Click here to see a Wedgwood wonderland

     Venture capitalists circle over the Barlaston works, enticed by Receivers who will be the only winners in the game, while a talented workforce of Staffordshire potters nervously awaits its fate.
    Founded by the great Josiah in 1759, Wedgwood once produced wares that everyone wanted to buy from Catherine the Great to people like my parents who just wanted a smart Sunday best teaset. Not any more it seems.
    The youngest of 12 children, Josiah was born at his parents’ pottery in Burslem. He started school at the age of six, but was forced to leave on his father’s death at nine.
    He then worked then for five years as apprentice in the family pot bank, but was then

struck down by smallpox. It was a cruel blow which affected his legs – his right one had to be amputated – making him unable to operate a potter’s wheel.
    Cast adrift by his family – his eldest brother refused to take him into partnership – he worked for two years for another potter before he met and, in 1754, entered into partnership with one of the most eminent potters of the day, Thomas Whieldon.
    Robbed of a career as a potter, Wedgwood concentrated on developing new ceramic bodies and glazes and by the time the Whieldon partnership expired in 1759, Wedgwood had invented several new products. He started his own business back in Burslem and began to prosper.
     In 1762, he met Thomas Bentley, a successful Liverpool merchant with a wide and cultivated taste who had the right social contacts and a knowledge of the arts that gave him an eye for design.
    Wedgwood was quick to recognise the inspiration that Bentley offered and the two formed a partnership that lasted from 1768 until Bentley’s death in 1780.
    It was at this time that collectors became interested in the classical antiquities being discovered in Etruscan tombs and Wedgwood and Bentley produced copies, including their so-called Etruscan vases.
    When they opened their new works in 1769, they called it Etruria after the district in central Italy where the ancient Etruscans had lived.
    A pioneer of the Industrial Revolution and the canal system – he wanted a cheap and reliable means to transport his wares to Liverpool – a scientist, engineer, entrepreneur businessman, anti-slavery campaigner, aesthete and radical, Josiah is regarded as the father of English potters.
    Wedgwood became a public company in 1967 (some say that’s when the decline started) and it was taken over 19 years later by Warterford Glass. What happens next is anyone’s guess but what remains a constant is the raft of highly collectable pottery.
    Early pieces of Wedgwood and Bentley black basaltes busts and vases still turn up at auction, while the Fairyland Lustre designed by Daisy Makeig-Jones (1881-1945) is highly sought after.
       Interestingly Daisy’s innovative designs helped the company revive its reputation in the harsh years of the first quarter of the 20th century, as did the work of such distinguished artists as Keith Murray (1892-1981), John Skeaping (1901-1980), Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) and Arnold Machin (1911-1999).
       Another constant, where all of the company’s rarest treasures can be seen, is the futuristic new £10.5 million Wedgwood Museum which opened last October.
    Built after eight years of international fund-raising and supported by a £5.9 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant, the museum is a registered charitable trust and thankfully entirely independent from the company.
    Situated at the Wedgwood factory site at Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent (the company moved there in 1939) the museum exhibits include everything from Josiah’s experimental trials, designs and products from throughout the 18th century to the present day totalling about 6,000 artefacts, some never seen by the public before.
       A collection of 75,000 original manuscripts detailing everything from international trade, social history, the anti-slavery campaign and the building of Britain’s canal system , and 10,000 experimental pieces from the Wedgwood archives are also available for examination, while important original paintings by artists Joshua Reynolds and George Stubbs portray Josiah and his family. 
     A unique interactive  "magic carpet ride" takes visitors on an aerial tour around Wedgwood’s original Etruria factory, now demolished, and specially built bottle ovens house display areas of 18th century wares.
    The museum is open from 9am to 5pm (10am at weekends) and admission costs £6 (concession £5) or in groups £5 (concession £4.50). For further information, go to www.wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk or telephone 01782 371900.

Pictures show, from top: A portrait of Josiah Wedgwood I (1730-95) in enamels on a Wedgwood ceramic plaque made in 1780

The Portland Vase a Black Jasper copy of the famous Roman cameo glass vase once owned by the Duchess of Portland.  It took Josiah over three years of experiments and trials before the first perfect copy was made in October 1789.  They are considered amongst the greatest technical achievements of the potter’s art

The Apotheosis of Homer vase in Blue Jasper, the bas relief design by John Flaxman Junior.  Josiah Wedgwood declared this to be, ‘The finest and most perfect I have ever made’, c.1786.

Left: Fairyland lustre was the name given by Daisy Makeig-Jones to her range of designs based on exotic fairy stories where vivacious imps and fairies are seen in mystical landscapes.  The ware was made by Wedgwood from 1915 until 1931, though after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, demand declined dramatically. This bowl dates from about 1920.

Pictures courtesy of the Wedgwood Museum, Stoke-on-Trent.

We drove past the shop where Mrs P was a Saturday girl on the cheese counter (remember the days when they sold food?). What remains is a cavernous white elephant on a High Street crippled by closures.

Click here to see a slideshow of Homemaker images*

Now the sales vultures have finished picking over the carcass, the detritus of the shopping giant has started to appear on eBay.

Staff T-shirts, customer service badges, rolls of “Sold By Woolworths” tape, even plastic

shopping bags have been posted for sale by entrepreneurial types. Or is it disenfranchised staff?

Clearly a new field of collecting has emerged. Anything bearing the firm’s name will one day have a value … if you’re prepared to wait that long.

At the time of writing this, the Barclay brothers, owners of the Daily Telegraph newspaper, had announced that they had “saved” the iconic brand name and were taking elements of the business online. So like I said, farewell then Woolworths.

What Frank Winfield Woolworth, the firm’s founder, would have thought of it we can only speculate about, but it was he who started the collecting  trend. Except his stuff has been collectable for years.

The best known is pictured here. Homemaker pottery was once made for the masses and sold cheaply by Woolies both in the U.S. and UK.

Now, 50-odd years later, the stylish black and white Homemaker is the dinner and tea ware of choice for the minimalist homes of today’s smart young collectors.

Prices were truly affordable

It was designed for the Stoke-on Trent potters Ridgway by a virtually unknown Staffordshire student.

