Pottery Everest tea cups would have gone sky high.  So, although I knew they were super rare (at least I've not seen any for sale before) and stunningly Deco (in a uncompromising modern style that Poole didn't do that much), I let them go without bidding, and they sold for nothing like the mountain of cash I'd expected.

More Poole Scenes

This photo was sent to me at the weekend by Nick, a fellow collector.  The back of the plate reads, "Poole Quay is from the Poole Scenes Collection.  Taken from an original print by Poole based artist, John Liddell" and underneath "Poole quay has been renowned for it's potteries from as early as the iron age.  Also legendary for smuggling activities in the 18th Century with the Customs House at the centre of a famous raid in 1747.  Poole Harbour is reported to be the second largest natural harbour in the world, and has seen many ships, from pirate to cargo, pass through its waters."

Poole Scenes were produced in the 1980's.  I have one plate depicting the Guildhall, posted on here a while ago  http://robspoolepotterycollection.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/poole-scenes_29.html, but two don't make collection, so there must be other scenes out there.  So any more photos will be gratefully shared.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I've been trying to slim down my collection of Delphis ware in recent months.  Aiming at least, to reduce it to a size that fits the available display space.  But then I keep running into pots like this one painted by Pamela Bevans in 1970, found a couple a weeks ago at the Doncaster Racecourse fair.

Blue Stripe Ware

This is the second early Poole Pottery vase that arrived in the post this week.  Again, it's another James Radley Young design, this time painted by Ann Hatchard, right at the start of her career in about 1918.  It's 7 inches tall and appears to have inscribed writing on the base that reads no 148.
Finding all of these Carter and Co vases recently has prompted me to read again some of Jennifer Hawkins book "The Poole Potteries".  This is probably the most scholarly of the Poole reference books written. In her book Hawkins describes these pots in chapter 3 as "blue stripe ware" decorated with "plain stripes from top to bottom ...or rather more elaborate versions including diamonds and lozenges".
Reading about these early pots has also reminded me of a nice Carter & Co connection to my home city of Sheffield.  William Carter Unwin (chief sculptor in the architectural pottery) and James Radley Young, both trained at Sheffield School of Art, and Jame Radley Young's half brother Edwin Page Turner also born in Sheffield,  was the first identified painter at the Carter tile works.

Snatched from the Jaws of Defeat

I drove down the A1, first thing this morning, full of hope and excitement for what I might find at day one of the Newark antiques fair.  Three hours later, I was driving home tired and empty handed, but then, I found this vase waiting for me, in a box, on top of the wheelie bin, where the the postie had left it.  The vase had been sent by a fellow Poole collector (together with another early vase that I will share another day).  In truth I was expecting it, but it arrived a couple of days early and just in time to save the day.
And what a trophy it is, this early unglazed Carter & Co vase, designed by Jame Radley Young. It dates from around 1914 and has a bit of a pre-Columbian look (a possible influence that was fashionable at the time), with it's three slightly animal head-like handles. This very vase also appears on page 57 of the Robert Presoct-walker book "Collecting Poole Pottery"

YK Jug

From eBay last week an unglazed YK pattern jug, shape number 322, painted by Phyllis Way between 1928 and '34.

Clash of Pots

My blogging has slowed a bit over the last week or so.  I like to think that might give the impression of me having got a life.  But if truth be told, it's because I've finally succumbed to downloading Clash of Clans on my iPad.
It wont last, so here's a vase I won ( a couple of weeks ago) when I still had time for eBay.  It's just 5 inches tall WK (oak-leaf) pattern, painted by Eileen Prangnell (at a guess) in the mid 1920's.  I like the simplicity of this oak-leaf pattern. It's really quite dynamic, painted as it is in a series of single brush strokes.  Similar to, but much nicer than, the traditional patterns produced in the 1960's and '70's.

All Creatures Great and Small

I visited the antiques fair at Doncaster racecourse this morning looking for Poole Pottery, but came away with this stuffed jay instead.  I'm not too sure why.
Taxidermy does seem like a macabre way to pursue a love of nature.  But this bird is as beautiful as it is unsettling.  The blue feathers have a checkerboard pattern similar to a snakeshead fritillary, the glass eye is the same forget-me-not colour blue.
The very faded label on the back of the box reads, "H. H. Kew, Hairdresser, Bird and Animal Stuffer, 5 Eastgate (near the parish church), Louth.  Every description of English and foreign, birds, fishes, and animals carefully mounted."
Google comes up with a few different H. H. Kew birds, fishes and animals, including a pair of fox heads with the date 1932.

Any Excuse

I spotted this vase advertised online for sale at an antiques center in West Yorkshire, so it gave me a great excuse last weekend to visit a friend, who happens to live in that part of the world, for lunch and some shopping!  Made by Carter & Co this early tin-glazed, stoneware, Poole Pottery vase was made between 1918 and 1921.  It's signed by the decorator MC and painted in an unnamed pattern designed by James Radley Young.