The Man of Tiles

 

QUESTION: Several years ago while browsing a semi-annual antique show in my are, I came across a beautiful ceramic tile. It wasn’t the kind you with which I might decorate the walls of my bathroom, but it was large and attractive, featuring.... The antiques dealer said it was by William De Morgan. I had never heard of him but purchased the tile anyway. Since then I’ve discovered a few other tiles by De Morgan which I purchased. Can you tell me about him and his work? I understand his work gained prominence at the turn of the 20th century.

ANSWER: William Frend De Morgan was a British potter and tile designer, as well as a   lifelong friend of William Morris, the founder of the Arts & Crafts Movement. He was born in  London, the son of the distinguished mathematician Augustus De Morgan and his highly educated wife Sophia Elizabeth Frend, both of whom supported his desire to become an artist. 

He entered the Royal Academy School at 20 but became disillusioned. He soon met Morris who introduced him to the Pre-Raphaelite circle. Soon De Morgan began experimenting with stained glass. In 1863, he tried his hand at pottery and by 1872 had decided to work only in ceramics.

He designed tiles, stained glass, and furniture for Morris & Company from 1863 to 1872. He based his tile designs on medieval ones, as well as Islamic patterns. This led him to experiment with innovative glazes and firing techniques. His most popular motifs were of fish and galleons, as well as "fantastical" birds and other animals. De Morgan designed many of his tiles to create intricate patterns when laid together.

In 1872, De Morgan set up his own pottery works in Cheyne Row in the Chelsea District of London where he stayed until 1881. It was there that he developed his 'red luster' tiles and vases decorated with rich majolica colors in what he called the Persian style, commonly known as Iznak. Iznak tiles were difficult to come by, but the more provincial Damascus tiles were readily available. However, De Morgan’s early efforts at making his own tiles were of varied technical quality. 

In his early years, De Morgan used blank commercial tiles. He obtained hard and durable biscuit tiles of red clay from the Patent Architectural Pottery Company in Poole. He also purchased dust-pressed tiles of white earthenware from Wedgwood, Minton, and other manufacturers but De Morgan believed these would not withstand frost. He continued to use blank commercial dust-pressed tiles which his workers decorated in red luster. 

But he developed a high-quality biscuit tile of his own, which he admired for its irregularities and better resistance to moisture. His inventive streak led him into complex studies of the chemistry of glazes, methods of firing, and pattern transfer.

De Morgan handpainted his first tiles on Dutch blanks using a pin-prick method. His workers transferred the outline to the tile by pricking the outline of the design through paper, then rubbed charcoal through the holes to mark the edges.

Eventually, De Morgan developed a paper transfer technique. Workers painted each tile design onto a thin piece of paper, often mounted on a glass frame to allow the light to shine through. They then painted the traced outline of the design from a master drawing placing the completed transfer onto the tile's top porcelain layer, then brushed the back with glaze. When fired, the paper burned away, and the remaining ash mixed with the glaze, appearing as tiny specks on the finished tile. The glazed reverse image fused with the tile.

De Morgan especially liked the look of Middle Eastern tiles. Between 1873 and 1874, he rediscovered the technique of lusterware found in Hispano-Moresque pottery and Italian maiolica. His interest in the Middle East tiles influenced his of design and color as well.

As early as 1875, he began to work in earnest with a "Persian" palette: dark blue, turquoise, manganese purple, green, Indian red, and lemon yellow, De Morgan’s study of the motifs of what he called "Persian" ware, today known as 15th and 16th-century Iznak ware, profoundly influenced his style, in which fantastic creatures entwined with rhythmic geometric motifs float under luminous glazes. Fan-shaped flowers and carnations, traditional Persian themes, that often decorated Perisan tiles made their way into De Morgan's designs. 

In 1882, De Morgan move his tileworks to Merton Abbey in south London, beside the Wandle River, where Morris had several large buildings. 

At Merton Abbey, De Morgan produced larger 8-inch and sometimes even 9-inch tiles, in addition to the 6-inch ones he had produced in Chelsea. Some tiles from this period were the green and red luster fantastic animals series. During this time, he developed high gloss glazes for which his tiles became famous. 