Seemingly random images of domestic objects like carving knives and forks, G-plan style furniture and trendy lamps placed on a white background surrounded by equally random wavy lines might sound weird but the designs are as much a hit today as they were when they were introduced in the 1950s.

Woolies capitalised on demand and sets flew off the shelves. Prices were truly affordable.

Plates cost the princely sum of 6d (2 and a halfpence) apiece, while a soup terrine – probably the most expensive piece in the range – cost 12/6 (62 and a half pence).

If you’re lucky, you might find a plate at under a tenner these days, while the auction estimate on the part tea/dinner service consisting of four 10-inch plates, four 9-inch plates, two 7-inch plates, five saucers, four 6-inch bowls, five 7-inch bowls and a teapot is £300 to 500. That terrine is worth around £100.

The Ridgway’s story is a complicated one. Briefly, Job Ridgway trained at potteries in Swansea and Leeds before returning to his native Staffordshire where in 1802 he founded a pottery in Shelton, Hanley.

His two sons, John and William, joined the company in 1808 and took over on their father’s death in 1813.

The two brothers parted company in 1830, John remaining in Shelton where he produced fine porcelain, while his brother began production of earthenwares at the nearby Bell Works.

William’s son, Edward, continued his father’s work and founded the Bedford Works in Shelton specialising in vitrified wares, tiles and a full range of earthenware tea and dinner sets including a century later the now coveted Homemaker range.

The student behind the Homemaker design was Enid Seeney who studied at Burslem School of Art.

Homemaker was the most popular

She served her apprenticeship at the Spode Copeland works, where she learned to draw designs and to paint and gild ceramics before joining Booth & Colcloughs in 1951, which by then was then part of the Ridgway group of potteries.

She left Ridgway’s on her marriage in 1957 but by then she had designed a number of patterns for the company, of which Homemaker was the most popular.

Interestingly, those seemingly random domestic objects featured in the Homemaker design were other classics of the period: the armchair was designed by Robin Day; the sofa by Sigvard Bernadotte and the sideboard by Bernard Russell.

Interestingly, it was Europe’s quality china and glass that first attracted Frank Woolworth to Britain.

Ceramics, notably blue and white willow pattern wares from the Staffordshire Potteries were popular with customers of his five and dime stores in the U.S. and in 1890, he visited the factories personally to cut out the wholesalers who were taking a big cut of his profits.

In addition to opening his first UK store in Liverpool in 1909, the port was also his first choice to ship millions of pieces of china to New York.

Other Woolies ware to watch for includes the blue and white so-called Fibre Pattern dinner ware which dates from the first quarter of the 20th century, particularly if it is marked on the back “Royal Woolworth”; anything decorated with the Bird’s pattern and the cream, green and orange Ivory China, both of which were popular in the 1930s.

Check out grandma’s kitchen cupboards!

*Images kindly supplied by www.pips-trip.co.uk

Then these two characters turned up. According to the auctioneer, they are pre-production prototype figures modelled by Dorothy Doughty (1892-1962) and manufactured by Royal Worcester.

They are highly sought after by collectors, particularly those in America and with names like Mockingbird and Peach Blossom and Chickadee and Larch, that’s hardly surprising.

They were issued in limited editions: 500 Mockingbirds in 1940 and 325 Chickadees in 1938 and they fetch appreciable sums. These prototypes, which exist presumably in even smaller numbers, are expected to sell for up to £3,000 apiece.

But it’s Dorothy who interests me most. She was clearly a kindred spirit. She’s also one of the finest modellers of birds and wildlife of all time.

She was born in Italy, daughter of the explorer and poet Charles Doughty, but came to England as a girl with her father and sister Freda. She studied at

Eastbourne College of Art and became a keen naturalist and ornithologist.

Their father died in 1926 but the two girls, who never married, stayed on in the house in Sissinghurst, in Kent, Freda running a children’s art club.

The house had its own kiln and while Freda made figurines using her pupils as live models, Dorothy painted and made models of the birds she saw in the garden.

In time, they were approached by Royal Worcester to join the company as freelance modellers. Freda’s figure groups were popular, while Dorothy was handed the opportunity to excel when, in 1933, the U.S. publisher Alex Dickens suggested the firm made a series of large bone china models of American birds.

They were by modelled by Dorothy in their natural settings, her attention to the most minute detail and understanding and appreciation of ornithology paying dividends.

The first couple of attempts – Redstarts on Hemlock and American Goldfinches on Thistles – were only moderately successful, Dorothy quickly coming to the conclusion that the slip casting method of production was less than adequate to reproduce the naturalistic settings in which her birds were placed.

After many visits to the factory and talks with other modellers, she persuaded the management to build a new workshop and employ the services of flower modeller Antonio Vassalo to train a new intake of apprentices.

Lifelike models of greater intricacy

The Maltese artist-modeller Vassalo had perfected a technique of hand-moulding the delicate branches, leaves and flowers for which Worcester had become famous and the combination of the two of them proved to be the key to success.

Another significant factor was the involvement of the great Harry Davies, one of Worcester’s finest artists, who was able to reproduce the various subtle colours of the birds’ plumage and the naturalistic settings in which they were placed.

Able to produce more lifelike models of greater intricacy, Dorothy designed the next pair of birds, Bluebirds on Apple Blossom, which was received eagerly by collectors of her work, after which there was no looking back.

A further three pairs were designed before the outbreak of the war, each one considered better than the last. Editions were limited to 500 copies and despite being extremely expensive, they quickly sold out.

American museums and private individuals were equally keen to acquire the latest model and keep their set complete, with the exclusivity of only a limited number of examples being made available actually serving to enhance their appeal.

During the war many of the skilled workers joined the armed forces but production of the so-called Doughty Birds continued although in only limited numbers, the firm keen to continue to earn much needed income while concentrating on such utilitarian products as electrical resistors and spark plugs.

As her contribution to the war effort, Dorothy drove an ambulance and was also believed to have been involved in secret work in connection to aircraft building.

Wastage was high but demand remained strong

However, she developed what was thought to be tuberculosis and after the war she and Freda moved to Falmouth to a cliff-top house with a garden studio.

