Ceramics

Ceramics are among the most frequently collected antiques. Items made from earthernware (pottery) or porcelain (hard or soft paste) can serve functional roles such as tablewares, serving implements, vases and jugs or as ornaments, especially figures.

They usually have some form of decoration, either painted or transfer-printed, that is covered in transparent or coloured glaze. Ceramics are often catalogued by the name of their manufacturer or factory such as Meissen, Worcester, Doulton, Wedgwood and Sèvres.


Imperial gifts – from Meissen to Wedgwood

29 January 2002

The 102 lots of European ceramics that rounded off Christie’s (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) December 13 furnishing sale at King Street had, despite a degree of softness to the Meissen market, a generally high take-up for that factory, with 18 of the 25 lots of tablewares and figures changing hands and some strong individual results.

Magic fountains, Picasso’s pottery and wetting the Dauphin’s head – Sèvres-style

23 January 2002

FRANCE: A gilded and bleu céleste Louis XVI Sèvres cup and saucer, right, 51/2in (14cm) tall and known as the Gobelet Dauphin, sold over estimate for Fr260,000 (£24,800) at Piasa in Paris on December 7.

Minton boxed – Doulton sell museum collection

15 January 2002

Bonhams are to sell the impressive collection of Minton ceramics from the Minton Museum, Stoke-on-Trent in their New Bond Street rooms this year. The collection will be dispersed in two instalments, with the first 400-lot dispersal scheduled for April 30.

Beilby and Berlin bring dealers over border

09 January 2002

This Edinburgh sale of ceramics and glass on 30 November was notably well attended from the South of England, with dealers from London, Nottingham and Gloucestershire on the floor of the saleroom.

Trade warned to be on the look-out for fake Doulton

07 January 2002

TRADING Standards officers have issued a warning to the trade to be on the alert for fake Royal Doulton. Several pieces have come to light over the past few months, including Lambeth Ware.

Seeing through the differences in glass

19 December 2001

The more collectable the antique, the greater difference small details make to the final price. This general rule may explain the contrasting prices on these two glass bowls, all but identical in date, c.1800, form and origin, Cork or Waterford.

Cavalier leads opening action

13 December 2001

The inaugural specialist sale of some 350 character jugs at the Stoke on Trent ceramics auctioneers Potteries Specialist Auction (12.5% buyer’s premium) on November 17 was, said the auctioneers, a great success with specialist UK dealers and collectors flocking to the Cobridge rooms.

William Billingsley painted campana vase

13 December 2001

This unrecorded, William Billingsley painted campana vase appeared at Woolley and Wallis’s sale in Salisbury on November 28, and not without great controversy.

George Jones and Royal Worcester in keen demand

13 December 2001

George Jones majolica continues to be extraordinarily popular with buyers, both trade and private. Some damage to a George Jones cheese dish and cover offered in Birmingham at Biddle & Webb saw it estimated at £300-500 so it came as rather a surprise when it soared above this.

Bath tile with all the qualities to justify a £6000 pricetag…

05 December 2001

Two weeks after Christie’s and Bonhams’ Knightsbridge sales, Bonhams’ (15/10% buyer’s premium) offered a small 110-lot selection of antiquities along with a dozen lots of icons in their Bond Street rooms on November 27.

If These Pots Could Talk: Collecting 2000 Years of British Household Pottery

28 November 2001

If These Pots Could Talk: Collecting 2000 Years of British Household Pottery, by Ivor Noël Hume, published by the Chipstone Foundation, Milwaukee, US/University Press of New England, US. ISBN 158465161 £46hb To order in UK contact University Press Marketing on 01235 766662/ email: upm@wantage@compuserve.com

Spotlight falls on Circus range

21 November 2001

WILKINSON’S/ CLARICE CLIFF: One might have expected Clarice Cliff pottery, with its very large UK collecting base, to be one of the areas of the market more resistant to economic concerns or the lack of confidence triggered by America’s low buying profile. But the jittery mood seems to have rubbed on the two most recent auctions to feature large quantities of Clarice material: that held by Christie’s South Kensington on November 2 and the Applied Arts sale at Sotheby’s Olympia.

Teapot enthusiasts are catered for at two sales

21 November 2001

Like tea caddies in furniture sales, teapots have their own following in ceramics sales like the one at Phillips Leeds, where the 51/2in (14cm) Minton majolica Japanese Actor model, above right, date-coded 1874, made a within-estimate £1100 which took into account some damage to finial and spout.

When tea sets are to silver trade’s taste

31 October 2001

As every silver dealer knows, the value of standard Victorian three-piece tea sets has gone down, not up, over the past decade. But introduce a fashionable style to the casting, and the price will inevitably soar.

Strasbourg faience quells the nightmare

24 October 2001

Sotheby’s (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) move to Olympia was accompanied by a rethink of auction selling categories. Their general ceramic and glass sales have been split into smaller specialised European ceramics, British ceramics and glass auctions each to be held tri-annually at Olympia.

…and one for the pot

22 October 2001

The Artful Teapot by Garth Clark, published by Thames & Hudson. ISBN 050051045 £28 hb

Opposing fortunes for Poole and Carlton Ware

02 October 2001

The September 20 auction of Doulton, Poole and Carlton ware at Christie’s South Kensington (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) was a three-part sale that gave two distinctly different performances.

Meissen silver gilt mounted tankard

02 October 2001

This early Meissen silver gilt mounted tankard painted in the manner of Horoldt was spotted sitting on top of a radiator by auctioneer Mark Law during a routine valuation.

Damage limitations are vanishing as Moorcroft rises

28 September 2001

THE degree of demand for any type of ceramics can be gauged by the amount of damage buyers will tolerate – once it was only the rarest of early pieces where condition was not paramount, then this began to be true of 19th century majolica and now, apparently it is beginning to be the case when it comes to Moorcroft.

Toy story

26 September 2001

Porcelain toys are the tiny versions of tablewares produced by ceramic factories alongside their standard size wares. The earliest 18th century examples, often less than an inch in height, were probably made to furnish dolls’ or baby houses, which were initially playthings for adults rather than children.

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