De Morgan moved his operation to Fulham in 1888. These tiles had deep backgrounds, with birds and animals, in turquoise and olive to emerald green colors. Also during this time, De Morgan spent his winters in Florence, Italy, for health reasons. He had his designs painted locally on paper, then sent the papers back to London where his workers placed the papers on the tiles, then glazed them, after which the paper burned away during  firing.

De Morgan left his business in the hands of the Passenger brothers and Frank Iles, who had been worked with him for 25 years. He went on to become a successful novelist.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "Lady Luck" in the 2024 Fall Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Enriching the Human Spirit Through Pottery

 

QUESTION: A few years ago, I found several Pewabic ceramic tiles while browsing a local thrift shop. I’m not sure how old they are, but I suspect they’re newer ones, purchased as souvenirs of a visit to the Pewabic Pottery in Detroit. Since the tiles were very attractive, I bought them. However, I don’t know anything about Pewabic tiles. Recently, a friend told me they were by Pewabic. Can you please tell me more about the company? I’d like to buy more of these tiles and possibly start a collection.

ANSWER: Pewabic ceramic tiles have been a popular collectible for many years and are relatively easy to find. The pottery is still producing them, including special ceramic Christmas tree ornaments. 

In 1903, Mary Chase Perry Stratton, an artist and educator, and Horace J. Caulkins, a dental supplier and kiln manufacturer founded Pewabic Pottery in Detroit, Michigan, the same year that Henry Ford established his motor company in the city. Caulkins was considered a high-heat and kiln specialist, and developed the "Revelation kiln". Mary Chase Stratton was "the artistic and marketing force." The collaboration of the two and their blend of art and technology gave the pottery its distinctive qualities as Detroit's contribution to the International Arts and Crafts movement and exemplified the American  Craftsman Style. The pottery became a leader in the Arts & Crafts Movement for its handcrafted pottery and ceramic tiles.

The word Pewabic is derived from the Ojibwa (or Chippewa) word "wabic", which means metal, or "bewabic", which means iron or steel, and specifically referring to the "Pewabic" Upper Peninsula copper mine where Stratton walked with her father. Her workshop was an integral part of America’s Arts and Crafts movement, a backlash against mechanization that began in the late 19th century. In it she fashioned handmade, delicate wares, and was much like Henry Ford’s factory with its assembly-line production. 

Challenged by a friend to replicate a piece of shimmering Babylonian earthenware, Stratton decided to fire her pieces three times, adding a spray of kerosene for the final blast. The oil burst into flames, combusting with the metal oxides in the glaze to create a swirl of metallic colors. By 1909 she had perfected the iridescent glaze and the process of “fuming” that became the studio’s trademark.

The pottery started out in a carriage house in Detroit’s Brush Park neighborhood (pictured). Quickly outgrowing this “Stable Studio,” renowned architect William Buck Stratton was hired to design the pottery studio on Detroit's East Side, which is still in use today. Production moved into this building in 1907.

Demand for Pewabic grew thanks to our stunning iridescent glazes and inspiring architectural tile installations throughout southeast Michigan and across the country. Generations have been enriched by the Pewabic art and tile adorning homes, schools, churches, and public institutions, cementing Pewabic into the rich cultural fabric of Detroit.

Under Mary Stratton's artistic leadership, Pewabic Pottery employees created lamps, vessels, and architectural tiles. Architectural pieces have been a staple in Pewabic's history. They were known for their iridescent (like an oil slick with an incredible translucent quality and a phantasmagoric depth of color) glazes. Architectural tiles were used in churches, concert halls, fountains, libraries, museums, schools and public buildings. The studio's work graces numerous edifices throughout Michigan and the rest of the United States. Noteworthy examples include Herzstein Hall at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Illinois. 

Stratton  oversaw operation of the pottery until her death at the age of 94. She gifted the pottery to Michigan State University in 1965 which used it for its ceramics education program. 

Pewabic tiles have long been in great demand in Detroit and southeastern Michigan for  use in buildings, and they can be found in many of the area's finest structures. 

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Affordable Italian Majolica

 

QUESTION: Recently, I’ve fallen in love with Italian majolica pottery. While some consider it garish, I find the colorful motifs uplifting. The prices I’ve seen for it online seem to be all over the place. But there are some lovely pieces available for around $50. Is this a good item to collect? The styles also seem quite varied. Can you tell me more about its history and about some of the styles?

