So long FY

This FY pattern, shape 352 vase painted by Gertie Warren in the middle 1920's, has been an all too brief visitor to my collection.  I've owned it for about a year or so, and had it on a list of pots to blog about, but sold it on eBay last week. 

Small blue thing

This Chinese Blue glazed vase measures just 7cm tall.  It was designed by John Adams and dates from the early 1920's.

Strike fund

This week saw the start for the University and College Union 14-day strike. So my partner and me are both out on strike.  Suddenly having time our hands is giving us a little taste of what retirement may be like  As is the falling income that, in retirement for real, will fall even further if Universities UK get their way.
Anyway, on a positive note there are a few advantages to employers cheating on deals.  For a start, it does give you a rarely felt sense of being the master of your own destiny and not a wage slave. It's also given me time for walks in the late winter sunshine and time to post on this blog again.  And it's given me reason to list a few pots for sale n eBay, to contribute to my own personal strike fund. I think I have enough pots to hold out for years that way.
The pot above, I'll not be listing (unless the strike goes on for months), is an early Carter and Co stoneware vase.

Drinking partner

Two things, I cant get enough of, drink and furry beasts, combined here in a single object. The bear came from eBay last month.  The glasses and decanter I found in the Sheffield Antiques Centre today.

Circus Tent

WL is often refereed to as the circus tent pattern.  An inverted version of the pattern forms the top inch or so of the larger XF pattern seen in the previous post.  The shape number for this jug is unclear but may be 678.

XF

XF must be the king for geometric patterns.  I've wanted a vase in this pattern for years, but until now have always been outbid.  So it must be quite a popular pattern, which make sense given that you get so much more decoration for your money.  This example was painted by Vera Bridle who worked at Poole between 1923 and '33, and I think it suits the shape (no 418) really well. 

Lilly Pedley

Same shape and same painter as the last post and this vase came to me from the same collector too.  This time its painted in OS pattern and glazed in the traditional Poole style

One extreme to another

A fraction of the size of the vase in the last post, at just 8 cm tall, this shape number 583 vase was painted, in the RU pattern, by Lilly Pedley, some time between 1925 and 1932.

Nitromors magic

This huge (34cm tall) glazed "Etruscan" vase arrived from Ebay last month. It was listed with what looked like white scuff marks to the surface, and this made sense as these pots are quite susceptible to surface damage.   However when it arrived this scuffing turned out to be white paint - it looked like someone had brushed against it when painting nearby.
Old pots often collect small specks of paint, presumably from being left in situ while ceilings are being rollered.  Paint doesn't stick very well to a glazed surface and usually specks of paint will wash off easily with warm water.  The paint on this pot was a different matter however.  The rough unglazed surface made a perfect canvas and the paint was stuck.   Luckily I remembered reading in a pot conservation guide that nitromors is used by conservators to remove old glue from repairs.  It seemed quite drastic at the time, but an old can of nitromors and several cotton wool buds later and the vase looks to be in factory-fresh condition.  It turns out that nitromors will burn skin, completely melt paint, but magically leaves pottery untouched.
The pattern is AB and it was painted by Ruth Pavely in the early 1930's.  The V&A have a similar vase.