Her determination to continue designing more bird studies was undiminished. She lined the walls of her studio with cages containing the birds she painted and subsequently made trips to America to study birds in the field.

Armed with copious sketches and gaining more and more in confidence, Dorothy made her models ever more adventurous, to the point where it became a challenge for the factory to fire them. Wastage was high but demand remained strong.

Attempts were made by Alex Dickens to introduce simpler, cheaper models to appeal to less well-heeled customers but they were not popular and were withdrawn. They include the Indigo Bunting and White Quail, examples of which today are exceptionally rare and valuable.

Dorothy’s health was deteriorating by this time and the company drafted in another modeller, Ronald Van Ruyckevelt, to assist her. He would spend time with her in Falmouth and then visit the factory to oversee production.

She died aged 70 at a time when still more models were in the course of development. A total of 36 pairs of Doughty American birds were designed during her lifetime, some being produced to her designs six years after her death.

Pictures show:
Doughty’s birds: Mockingbird and Peach Blossom (top) and Chickadee and Larch, each of which has an auction value of up to £3,000

YOU’VE SEEN them at countless car boot sales, and you’ve been embarrassed when you’ve  asked the stallholder how much he wants for the naff set of NatWest piggy banks, the SylvaC bunnies or the preserve pots shaped like onions modelled with faces on the sides.

Click here for a 20th Century Ceramics slideshow

But it’s okay. Help is at hand in the shape of the latest glossy hardback to come from the stable of the Antique Collectors’ Club, entitled "Starting to Collect 20th Century Ceramics". Author Andrew Casey is an acknowledged expert on the subject and his book has been produced specially with the novice collector in mind.

From the Lord of the Rings figures from the Middle Earth Series produced by Royal Doulton in 1980 to the Homemaker designs made in the 1950s for Woolworth’s by Ridgway Potteries, Mr Casey’s book is not just an exercise in "Do people really collect those?", but

also an excuse for the people who do to carry on regardless.

After all, no one was harmed in the process of calling objects made yesterday antiques and collectables (except of course the uninitiated). If you buy or sell 20th century pottery at antiques fairs, fleamarkets or car boot sales, then this book should be your bible.

For example, did you know that there are collectors who would kill for a rare piece of Roland Rat gift ware pottery? No, me neither.

To the purist, such as BBC Antiques Roadshow specialist and much loved character Henry Sandon, who wrote the foreword to the book, it is something of anathema to learn that 20th century ceramics are among the fastest growing field of collecting. But it’s true, and we’ll have to live with it.

Having watched a sale last week in which a collection of Beswick farm animals made eye-watering prices, it seems today’s collectors are more interested in kitsch than they are in fine Georgian silver or antique furniture.

As Mr Casey points out, the market for "collectables" — the preferred phrase for 20th century items rather than "antiques — has blossomed over the last 20 years, egged on by television programmes and Internet auctions.

Now, the stuff chucked out by our parents or blown to smithereens in the Blitz is the new Meissen, Chelsea and Bow.

Starting to Collect 20th Century Ceramics is a compendium of manufacturers in Britain, Europe and America. Many of the names are old favourites but there are plenty whom collectors have yet to focus and capitalise upon.

Take William Adams Ltd. The Adams family started manufacturing pottery in 1779 in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent. In the 20th century, the firm produced a wide variety of tea, coffee and dinner wares that are highly collectable.

Ironically however, despite a strong interest in Susie Cooper pottery, the Meadowlands and Inspiration patterns she designed for Adams in circa 1983-84 have yet to be recognised and as such might be useful investment.

Or Barretts of Staffordshire Ltd. A relatively unknown pottery, Barretts was once owned by Great Universal Stores but subsequently the subject of a management buy-out in 1986.

In 1992, Barretts purchased the Royal Stafford company in receivership and the following year the companies were amalgamated to become known as Royal Stafford Tableware, who produced exclusive high-end dinner services for such stores as Ralph Lauren. The products are another one to watch.

Pottery by John Beswick Ltd is already priced beyond the reach of most but in contrast, the firm of E. Brain and Co was formed in 1855 at the Foley Works in Fenton, Stoke-On-Trent.

Foley’s bone china was the tableware of choice for the upper middle classes, but Andrew Casey advises collectors to look out for the small range of Brain fancies such as dishes from the late 1950s decorated with a whimsical images by Maureen Tanner.

Several pages of the book concentrate on the aforementioned Susie Cooper wares and it is clear there is mileage in the old girl yet.

The author suggests collectors keep a lookout for her Curlew shapes, the Art Deco designs from the early 30s such as Seagull, Panorama and Homestead and her Leaping Deer and Angel Fish figural table centres reissued by Wedgwood in 2002.

The Bourne family established the famous pottery in Denby, Derbyshire, in 1809 when they produced salt-glaze stoneware.

In the 1960s, every trendy home had a Denby dinner service but Andrew Casey advises collectors to seek their kitchenware such as Cottage Blue and Manor Green designed by Donald Gilbert in the 1930s.

Collectors are apparently also particularly keen on the rare designs and patterns such as the Cheviot Wares from 1956.

Even Royal Crown Derby, one of this country’s most significant and enduring companies has its collectables.

Founded in 1876, Derby competed with some of the finest English and Continental porcelain manufacturers and in 1890 was awarded a Royal warrant by Queen Victoria.

Shunning the traditional, apparently today’s collectors are drawn to the animal and bird paperweights designed by Robert Jefferson in the 1980s and skilfully painted pieces by such artists as Albert Gregory and Cuthbert Gresley.

A.J. Wilkinson Limited is best known today for Clarice Cliff’s Bizarre ware and if you can afford it, you probably don’t need any help from Andrew Casey.

However, for the less well heeled, he recommends collectors should also look out for the less well-known designs by John Butler, whilst American collectors are apparently eager to purchase a traditional landscape printed dinnerware with the Royal Staffordshire mark known as Tonquin.

I could go on … and on, but space precludes it. I recommend you buy the book. It’s a good read and highly informative. It’s also well illustrated with a host of colour photographs which is a real boon to spotting the bargains at car boot sales.

For the ceramics collector interested in new antiques, it would make a cracking Christmas present. Just don’t be too hacked off remembering what was on your dinner table when you were a child.