ANSWER: Compared to English majolica, the Italian versions, for the most part, are still relatively low in price, so therefore, affordable. And as with any other antique or collectible, you should collect what you like, regardless of what other people think. Italian majolica of one sort or another is still being produced from Tuscany in the north to Sicily in the south. 

Even though the English Victorians displayed the bright colors and fanciful shapes of majolica pottery to give the appearance of wealth, no one made majolica like the Italians.  

So what exactly is majolica ware? Majolica is a soft and porous earthenware with molded designs that artists hand decorate in brilliant colors. It has a thick coat of clear metallic glaze made up of metallic oxides added to clear lead sulfates which produces its vivid colors.

This type of pottery originated over 2,000 years ago in North Africa, where potters introduced the technique of adding an opaque tin glaze to baked clay. During the 8th century, when the Moors joined together to conquer Spain, they brought the secrets of majolica with them.

During the Renaissance, Spaniards exported their version of tin-glazed pottery to Italy from Majorca, an island shipping port in the Mediterranean. The Italians called the colorful pottery “majolica,” as this was how they spelled the Spanish island's name.

From the late 13th century, potters in central Italy, especially in and around Florence, refined production of tin-glazed earthenware. But it wasn’t until the 15th-century that potters began to appreciate the full artistic potential of majolica. Famous 15th-century sculptor Luca della Robbia wanted to add color to his creations, and the new material was perfect. He and his family became renowned for creating large wreaths of naturalistic majolica fruit. The success of their wares encouraged the production of majolica in both Arezzo and Siena.

But by the second half of the 15th century, Florence had lost its pre-eminence as a center of majolica production, and its manufacture scattered out among small communes..

Potters from Montelupo set up the potteries at Cafaggiolo. In 1490, twenty-three master potters of Montelupo agreed to sell the year's production to Francesco Antinori of Florence. Montelupo provided the experienced potters who the Medici family set up in 1495 at the Villa Medicea di Cafaggiolo.

In the 16th century, potters began to produce majolica at Castel Durante, Urbino, Gubbio, and Pesaro. The early 16th century witnessed the development of istoriato wares on which artists painted historical and mythical scenes in great detail. And by the end of the 16th century, potters in Venice, Padua, and Turin and as far south as  Palermo and Caltagirone in Sicily began producing majolica.

The variety of majolica styles that arose in the 16th century defies classification. Dozens of styles emerged with even more sub-groups, each with its own shapes and decorative motifs. Italian city states encouraged the pottery industry by offering tax relief, citizenship, monopoly rights, and protection from outside imports.

Cipriano Piccolpasso compiled an important mid-16th century document that discussed  the techniques of majolica painting. He noted the work of individual 16th-century masters like Nicola da Urbino, Francesco Xanto Avelli, Guido Durantino and Orazio Fontana of Urbino, Mastro Giorgio of Gubbio and Maestro Domenigo of Venice.

During the 18th century, majolica wares came under increasing competition from porcelain manufacturers. To  face this competition, majolica potters introduced the process of third firing, called  piccolo fuoco in the mid-18th century. After the traditional two firings at 1750°F, potters painted the vitrified glaze with colors that would have degraded at such high temperatures, then fired the pieces a third time at a lower temperature, about 1100 to 1200°F. Potters introduced new vibrant colors, particularly red and various shades of pink obtained from gold chloride. 

Historians believe that one of the first to introduce this technique in Italy was Ferretti in Lodi, in northern Italy. Lodi majolica had already reached high quality in the second quarter of the 18th century. With the introduction of the third firing technique and increasing interest in botany and scientific observation, potters developed a refined production of majolica decorated with naturalistic flowers.

The Ginori family founded a factory to produce majolica in Milan in 1735. The company's head chemist, Giusto Giusti, began experimenting with traditional majolica techniques in the 1840s, and the company began producing outstanding examples of Victorian majolica in the 1850s.

Ginori made monumental display vases and wall plaques to decorate the halls and stairwells of middle class Victorian homes. The company's 's specialty was its “grotesque” decoration. Taken from ancient Roman art, the bizarre creatures were a combination of animal, human and plant forms. Ginori was a very successful majolica producer and enjoyed royal patronage. Most majolica items made by the firm are marked with a crown above the word "GINORI. ".

