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.

Fish

This 5" shape 49 pin dish came from eBay recently.  It has the 1962-64 Poole Studio mark and matches this bird pin dish that I found a few years ago.  Although the green glaze on the fish dish has a nicer, rougher,  underwater-like,  texture. I wonder if there are any other animals out there.

Poole Studio Pin Dish

This pleasing pin dish dates from between 1964 and 1966.  It's unsigned as many from this period were.

Sod Ruskin

Although I'd like to think that the great man himself would have appreciated this plate. It has made me realise that there really isn't enough room in my house for his namesake pottery or any other pot not made by Poole. The plate is 8 inches in diameter (shape no.3) as a TV shaped Poole Studio mark that dates it to between 1962 and 1964.

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.

Poolesinki

Or Poolehagen maybe.  This 5 inch pin dish, decorated using a wax resist technique, certainly has a very Scandinavian look.  Robert Jefferson had spent time in Scandinavia before his appointment as head of design at Poole, and his experiences there are thought to have influenced his later designs and the development of the Poole Studio wares.   It has no artist mark but bares the Poole Studio mark for 1962-64.

So much for slowing down

When plates like this come along, I guess you have to have a go at bidding.  This is shape number 3, 8 inches in diameter, unsigned but carries the TV shaped studio mark that dates the plate to between 1962 and 1964.  I wonder who painted it? It would be nice to think Tony Morris.  Anyway, it came to me from Kays Auctioneers in Norfolk.

Poole Studio Bowl

This is a Poole Studio bowl made sometime between 1964 and 1966, it has a shape that reminds me of some of the more impressive Studio vases but a price tag that is much more affordable.  I've posted this one on eBay also this week.

Poole Studio 8" plate Carole Holden

Pots with the Poole Studio mark are quite hard to find.  When they appear on eBay, like this one, they're quickly snapped up and squirrelled away by collectors, like me.  This plate has the mark used between 1964 and 1966 and was painted in 1966 by Carole Holden.  I was born in the same year, though I know which of us has has aged less.  

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.

Early Delphis Bowl Margaret Anderson

This little bowl has no shape number, it's just 5inches in diameter and was painted by Margaret Anderson in about 1966.  It has the (blue) Poole dolphin mark which was introduced in that year.

Early Delphis Pin Dish - Christine Tate

This little shape 49 pin dish has an early blue coloured dolphin back stamp and a small painters mark that my best guess is that of Christine Tate.  Sometimes marks are squashed up close to the base rims on pots and can be harder to read.  On this there's a clear T and a blob that I'm reading as a C.  The other possibility is that the blob is an M, but thinking that this was painted by Tony Morris would be stretching it.  Anyway it dates from about 1966 or '67.

A photo of this same dish taken before it joined my collection appears on page 86 of the Robert Prescott-Walker book "Collecting Poole Pottery"