Starting to Collect 20th Century Ceramics is priced at £14.95. Contact The Antique Collectors’ Club on 01394 389950.

Nowhere is this more pronounced than in Scotland which has a long history of traditional crafts that are highly sought after today, particularly among tourist collectors looking to find objects related to the auld country. Perthshire dealer Becca Gauldie had all the answers.

Treen – the collective term for domestic items made from a tree – is plentiful throughout Scotland which is sometimes surprising, considering the lack of native forests.

Bickers, piggins, luggies and quaichs are all treen bowls made by tinker families, many of whom travelled around the country selling their wares from door to door. A bicker is a two-handled small, straight-sided bowl with flat handles. A piggin is similar but with upright handles, while a luggie is slightly larger and with one splayed upright handle. ll have an intricate “feathered” construction which picks them out as being Scottish.

A quaich is the smallest and best known bowl with two or more handles used for drinking whisky. Although most of these objects were made from native holly and sycamore, quaichs were also made in metal, silver and other materials. The decorative feathering process refers to a method of coopering that involved overlaying tiny slivers of wood in the staves to use as joints. When damp, the wood swells making the bowl watertight.

Willow lathies were bound around the outside of the vessel to keep the object together, in case it should dry out. Sadly, many of these have fallen apart when they were no longer in use, usually as a result of central heating. All these items vary dramatically in price according to their size, but collectors should expect to pay upwards of £180, depending on the complexity of the design and condition of the article.

If you fancy collecting something made by the travellers but can’t afford drinking vessels, then pegs and baskets offer still excellent value. They were one of the last traditional crafts to survive and were sold from door to door up to the 1950s. Pegs are beautifully made and make attractive paperclips, while the baskets are stronger and more durable than their modern day alternatives.

Beautifully turned elm dairy bowls and deeply carved butter stamps, made from the 18th century through to the early 20th century, are also highly desirable. While many butter stamps typically feature the carved outline of a cow or a thistle as part of the stamp, it is also possible to find examples carved with the name of a farm. These are of particular interest to collectors since they relate directly to one place and are undoubtedly unique.

Another particularly Scottish kitchen article is the spirtle, the unusually long-handled stick for stirring porridge. Fine examples often have a finial in the shape of a thistle and but a plain one can be picked up for under £15. They look good in a kitchen jar and, according to Becca Gauldie, are also good for stirring spaghetti!

Perthshire and Angus are renowned for their Laburnum furniture and table treen. This is usually characterised by extreme tones of light and dark in the same piece of wood, originally caused by the damp or dry conditions in which the wood was grown. Laburnum is not a wood used to any extent elsewhere in Britain and so is particularly interesting to collectors of Scottish pieces.

Also commonly found in a farmhouse kitchen is the candle box. Usually made of Scots Fir and wall mounted, they feature varying levels of decoration, from Celtic motifs, biblical quotes to animal figures. Quite often candle boxes finished in what is called a buttermilk stain, a shiny brown finish of several layers of different coloured paints. Although they vary dramatically in price, a plain painted candle box will sell for around £90.

It is impossible to ignore one item of treen that is not native to Scotland but was commonly found in cottages throughout the fishing areas that it has become very much a part of the Scots heritage. Brightly decorated ‘Riga’ ware was brought to the Orkneys and Shetland Isles by the Baltic fishermen and traded for illegally distilled whisky with their Highland neighbours. Riga ware is made from feather light Baltic pine and, with its deep and brightly coloured traditional decoration, is quite different from anything made in Scotland.

Until quite recently it was a common sight on the windowsills of cottages in many seaside villages. Riga ware has become scarce in the last 10 years and yet it still compares favourably in price with Scottish treen, a small bowl selling for around £10, while a spectacular piece would cost at least £400.

A famous character in the development of Scottish folk art is the Blind Man of Ayrshire, a homeless individual who travelled the area in the mid 19th century and whose carvings of ladles, plaques and wonderful three dimensional integral hinge snuff boxes are without comparison. The depth of his carving is attributed to the fact that he was blind and carved entirely by touch. His scenes are often drawn from the work of Robert Burns – depicting figures dancing and drinking with sheep or hounds in attendance.

Most cottages homes across the UK would have a hanging dresser, or plate rack, made by a local craftsman. Scottish examples usually have a bar across the front to allow the plates to lean forwards, which saves a little in height for cottages with low ceilings.

Increasingly sought after today and very hard to find, they look particularly attractive when adorned with the typical Scottish spongeware cottage pottery.

Bowls, mugs, plates and jugs, hand-decorated with images of animals, flowers, mottoes, butterflies, shells and native birds applied by the deft application of coloured slip with a sponge are collected across the world.

Competition for the best examples is always fierce among collectors. However, there are many mass produced modern copies, but they have none of the charm of the original pieces, and are easy to spot.

Condition is almost unimportant. Since these items were in constant use, undamaged pieces are hard to find and many collectors are happy to accept a little wear and tear.

A simple sponged porringer (porridge bowl) in good condition will cost upwards of £60.

Horn and bone items are also strongly characteristic of Scotland.

Snuff boxes carved with images of fish, snuff mulls decorated with elaborate carving and with Cairngorm finials, powder horns with scrimshaw decoration, ladles for punch and snuff, and spoons for porridge are all very much a part of the Scots heritage.

It is also possible to find intricately carved snuff boxes made from Baleen ivory, a by-product of the whaling industry.

Look out for the beautiful little ladles for reaching into tobacconists’ jars and pierced spoons made from mutton bone and designed for taking snuff.

A simple horn spoon can still be bought for about £10. Snuff boxes of simple design cost from about £50, although snuff mulls command higher prices from around £250 upwards, depending on their quality.

Scotland is particularly known for its wonderful patchwork quilts, made in traditional Scottish patterns, sometimes with pieces of old tartan plaid.

Rag or ‘hookie’ rugs, made from scraps of worn clothing or left over material, often in unusually bright colours and patterns, are also sought after. They make an ideal addition to the home lying in front of the hearth and a roaring fire.

Look out too for bannock turners and toasters, (for baking oatcakes in front of the fire), made by blacksmiths.