Ulisse Cantagalli of Florence was another large producer of 19th-century Italian majolica. From the 1870s until 1901, Cantagalli produced a tremendous amount of majolica to be sold at moderate prices. A company catalog dated 1895 lists almost 1,100 majolica pieces. Catagalli's early wares were replicas of the reliefs by della Robbia. His luster glazes showed a strong Spanish-Moorish influence. The company’s pieces bear the mark "CANTAGAL FIRENCE" and an encircled rooster seal.

Production of Italian majolica wares continues today, mainly in reproductions of the historical style. Contemporary majolica looks different from old majolica because its glaze is usually made more opaque with cheaper zircon rather than tin. However, some potteries specialize in making authentic looking Renaissance-style pieces with genuine tin glaze.

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Be There or Be Square

 

QUESTIONS: I really like the look of Mid-Century Modern design. I’ve started to gather furniture and accessories to decorate my apartment. I’ve been looking for a distinctive set of dishes to use in my kitchen. Can you recommend any?

ANSWERS: Yes, I can. While not many people are familiar with this, I recommend dinnerware from the Blair Ceramics of Ozark, Missouri. While often similar in price to its modern day counterpart, the 1950s dinnerware is superior in that it is often hand-painted and decorated. No two pieces are exactly alike 

Originally from Mount Vernon, Ohio, William Blair graduated from the Cleveland School of Art, after which he studied art and traveled throughout Europe. After returning to Ohio, he painted children’s portraits for a year before he apprenticed in ceramics for a pottery in Mount Vernon. His sister, Dorothy, and her husband, Bernard Purinton, opened the Purinton Pottery Company in 1936. Blair went to work for them painting decorations on their pieces. In 1941, Bernard and Dorothy moved their pottery to Shippenville, Pennsylvania.

Blair directed his artistic talent toward the production of pottery and was instrumental in the design of Purinton's characteristic handpainted wares. While there, Blair designed several of the most recognizable patterns including Apple which was the most popular while the factory was in operation. He also created the off-round shapes of the dinnerware lines with the Heather Plaid and Normandy Plaid motifs.

Blair believed that the design of American dinnerware needed to be overhauled. So he left Purinton and sought the help of his nephew Bart Higgins, who blueprinted molds while Blair worked on the designs. When they were ready, they traveled to the Springfield area and began searching for a building to convert to a factory. In Ozark, they found the old Fray Johnson Ford auto agency building, located just north of the Ozark square,  which was just the right size. For a year, they worked to convert it into a ceramic factory. They bought a $15,000 kiln from West Virginia and installed it into their factory. By 1946, they were hiring local workers and training them  to work in mixing, molding, glazing, painting, and kiln rooms. Each piece had to be painted by hand. 

By 1949, the company employed 32 workers, who produced as many as 3,600 pieces per week during peak production times. The firm shipped dinnerware to all 48 states, Hawaii, Cuba and Canada, to be sold by such retail outlets as Neiman Marcus and Marshall Field's department stores.

Blair Ceramics produced several lines of dinnerware, most with innovative square-shaped plates and platters. Blair frequently voiced objections to round plates and dinnerware while employed  by the Purinton Pottery. At his own company, Blair had the opportunity to produce what he considered more pleasing and appropriately shaped dinnerware. These distinctive pieces are also characterized by unique twisted handles and leaf-shaped knobs on the lids of serving pieces.

Blair had all his pieces hand-painted and marked most of them with an underglaze backstamp "Blair decorated by hand" The firm’s most popular pattern was Gay Plaid which it distributed and made continuously during its operation. This design featured horizontal forest green stripes and chartreuse and brown vertical stripes. Also produced were Rick-Rack with yellow stripes and brown zigzag bands; Yellow Plaid, similar to Gay Plaid except the predominant color is yellow; Bamboo, an ornately decorated design with multicolored leaves and bamboo in brown; and Autumn Leaf, consisting of a three deaf pattern in several shades.

