During the '70s one could barely give it away and now the best pieces can make £5000-7000. While collectors were not as impressed by the quality of the 10 lots consigned by a retired Telford collector to the Shrewsbury salerooms of Halls on March 7, the fairly punchy estimates were mostly met and only one lot failed to sell. Considered by far the most valuable entry was also the earliest and most unusually glazed example of Ruskinware in the collection - this 10in (25cm) speckled green, black and turquoise vase, right, which had been high fired in 1908. Estimated at £400-600, it sold at £1800.
Other notable pieces included an 111/2in (29cm) high-fired trumpet vase of 1932 in mottled tones of oxblood, purple and lavender with green speckled inclusions bearing the incised signature of William Howson Taylor (who founded the factory at Smethwick in 1898) which went a little below hopes at £750, a squat globular vase of 1933 in similar glazes with Taylor's signature, 51/2in (14cm) high, which took £600 and a flared planter in matt blue and coffee coloured glazes, impressed Ruskin, England 1931,
10in (25.4cm) diameter, which made £400.
Ruskinware maintains momentum
The Oriental glazes of the Midlands Arts and Crafts pottery known as Ruskinware have proved remarkably popular in the past year, as the disposal of the Wade collection at Sotheby’s and the Birkett Collection at Bonhams took prices in this market to unprecedented levels.
