Delphis 49er Janet Laird

There's a lot of detail here for a small 5" diameter dish.  It was painted by Janet Laird who joined Poole Pottery in 1969 and was Delphis supervisor for 3 years from 1970 until 1974.  A lot of Janet's work was sold overseas but this one I found in the UK on a trip last weeks to the Newark fair.  

I've become friends with Janet since starting this blog and over the past few months she's shared some lovely stories about her life at Poole Pottery and wonderful examples of her work since then.  Janet still makes beautiful pottery at her studio in Dorset under her married name Janet Parker Laird and there's a link to Janet's own blog on the left.  I have some other images of Janet's early work at Poole Pottery that I'll post soon.

Poole Delphis No.34 Vase Signed CK

I sold this vase on Ebay last week.  It's one of the first vases I brought about 6 years ago.  I remember been really pleased with  it and it stayed on display since then (never in storage) but also never made it onto my website for some reason.  So even though its no longer with me, I thought I should give it one last outing on here.  The shape number is 34, I think will date to the early 1970's, it's hand thrown, about 5 inches tall and signed with CK.  This CK mark crops up quite a bit on Delphis, but as yet there's not a name identified to go with it, so any ideas would be welcome.

A Rare Find on eBay

I went to the Lincoln Antiques fair on Tuesday this week, where I found a few Poole pots that I'm sure will appear here soon.  I'm off again on Friday to the Newark fair, where they'll be more, and if I'm lucky I might find something as rare as the pot above.   This vase is about 5" tall and was painted by Nellie Bishton between 1927 and '34.  It's shape number 112 which is quite common, but the pattern, GTY, is more rare and I've not seen many like this before.  At some point, probably when new, it was exported to the USA, but finally came back to Britain from Illinois a few months ago.  I love it when pots come home (Sheffield isn't so far from Poole!), although there are just as many that depart these shores, and that's nice too.  In the recent past, I've sent quite a few abroad myself, to Australia and the US and others to South Africa, and Spain.  Lincoln and Newark are both giant fairs and attract a fair few international buyers and sellers, but still they don't quite have the global reach of eBay. 

Ship Plate

This is likely to be the only golf trophy I'll ever own, which isn't so surprising, given that I've never played the game and find the thought of it very boring.  But if I had won this trophy, and the words changed to "best allotment 2011, Sheffield Allotment Society" (just as unlikely to happen), I'd have been very proud of it, as I'm sure the original owner was.  

There was larger Beckford Bowl winner's plate on sale on eBay this week also, though I didn't bid on that as clearly I don't deserve to own it.  Anyway, I liked this because its hand painted and in the manner of the earlier Poole Ship plates, but a fraction of the cost.  It's signed by Sue Pottinger, and dates from 1986!

Poole Delphis Patricia Wells 8" Plate

I'm gradually expanding my collection of these Shape no. 3 plates. They seem to crop up a bit more often than the larger plates but are still a nice decent size to display.  this one dates from the late 1960's

HH Pattern Cream Jug - Vera Bridle 1923-33

There's an element of luck with eBay, like all auctions. Of course the price you pay will depend on who else bids, but also (when you've only seen a photo of something) sometimes you don't know how lovely it is until you hold it in your hands.   

This jug has real character. It's a simple enough pattern, but even so has several glaze skips, finger prints, little splashes of colour in the wrong place, the yellow areas on one side are darker than the other, due (I think) to it's placement in the kiln and uneven firing, and it's all as good as it was the day it was made.  There must have been times at Poole when the potters aimed for perfection, and it's so nice when they didn't achieve it.

Not a Happy Vase 385/RD

I've been holding back on posting a photo of this one.  It came into my collection from eBay just before Christmas last year and left a few weeks later.  Even though it looks lovely here, it does have a restored rim.  The original seller had described it as in mint condition, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt, and just re-listed it for sale myself.  Of course second time round the listing made clear that there was restoration and I hope it's new owner is happy with it.

I've since had a couple of other restored pots sold to me from eBay - and have wondered if it might be a bit of a growing trend.  I hope not, but it's always worth raising any concerns with sellers and on the two occasions since, both sellers have been good enough to make full refunds and cover the return postage costs also.  

Poole Pottery Art Deco Egg Cups and Tray TO Pattern

I've got a bit of a backlog of recent Poole acquisitions, but this one has jumped the queue.  How happy would you be to wake up to your breakfast eggs served in these little beauties.  I know that I'd be well chuffed.

Painted by Nellie Bishton between 1927 and 1934.

Poole Studio 5" pin dish

There have been a few of these dishes knocking about on eBay in the past few years.  I'm not sure how many were made or maybe I've been seeing the same few being re-traded.  This one came from there too. It has an early TV studio mark that dates it to between 1962 and 1964.