The era of Blair Pottery came to and end in the Mid-50’s when lightening struck the factory building in Ozark and the resulting fire burned it to the ground. Bill Blair, who had overseen the operation each day, was weary of being tied to the business, and chose not to rebuild.

Prices for Blair dinnerware are still reasonable. For example. a coffee server sells for approximately $45; a five-piece place setting, $35; a creamer and sugar or 14-inch platter, $20; a stick-handled gravy bowl, $18; and ice-lip jug, $25. Prices for most patterns are approximately the same for comparable pieces.

While dinnerware produced in the 1940s-1950s was out of favor with the public for many years, recently it has been rediscovered by savvy collectors who see a certain charm in the quirky designs. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the "Antiques of Christmas" in the 2021 Holiday Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

The Origin of American Studio Pottery

 

QUESTION: I’ve always loved handmade pottery. And looking back over history, it seems to have existed since ancient times. Recently, a friend told me that Charles Binns was the father of American studio pottery. Exactly what does that mean? Isn’t all handmade pottery made in a studio?

ANSWER: While pottery, itself, has existed for eons, what’s referred to as “studio pottery” is a relatively recent phenomenon, dating to the very late 19th century and early 20th. 

Although now nearly forgotten, Charles Fergus Binns, a studio potter and instructor, enjoyed a national reputation during the early years of the 20th century for his classic stoneware pots. Binns' made many of his legendary stoneware vases, bottles, bowls and jars during the height of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the U.S.

Born in England in 1857, Binns left school at age 14 to become an apprentice at the Royal Worcester Porcelain Works, where his father was a co-managing director. Eventually, he occupied an administrative position at the Royal Worcester factory and  became a recognized scholar and lecturer concerning world ceramics. In Paris, in 1878, he exhibited his early experiments with clay bodies and glazes. Binns accompanied the Royal Worcester exhibit of 1,400 pieces to the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 and made the United States his home in 1897. 

Binns's ceramic technique focused on his pots as utilitarian objects. His work included vases, urns, and bowls. He threw each piece in three forms on a wheel, turning them on a lathe and piecing them together afterwards. One of the concepts Binns taught was “dead ground,” in which the parts of making pottery that couldn’t be precisely controlled, such as firing temperature or glaze calculations, were mitigated by control over glaze placement.

In 1899, Binns helped found the American Ceramics Society. His role in this organization led to the directorship of the newly formed ceramics department of Alfred University, the first United States college to combine programs in ceramic art and science. In the years that followed, Binns shared once-secret clay recipes and glaze formulas with his students, including Arthur Eugene Baggs, William Victor Bragdon, R. Guy Cowan, Maija Grotell and Elizabeth Overbeck, who were largely responsible for fostering the idea of the artist-potter in America.  

Binns is commonly referred to as the "father of American studio ceramics." This title reflects not only his creation of unique stoneware pots in the Arts & Crafts style, but additionally acknowledges his accomplishment of bringing vital information about ceramic clay bodies and glaze recipes to ordinary people, thus laying the foundation of the flourishing studio ceramics movement in the United States that began in the early 1900's.

In 1900, New York Governor Teddy Roosevelt signed a bill establishing the New York State School of Clay-Working and Ceramics—now the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Appointed as the founding director at that time, Binns held the position for over 30 years until his retirement in 1931, during which time he became known for his classic pots with rich monochrome glazes.

Before Binns' arrival at Alfred University, it was customary for one

person to throw art pottery on the wheel and another person to glaze or decorate surfaces mar reflected his respect for the natural materials he used. He admired Oriental forms and glazes. and sometimes signed his pieces by putting his initials, “CFB" inside a circle closely resembling Chinese marks. His signed pieces ;following Asian tradition, Include his initials along with the year in which he made them.

Binns' work was widely exhibited during his lifetime, including his earliest documented stoneware vase, signed and dated 1905, and his final creation, a fragile bisque vase that he

signed and dated 1934, which he left unglazed and unfired at the time of his death. A memorial exhibition Of Binns’ works drew admiring crowds at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1935.

American studio ceramics really began with Charles Fergus Binns, who introduced the principles of chemistry and materials science into the ceramic arts. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the Retro style in the Fall 2020 Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Carrying on a 150-Year-Old Pottery Tradition

Catawba Valley swirlware vase

QUESTION: Last Fall, I discovered several pieces of pottery with a swirl design at a local antiques show. The dealer called it Catawba Pottery but couldn’t tell me much more than it had been made somewhere in Appalachia. What can you tell me about this pottery? And where did it originate?