Local craftsmen made elaborate wirework garden furniture, unique stone items such as the very unusual Scottish garden watchstands, and cheese presses. They were the same craftsmen who made gravestones in Perthshire and Angus.

And Becca Gauldie’s advice for new collectors? Buy while you still can – there isn’t a limitless supply of good folk art and the best pieces are too often snapped up by overseas buyers happy to cash in on the fact that Folk Art from the British Isles is less expensive than their own.

antiques@chris-proudlove.co.uk

Pictures show
A selection of Scottish treen which Becca Gauldie has for sale

Distinctive spongeware pottery, unique to Scotland. Note the carpet bowls, much loved souvenirs of Victorian tourists

Charmingly naïve Scottish scrimshaw, in the form of a beaker and a decorative powder flask

The Victorians loved the wirework garden chairs and flower planters made by craftsmen north of the border.

It surprised even the auctioneers, who were expecting winning bids of around £10,000, not a new world record auction price. Interestingly enough, I once watched one sell for £90. Who told you antiques weren’t a good investment?

That said, you should probably not buy this stuff to make money.

Fashion being what it is, the gaudy, cabbage rose-bedecked pottery made from the late 19th century onwards at the Fife Pottery in the Gallatown district of Kirkcaldy is most definitely an acquired taste.

Buy it by all means, but only if you love it. There is no guarantee the price spiral it has enjoyed in recent years can continue.

The pottery is known as Wemyss Ware (say it like Weems) and the late Queen Mother was among a great number of collectors whose eagerness to own examples of it sent prices skyward.

There was a time when little was known about Wemyss Ware but the fact that there are a handful of original Fife Pottery employees still alive has aided research and fuelled interest yet higher.

The Fife Pottery was established in 1817, largely with the aid of a substantial loan from a Glasgow bank.

Output was simple domestic pottery for the home market that had very little to commend it, apart, perhaps, from the fact that it was cheap.

Cheap (and better) pottery could be obtained from a hundred other sources, though, and saddled with crippling interest charges on the bank loan, the business went bankrupt after only 10 years.

The pottery changed hands in 1827, the new owner taking on the debts with his acquisition and it was not until 58 years later that the original loan was repaid.

The turnaround was achieved by Robert Heron, grandson of the new owner, who steered the company away from cheap dross for the domestic market, towards more stylish and sophisticated wares decorated by hand rather than uninspiring transfer printing.

He produced teapots, cheese dishes, milk jugs and other tableware intended for exactly the same market as before, but at prices that provided greater profit margins and the chance to extend the product range.

Wemyss Ware was Heron’s inspiration. Early in the 1880s, he imported Bohemian immigrant ceramic painters to Kirkcaldy, enticing them to the cold and bleak Highlands with handsome salaries.

Few stayed long, with the exception of one Karel Nekola, a gifted ceramic artist with a vivid talent and an exceptional creative talent.

Fortunately for Heron, Nekola took a shine to his boss’s cook and the couple married and settled in the area.

Nekola’s unique painting skills made their mark in the factory’s decorating shop immediately and soon, the local decorators working there began to follow his style.

Outsize flowers, fruit and farmyard animals all painted in the strongest colours began to appear on everything produced by the factory, to be snapped up by an eager public keen to own something new and different.

Meanwhile, Heron began to take stock of the product range, axing anything that was difficult or costly to produce.

Instead, he concentrated on simple bedroom and domestic ware such as inkwells, candlesticks, jug and basin sets, early morning tea sets, biscuit and jam jars.

It is exactly these objects that today’s collectors covet most and prices have risen many fold over the last decade or so.

Unfortunately, what Heron failed to correct was the ability to successfully fuse brilliant coloured glazes on to hard-fired earthenware.

The high temperatures required for tough earthenware pots caused the underglaze colours to burn and fade.

Heron responded in the only way he knew how: by reducing the heat and firing the Wemyss Ware in the coldest areas of the kilns.

This resulted in pottery with an underfired, easily damaged body that was simply unable to stand up to the rigours of domestic life.

It was a risk calculated to be offset by the appeal of the strong, fresh colours and designs Nekola and his fellow painters could achieve in the decorating shop.

This has proved to be a double-edged sword for today’s collectors.

Pieces survive with colours still as brilliant as the day they were potted. However damage such as rim chips, broken handles and hairline cracks is rife, and restoration is both costly and tricky.

Consequently, prices for perfect examples of Wemyss have spiralled faster and higher than they might if the ware had been made in harder, stronger body that might have permitted more pieces to survive intact.

Robert Heron died in 1907. Wemyss Ware had its heyday from about 1885-1914, the Great War and increased sophistication among customers sounding its twin death knells.

Improved plumbing meant jugs and bowls were no longer needed in bedrooms; electricity killed off the need for candlesticks in every room and servants to carrying up the morning tea became a thing of the past.

Coupled to this was the dawning of the Art Deco era in which pretty Wemyss had no place, while Wemyss could not compete with a flood of cheap china imported from overseas.

The General Strike of 1926 marked the beginning of the end for the Fife Pottery which finally closed in 1930.

Renewed interest in antiques and collecting over the last 20 or so years has seen a staggering rise in the value of Wemyss Ware.

There was a time when pieces could be picked up in jumble sales and junk shops for a few shillings apiece.

Nowadays, international fine art auctioneers stage sales devoted solely to the ware and a number of dealers specialise in it to the exclusion of everything else.

And the more outrageous the designs and colour schemes, the more valuable the pieces become.

The sleeping pig decorated with roses, shamrock or clover leaves, is arguably the rarest and, for well-heeled, collectors most desirable of all Wemyss ware pieces.

She was produced for the nursery, sometimes with a slot in her back as a money box, and bigger ones as doorstops, while others were made to order and personalised with a child’s name and birthdate.

More scarce are sleeping piglets intended as paper weights, while families of cats, spotted, tabby or others up to their necks in the same cabbage roses that decorate other Wemyss pots are also highly sought after.

Wemyss Ware was named after the nearby cliff top castle home of the Wemyss family. It is rare today owing to its extreme fragility, the result of being fired at extremely low temperatures. This was necessary to produce a ‘biscuit’ body that would absorb the vibrant colours applied by the most delicate of brush strokes. After decoration, it was dipped into soft lead glaze and fired again, also at low temperatures, to further enhance the brilliant colours.

antiques@chris-prouldove.co.uk

Pictures show:

The rare early 20th century sleeping pigs, one decorated with cabbage roses, the other with two apples on a branch, which each sold for a world record £34,800.