ANSWER: Catawba Valley Pottery describes an alkaline glazed stoneware made in the Catawba River Valley of Western North Carolina from the early 19th century to the present day.

Early Catawba pottery jar

Before modern conveniences such as electricity, plastic and refrigeration, pottery jugs. jars and crocks stored a family's perishables. A springhouse or pantry were the equivalent of the Frigidaire. Local potters were essential. When refrigeration and inexpensive glass came to the South between 1900 and 1930, the use of pottery to store food declined. However, a few potters in North Carolina's Catawba and Lincoln counties began making pottery for tourists attracted to the small stoneware pots with their distinctive alkaline glaze. The smarter potters kept their traditional pottery-making ways and shapes, but added customer-friendly swirl pitchers, miniatures, exotic vases, umbrella stands and, in a burst of creative marketing, face jugs.

Beginning with river-dug clay, potters turned milled clay on a foot-powered wheel, glazed the green-ware with a slurry of wood ashes, powdered glass, clay and water, and then fired it in a pine fueled ground hog kiln nestled against a hillside. This has been an unbroken 150-year-old tradition.



Stoneware, hard but not as brittle as earthenware, is durable, vitreous, easy to clean and non-toxic. Its strength made it ideal for the 5- to 20-gallon food storage jars needed by 19th-century farmers.

Catawba Valley potters used alkaline glazes on their wares

Catawba Valley potters used alkaline glazes in shades of brown or green instead of the commonly used salt glaze. Potters from Edgefield, South Carolina, originally brought alkaline glazes to the Catawba Valley. These potters made alkaline glazes by combining hardwood ash or crushed glass with clay and water. Catawba potters had an abundance of wood ash from burning their kilns but didn’t have plentiful salt deposits in their region.

The Catawba potters initially fired their alkaline glazed wares in what were known as "groundhog kilns." These kilns were a unique southern U.S. variation of climbing kilns built into hillsides. Semi-subterranean in construction, the groundhog kiln featured a door leading into a long, low passage of brick or rock construction, with a stack or chimney poking out of the ground up hill. Potters loaded pieces in the low passageway or "ware-bed" and built a fire in a sunken firebox, located just inside the door. The design allowed the stack to draw heated air, flames and ash through the pottery grouped inside and created the draft needed to generate the intense heat required to create stoneware. This type of firing or "burning " worked particularly well with large pieces of pottery. Contemporary Catawba Valley potters still use variations of these kilns, usually referred to as "tunnel kilns."

Pre-Civil War bulbous jug

Before the Civil War, jars from the area were bulbous with a flared top, gradual widening body, fat waist, and narrow base. After the war, jars maintained the same overall shape, but got bigger and fatter. By the 1930s, influenced by Ohio pottery jars, they became straight-walled, open top cylinders.

Jugs held all kinds of liquids from water to whiskey. During the 1920s and 1930s, Catawba potters added faces to these jugs, easily identified by their strap handle, pulled in shoulder and narrow spout. Catawba Valley potter Harvey Reinhardt was one of the first to produce this grotesque, but extremely popular form. However, potters made few face jugs until Burlon Craig, who produced thousands between the late 1940s and the present day.

Early Catawba Valley potters also made swirlware. Made by layering light and dark clays, they created a swirl pattern by moving diagonally up and around the body of a jug, jar, pitcher, birdhouse, vase, or dozens of other forms.

Burlon Craig face jug

Among the 150 to 200 potters scattered throughout the area between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a dozen individuals and two families stand out. Neighbors Daniel Seagle and Sylvanus Hartsoe were two of the most prolific potters with signed pieces surfacing at area auctions and antique shops. The meticulous work of Samuel Propst, called 'the best turner of all" by Burlon Craig, is less frequently seen. Enoch and Harvey Reinhardt were business partners between 1932 and 1936. Many of their larger pieces, produced by Enoch, and small tourist items, Harvey's specialty, have the stamp "Reinhardt Bros,/Vale, N.C." The Propsts and Reinhardts began making blurred, mottled edged swirlware in about 1930.

Two area families also produced several generations of potters. The Ritchie family, the largest, began making pottery with Moses and ended their work, 12 potters later, at the death of Luther in 1940. Producing 10 noted potters, the Hilton family established a half dozen potteries in and around the valley. By the 1920s, they dallied in decorated dinnerware and figurines for the tourist trade which locals called "fancyware." The Hilton family pottery-making business ended in 1939 or 1940. Crisscrossing nearly all of the prominent families as an apprentice, neighbor or co-worker, is Burlon Craig. It was he who kept traditional 19th-century pottery-making alive and continuous.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about  world's fairs in the 2020 Summer Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

As a River Flows, So Does Flow Blue

QUESTION: My mom loved collecting odd pieces of old china. She died recently and now I have her collection. Among the many pieces are some with designs that are all dark blue and blurry. Are these mistakes or are they some sort of china I’ve never heard of?

ANSWER: No, those blurry pieces are not mistakes. They’re what’s known as Flow Blue. And while many people call this type of ceramics “china,” it’s actually pottery not porcelain. Beginning in 1820, potters in Staffordshire, England, began making it as a way to provide a more affordable alternative for middle-class people who coveted the fine blue and white porcelains being imported from China. As dinnerware, it enjoyed its greatest popularity between the mid-19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. And as an antique, it has gained popularity in recent years.

Potters used cobalt oxide pigment to create the darker hue of flow blue. The porous earthenware absorbed it and blurred when the pottery glaze fired. Although it blurred by itself, potters discovered that it could be made to really flow by the addition of a cup of lime or chloride of ammonia during glaze firing. This had the additional advantage of covering over printing faults, bubbles, and other defects in the pottery. As a result, some flow blue is so blurred that all details are invisible.

Josiah Wedgwood first produced Flow Blue around 1820. But it wasn’t until 15 years later that mass production began. Since flow blue was a decidedly Victorian era phenomenon, its production fell into three time periods.—early Victorian from 1835 to 1850, mid-Victorian from   1860 to 1879, and late Victorian from 1880 to 1900. During the early Victorian period, the most popular styles imitated the Chinese porcelains. But they were largely inaccurate depictions of the Chinese designs, mixing Chinese, Arabic and Indian motifs. Scenics and florals were also  popular during this time.



The mid-Victorian period brought greater creativity to Flow Blue wares, as potters mixed styles and ornamentation became elaborate and varied. Also during the mid-Victorian period, styles began to mix and merge with one another. So, there were things like Oriental-style plates with floral, Gothic, or scenic borders. Other elaborate motifs, like scrolls, pillars, columns, urns and wreaths became quite common. The pieces themselves included toilet wares and teapots, plates and platters, vases and garden seats, and even dog bowls.

Flow blue designs of the late Victorian period exhibited a marked Art Nouveau influence, with stylized florals and beautiful symmetry.

By the end of the Victorian Era, there were thousands of Flow Blue patterns. Though most Flow Blue wares came from English potteries, those in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United States all made it as well. The most noted English potteries included such names as  Wedgwood, Grindley, Davenport and the Johnson Brothers, while in the United States, Wheeling, Mercer, and Warwick. 
By World War I, U.S. potteries were producing most of the flow blue for the domestic market, causing English potters to close up shop since these wares had never been popular in England. The desirability of the ware waned in both countries between the wars, but interest picked up again in the U.S. in the 1960s.

Antique dealers determine the price of Flow Blue wares mostly based on their pattern, color, and rarity. Patterns range from Blue Danube to Iris and Classic Willow. Especially sought after ones include Amoy, Cashmere, Scinde, Shell, and The Temple, as well as the La Belle pattern by American maker, Wheeling Pottery Company.

Collectors are always on the hunt for the early patterns from the 1840s. Unusual items such as rare shapes, egg baskets and egg cups, large sized platters and early tea and coffeepots command high prices. Egg baskets with eggcups will fetch over $1,000. A single eggcup in a rare pattern can fetch over $400, whereas a not so rare one would fetch maybe $65. Rare coffeepots could he worth over $2,000, and large turkey platters from the 1890s, $600 to $800 if the pattern is right.

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