When the Wemyss factory closed in 1930, the rights and moulds were purchased by the Bovey Tracey Pottery in Devon who employed Nekola’s son, Joseph, to continue to paint traditional Wemyss Ware until his death from diabetes in 1952. This rare seated cat, with its manic grin and green glass eyes, was painted by Joe Nekola and is worth £2,500-3,500

A trio of Wemyss bowls and jugs dating from the turn of the century and each worth around £1,000 (Photos: Sotheby’s)

Love them or hate them, the little things are everywhere and again like Whimsies, children love them.

Actually, although PenDelfin is best known for its rabbits, it’s the rare earlier wares made by the company that are most sought after by today’s collectors. But we’ll come to them in a moment.

The story of how PenDelfin came into existence is a romantic one. The company was formed in 1953 in the shadow of Pendle Hill, just outside Burnley, in Lancashire.

Its founders were Jeannie Todd and Jean Walmsley Heap, who first met at an exhibition of paintings being staged by Burnley Artists’ Society. The two worked together at a building society in Burnley. They became close friends and decided to go into business.

Pendle is perhaps best known for its famous witches. The historians among us will know that King James I, who hated witches, wrote a book about how dangerous witchcraft was and stirred up hatred among the populace to the point where no one was safe.

In Pendle, a young beggar woman accused of witchcraft had done nothing more than ask for some pins from the pedlar. He refused and she cursed him, whereupon sometime later he fell ill.

He later accused the woman of bewitching him and the ensuing investigation brought 19 more suspected witches to the courts. One was found innocent, the rest were hanged and Pendle passed into history.

The first piece made by Jeannie and Jean was a deep relief wall plaque, called the Pendle Witch, suitably modelled as an old hag complete with cat on her shoulder riding a flying broom stick across a full moon. She became the company logo.

PenDelfin was born, the name coming from Pendle and the elfin-like figures the company produced, and the two women never looked back.

Each contributed £5 as working capital and with the garden shed as company HQ, the entrepreneurs began by making Christmas gifts for friends. Jean modelled the figures from clay and Jeannie boiled rubber on the kitchen cooker to make moulds.

Soon the hobby became a full-time business. In 1954, Doreen Noel Roberts joined the company and the foundations of the design team – JWH and DNR – were in place.

The family of mischievous rabbits first appeared the following year. Father Rabbit was first and production continues to the present day creating a steady stream of attractive and highly collectable creations that were soon sitting on mantelshelves and in bedrooms around the world.

As more and more rabbits were introduced to the family, and demand increased, the company bought Cameron Mill, in Burnley, where production continues today.

The models are made from a durable stone-based compound which is the ideal medium for reproducing the sharply detailed features of the various characters.

Each rabbit figure is produced entirely by hand by skilled workers and each is hand-painted by specially trained artists capable of the shading, tinting and highlighting demanded by the designers.

A final coat of varnish is applied and only after strict quality control are the models packaged in their familiar turquoise and black boxes and dispatched internationally, more than a thousand flying out of the door every week.

Of course, it is those models that have ceased production which today’s collectors crave. For example, if you can find one, the Pendle Witch plaque changes hands today for £800 or more.

Rare, early wares included nursery rhyme characters, ducks, Romeo and Juliet plaques (one of these has sold for as much as £2,200) and Manx kittens.

Interestingly, the kittens started life with a tail and were in production between 1956 and 1958. However, the tails were prone to been broken off, so the moulds were altered and the Manx kitten was created instead.

The kittens were made in only a short production run and only small numbers survive. An example coming up for auction today would have an estimate of £1,500 to £2,000.

Another rarity is the Aunt Agatha figure, produced for only two years between 1963 and 1965, which is also worth more than £1,000.

However, it is the PenDelfin rabbits that melt collectors’ hearts most. Father Rabbit appeared in 1955 and today is worth between £700 and £1,000.

He stands about eight inches in height and has large ears and the bottom to match. He wears dungarees and as a result, collectors refer to him as Dungaree Father.

His wife, Mother Rabbit, appeared in 1956 and the two began to breed, well, like rabbits! Children Robert, Margot and Midge appeared within a year but it was all too much for Dungaree Father.

He had a tendency to fall over because of his large bottom, so in 1960, he was remodelled and took the name of Kipper Tie Father. Not surprisingly, this was the result of his particularly eye-catching neckwear.

Kipper Tie Father was “retired” in 1970 and the Father figure was not seen again for another seven years. A third version of Father followed, the figure wearing a frill shirt and carrying a walking cane. He is worth up to £400 today.

Car boot sale collectors should also keep their eyes out for Cha Cha, introduced in 1959 and retired in 1961, and Aunt Agatha, introduced in 1963 and retired in 1965. Both of these can fetch £700 or more.

It is these retired, or withdrawn from production, figures that make them potential investments. The same could be said for the figures painted in varying colourways.

Like Royal Doulton collectors, buyers of PenDelfin bunnies set great store by seeking out the different and the unusual. Uncle Soames, for example, is among the most collectable of rabbits because of the numerous ways in which his outfits are painted.

In the earlier examples, his cravat and waistcoat were in brown and black respectively, but when the ladies who hand-painted him were given a free hand, he was turned out in all sorts of bright colours and various designs.

The diligent collector might enjoy searching out all the various combinations, but since he remained in production from 1959 until 1985, it might take him or her many years.

At auction, he can fetch anywhere from £80 to £250 depending on the colourway. Find an example with brown trousers and he could be an early example worth up to £500.

Megan the Harp (1961-67) and Squeezy (1960-70) are also worth picking up, given that they can fetch £100 or more.

Not surprisingly, there is an international collectors’ club devoted to the figures. The so-called PenDelfin Family Circle was founded in 1992. Membership costs £20 a year and includes a free exclusive members’ model and three issues of PenDelfin Times.

Few auction houses hold sales devoted entirely to PenDelfin products. One exception is Potteries Specialist Auctions who are based at 271 Waterloo Road, Cobridge, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs (01782-286622).

antiques@chris-proudlove.co.uk

Each child clutched a £2 coin – either pocket money or perhaps a bribe, I thought, so their parents could spend unhurried time of their own at the fair on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Fortunately their mother was a patient woman too. The girls were spoilt for choice and the process took a good 10 minutes while each potential purchase was handled and inspected for its suitability.

And amazingly, when they finally handed over their cash, each child got 50 pence change!

Here were two budding collectors in the making. The objects of their desire? A tray of Wade Whimsies – porcelain animal models small enough to fit into children’s hands and the perfect collection where space and money are tight.

Don’t be fooled though. These mass-produced fripperies of the fancy ceramics market are big business.

There’s an international collectors’ club for Wade Whimsies and some examples, particularly the early sets, change hands for big bucks (which is a hint as to where that happens most).

The first Whimsies appeared in 1954, introduced by George Wade at the British Industries Fair of that year.

At the time, the pottery manufacturers in Stoke-on-Trent were still struggling from the restrictions on production imposed during the Second World War.

Manufacturer of all non-essential ceramic items had ceased and production of domestic china was limited to plain, undecorated dinnerware and teapots.

The restrictions were not lifted completely until August 1952 and Wade, in line with its competitors, struggled to keep the factory in production.

The little animal figures were among a number of new product lines dreamed up by designer Iris Carryer and so called after they were described as “whimsical” by Wade’s secetary.

Although not aimed directly at children, the endearing little figures – the largest measured just over two inches in height – had a toy-like quality which was not lost on the company.

The first were introduced in a boxed set of five and cost 5/9 (29 pence). It included a leaping fawn, a horse, a spaniel with a ball, a poodle and a squirrel.

In 1953, Wade established a giftware factory in Portadown, Northern Ireland and the company took it in turns to produce subsequent boxed sets of Whimsies.

Competition between the two factories maintained the quality of the early sets until 1959, when the 10th and final boxed set was produced in Portadown.

Whimsies continued to be made in the 1960s but not for the retail market. Instead, they were packaged as giveaways intended to promote the sales of various often unrelated products made by other manufacturers – the so-called premiums market.

As such the little animals became “one free in every box” of tea bags or whatever.

Many were also the prizes inside several brands of Christmas crackers – the source of many of today’s collectable examples.

Their popularity was such that in 1971, Wade introduced a second set of 60 Whimsies to be sold individually in their own boxes.

For the collector prepared to pay a small premium, the 60 were divided into 12 sets of five and it was still possible to buy each of the sets in a display box, issued regularly until 1980.

Production ceased in 1984, although it continues today in the form of one-off commissions for advertising and promotional giveaways, notably in the U.S.

Red Rose have given away Whimsies with their packets of tea since 1967 in Canada and the promotion was extended to the U.S. in 1983 and is still going strong today.

Whimsies are collected for their quirky charm, not the quality of manufacture!

Because of massive production runs, there are many variations in seemingly identical models but all with minor changes. This is because moulds became worn over time and were then retooled, giving slightly different results.

Later models are less well defined than earlier productions and colours, which were soft, pastel, more varied and hand-painted are uniform and less realistic.

Place a 1950s Whimsie alongside a late example and the difference is striking.

Quality aside, the great thing about Whimsies is that there’s a range to suit all tastes: they include cats, dogs, birds, sea life, snow animals, pets, wildlife, farm animals, dinosaurs, nursery rhyme characters, circus figures, miniature houses, leprechauns, monks and even Disney animals.

Most collectors’ fairs have at least one stall selling Whimsies and prices start at £1.

Early figures usually sell at a premium of up to 10 times a later more common example and prices are generally rising.

Boxed sets in mint condition are sought after and can fetch £200 or more depending on age.

The early Shire Horse or Swan are among the rarest of all Whimsies, so watch out for them at your next boot sale.

And a brief word about displaying your collection: nothing sets them off better than the wooden cases used by printers in the days of hand-set metal type.

Now largely redundant, the cases, or trays, contain lots of small compartments which are just the right size for a Whimsie in each.

Hang the case on the wall and you have an instant shadow box that might have been made for the purpose. They turn up in auctions and collectors’ fairs for £10-20 apiece.

Separate piece
George Wade’s factory can trace its origins to the Henry Hallen Pottery founded in 1810 near Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.

At the beginning of the 19th century, an enterprising furniture maker, John Wade from Crewe, set up business in Burslem and was joined by his sons who later diversified into the manufacture of pottery.

In 1867, Joseph Wade and his business partner, Thomas Myatt, opened a potbank in Hall Street opposite to Hallen’s, but the venture was not a success.

However, the business was rescued by Joseph’s uncle, George Wade, who went into direct competition with the well-established Hallens.

Ultimately, he bought out his competitor in 1905, virtually cornering the industrial ceramics market.

Wade called the Hallens potbank the Manchester Works to reflect the glory days of the Hallen’s own Lancashire Works but it was renamed the Greenhead Works in the 1950s when it became specialists in tableware production.

In 1919, son George Albert joined George Wade, the firm becoming George Wade and Son Ltd.

Brothers Albert and William Wade joined brother George and his son and the firm became The Wade Group of Potteries Ltd in 1958, later to be changed again to Wade PLC.

Wade (Ulster) Ltd founded in 1947 in Portadown, Northern Ireland was changed in 1966 to Wade Ireland Ltd.

With the death of George Wade and his son, the company was sold and became Wade Ceramics Limited under Beauford PLC. Wade Ireland was later renamed Seagoe Ceramics.

The company continues today as simply Wade.

Picture shows Wonderful Whimsies: boxed sets of five like this from the 1950s are highly prized by collectors who are prepared to pay upwards of £200 for mint examples

What do you do when you find an antique and need to get it identified? There used to be three choices: take it to a museum, a dealer, or an auction house and ask each in turn for an opinion.

The third choice is probably the best course of action because the first might be able to identify it but would be unable (or unwilling) to give you a value, while the second might be able to identify it but could give you a misleading price in the hope that you’ll sell it cheap.

Now there’s a new choice: ask online, which is what I’m doing here, because I genuinely have no idea who made this hand-painted pottery vase, or what it’s worth. I bought it at a car boot sale for very little.

Clearly, it’s a quality piece with some age – I’d say mid-Victorian. It’s seen better days, though: one handle has been broken (not too expensive to have restored) and the gilding is badly worn. However, the flowers are beautifully painted and the foot is particularly interesting because it is decorated with a fish-scale pattern in deep pink. It measures 26 cms in height and I like it very much.

I just wish I knew which factory made it, who decorated it and what it’s worth. All suggestions gratefully appreciated.

by Christopher Proudlove©
In the post preceding this I wrote about porcelain decorated with magical images made at the Minton factory by French émigré Louis Solon. But that’s only half the story. Louis had a son, Leon, born in Stoke-on-Trent, so he had china clay in his blood. Léon’s innovations earned him his own place in the history of English ceramics. He was responsible for producing the remarkable porcelain plaques illustrated here, but he will be remembered best for his introduction to the Minton factory of so-called Secessionist Ware.

You will recall that Solon the elder had trained at the Sèvres factory in France, where he perfected the pâte-sur-pâte technique. Literally “paste on paste”, this involved building up layer after layer of white slip clay to produce decoration with a unique cameo-effect on objects such as vases, tiles and wall plaques. His arrival at Minton revived the company’s fortunes. Louis also married wisely, choosing Maria, the daughter of Leon Arnoux, Minton’s art director and regarded by many as “the man who made Minton”. The couple had eight sons and one daughter.

The first born, Léon Albert Victor Solon (1872-1957) was no less gifted than his father, the objects illustrated here bearing testament to his genius. Solon the younger trained at the Hanley and Kensington Schools of Art and joined Minton in 1895, rising to become head of the firm’s Art Nouveau department. Minton was quick to adopt the Art Nouveau style and when Léon’s designs were published by the design magazine The Studio while he was still a student, Minton were equally quick to offer him a job.

The development of the Art Nouveau movement as it spread across Europe was shaped in part by a group of rebel Viennese artists who had turned their backs on the Establishment. Vienna in the last quarter of the 19th century was a city of divisions: the rich enjoyed a lavish lifestyle of society balls and extravagance, while the poor struggled with a housing shortage, hunger and misery. The city’s young intellectuals, the artists, writers and scientists, looked to the new century for a new beginning.

For its artists, it came with the founding of a new society – the Secession – which, unlike Vienna’s long standing traditional Society of Artists, was intended to raise concern for art in the city and promote contact with artists abroad. It was founded by Gustav Klimt, Kolo Moser, Josef Hoffmann and Joseph Maria Olbrich. They decided to form their own exhibiting society and to publish a magazine called Ver Sacrum – the Sacred Spring. The first exhibition was held in the spring of 1898 with already a sizeable contribution from foreign artists, including some from Britain – “corresponding members of the Secession” as they were called. In 1900, for example, Scottish designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh and members of his circle exhibited at the society’s eighth show.

At the same time Minton was casting around for new ideas and with this European roots, Léon was eager to contribute. His first designs in 1898 were based on the principles of the Viennese movement and named Secessionist ware, underlining the Secession Movement’s impact even in North Staffordshire.

In 1901, Léon was joined at Minton by John Wadsworth and together they introduced many highly original designs to the Secessionist range. Shapes for the ornamental range of vases included inverted trumpets, elongated cylinders and exaggerated bottle forms, although tableware shapes remained conventional.

The complete Secessionist range comprised useful as well as ornamental wares including cheese dishes, plates, teapots, jugs and comports. Collectors today covet in particular the large jardinières, specially if their matching pedestal stands are complete and undamaged.

Initially patterns were accurate portrayals of themes from nature – flowers, birds and figures – but under the joint influence of Solon and Wadsworth, the natural sources were exaggerated and even distorted when the convoluted plant forms and floral motifs reach a peak of fantasy around the turn of the century.

Léon left Minton in 1905 and emigrated to America. The subsequent designs, the work of John Wadsworth alone, were well-defined, yet simplified abstract forms with the occasional use of classical motifs.

The body of the ware was made in cane-coloured earthenware and the surface decoration outlined in relief, either when each piece was cast from the mould or tube-lined. The latter technique involved squeezing a thin layer of liquid clay (slip) through a glass tube by hand on to biscuit (unglazed) ware in a fashion similar to icing a cake. The brightly coloured lead glazes were then painted within these outlines. Occasionally, a block-print would be used to produce a background effect, usually taking the form of foliage, and would form an integral part of the design.

One of the most visually stunning patterns on Secessionist ware features the so-called “Glasgow rose”. This stylised, angular representation of the flower is probably one of the best known Charles Rennie Mackintosh motifs and it is fascinating to speculate on how Minton brought together Vienna, Glasgow and Stoke in a single piece. The final Minton catalogue for Secessionist ware was produced in 1920 but despite this relatively short production run, considerable quantities were produced. However, its individual hand-made appearance was largely retained and because of the instability of the coloured glazes in use at the time and the methods by which they were applied, firing produced somewhat unpredictable results. The effect of colours intermingling is often seen and imparts a distinctive character to the ware.

Most Secessionist ware is marked “Minton Ltd.” with a distinctive black or green printed backstamp in swirling Art Nouveau style. When unmarked, “Mintons” can usually be found impressed into the clay. Impressed cyphers correspond to a year code by which a piece can be dated. Incised numbers of four digits identify the Minton shapes, while printed numbers denote the design sequence. Painted letters denote the various colour combinations used.

Pictures show, top: An extremely fine Minton porcelain plaque in multi colours depicting a bonneted lady in a long dress semi-kneeling at a shrine with a young seated angelic girl on a pillar and with an imaginary riverside townscape in the background, signed by Leon V. Solon. It sold for £1700. Below that is a Minton porcelain plaque depicting a lady in a long flowing dress kneeling at prayer, signed by Leon V Solon, 10.5 x 8 ins in a gilt frame. It sold for £1300

Below, left: These two Secessionist circular pottery plates, together with a similar square shallow dish sold for £240 in a recent auction of Minton ceramics

Right: The cover of Minton’s 1902 catalogue of Secessionist Ware

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