A look at the design, market and legacy of Victorian pottery

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Happy New Year!

To all our readers, HAVE A WONDERFUL, SAFE AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR!


Sunday, December 11, 2016

Saturday, December 10, 2016

2016 Year End Wrap Up

The year in majolica, and in fact for antique pottery in general, has continued the trend we've been seeing since the economic meltdown of 2008. Like everything else in this economy, the rich got richer at the expense of the middle and lower class and the majolica prices bear that out. What this means in majolica prices is that there continues to be a strong market for high end majolica. The rarest and most desirable brought strong prices at auction while everything else stayed the same or lost value. Where the highest prices still remained below the high of the Bush era, they still continued to retain a strong audience with prices starting to climb back to their peak.

The majolica of Lonitz and Massier continue to show growth in this post 2008 economy, perhaps making an economic correction for the lack of interest in these fine manufacturers' products before the meltdown. A $74k pair of Lonitz falcons were the stunner at Strawsers fall auction. Rare Minton remains strong too, bringing prices of $27k each for a complete Minton tête-à-tête and a mallard and hare terrine at the same auction. More commonly seen Minton has not been doing as well. The majolica of George Jones in particular has taken a bit of a hit this year. It seems like the George Jones mania that existed in the first decade of this century has cooled significantly. The name no longer automatically brings the astronomical prices it did just a couple of years ago. Of course there remains a strong market for the rare and unusual but the Jones name on a piece no longer guarantees a big payday for the seller.

Hugo Lonitz majolica Falcon figurals
Minton majolica teaset
Minton majolica mallard and hare terrine

Wedgwood, Holdcroft and Schiller still retain their prices of the past few years due to their own popular specialty markets though these have never had the kind of following once seen by Jones. High end Sarreguemines continues the growth we've been seeing in other french majolica over the past few years while the lower end maintains the same level it has seen over the past 15 years. For the American manufacturers, the Etruscan market has never really recovered from the flood of thousands of pieces of GSH majolica dropped into the market between 1997-2000 with the consecutive deaths of major Etruscan collectors Anna Stern and John Boraten. With the exception of very rare pieces and the consistently popular Shell pattern which always seems to sell, the market has bottomed out.

Among products, French animal pitchers still sell very well in spite of their continued new production in France. Animal humidors, having taken quite a tumble in the past couple of years, appear to have stabilized in price with most now selling in the $100-$150 range. Butter pat mania seems to have subsided as well with only certain rare examples bringing high prices. Match strikers too have tumbled with most now selling in the $100 range. Oyster plates have lost quite a bit of value in the past few years. Most can be purchased for about half of what they commanded in 2007. Though the name manufacturers still bring the highest prices certain patterns, such as the Lear sunflower have fallen dramatically now bringing only a small fraction of what they brought just a couple of years ago. The German/Bohemia animal bottles that seemed immune to the economy for so long have now also taken a fall on the retail market selling for about half of what they sold for just a year or two ago.

As it has over the past few years, our most popular blog posts at Glazed and Confused are the three that help to identify Minton, George Jones and Wedgwood majolica. Although our George Jones post last year at this time had twice as many views as the next most popular post, our post on identifying Wedgwood marks has increased in views dramatically making it a closer second. Of our posts from the past twelve months, the post of Majolica in the Media: The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills swept away all others with twice the views of of the nearest competitor, our 2015 Year End Wrap up.

The composition of our audience this year has changed dramatically in the past couple of months. In the six years we have written our blog the Internet audience has persistently come from North America, Great Britain and other English speaking countries. An anomality we have observed in the past couple of months is a huge number of hits we are now receiving from Russia! Russia, in fact, has risen to the most visits from any other area in the world, outside of North America, even surpassing Great Britain. We have no way of accounting for this. We have never discussed Russian pottery. Considering the amount of Internet espionage known to have been conducted by Russia during the U.S election, this it is somewhat alarming. Of what interest could Russia possibly have in a majolica blog? We may never know.

So where does this lead us heading into 2017? With a new administration heading into office in Washington people are cautiously optimistic but we don't see any upswing in prices for the foreseeable future. Economic times are unstable and people are frightened of another economic collapse. Middle class investment in antiques will remain low until the income disparity between the rich and everyone else evens out. That seems unlikely to occur during the new administration as long as the dominating party continues to rely on outdated economic formulas of the past 40 years to resolve the issue.

As we said last year at this time, antique pottery across the board appears to have lost most of its investment value. It's also somewhat fallen out of fashion. Collect because you love it and can afford it and for no other reason.  We'll do our best to keep you informed in the meantime.

Note: Since we published this post two weeks ago, the hits from Russia have increased fourfold. The traffic from Russia is four times what we normally get from all other countries COMBINED! We have to assume it is most likely some nefarious bot scrolling around through Blogger trying to find a way into the system because, goodness knows, they aren't collecting majolica!

Friday, November 25, 2016

A Majolica Mystery: Is it real or is it a fake?


We were surfing online recently and a particular piece of majolica caught our attention. It was the Oak leaf tray shown above. It presumes to be an Etruscan oak leaf tray by the Etruscan Works of Phoenixville, Pa. The GSH Oak leaf tray is one of the most commonly seen reproductions of Etruscan Majolica but this one is somehow different. Do you think it's real or a reproduction? We lay out the pros and cons for you to decide. Here is the case.

The Obverse
Con: The reason this tray caught our attention was the decoration. The colored glazes were used in a manner very different from the norm. For one thing the colors were very highly saturated and slightly different in tone and application from the trays we are used to seeing. The tray measures 12.5 inches. The average tray measures 12 inches. There are no stilt marks on the front of the tray.
Pro: At the Etruscan Works the glazes were mixed by hand over a period of eleven years. There is quite a variation of color on similarly decorated Etruscan examples. Would you say it fit well within the parameters of these variations? There was also quite a bit of variation in the size of pieces potted in Phoinixville as a result as the different clays used over the years.
Our Take: Over the years we have seen literally thousands of these leaves. We have probably personally owned 40 or 50 of them. We know this piece backwards and forwards. We have seen them in a variety of colors and conditions but we have never seen decoration this crisp and this bright. Compare it to the example below.


Right off the bat you can see that the MIS piece has an entirely different feel about it. There is a distinct difference in the colors and the application of the colored glazes. The surface of the MIS example is also much more irregular than the top example. The details of the leaf on the MIS example is less distinct, made so by the pooling of the glaze on the surface of the leaf and from the hundreds of impressions that must have been taken from the same mold. The MIS piece appears thicker and more substantial than the other as does the open handle which is unusually thin on the example in question.  Although there is quite a bit of variation in the size of otherwise identical pieces, the variation is usually within a ¼ inch of 12 inches.

The Reverse
Con: The color is entirely wrong. The reverse of Etruscan majolica was done in a different color teal than that seen here, much less green and more grey. The reverse glaze usually shows a great variation in the thickness of the glaze application. This appears to be uniform. The decorators mark is missing.


Pro: The stilt marks which are commonly found on all Etruscan majolica are present on the reverse of the piece which speaks well for its authenticity. The overwhelming majority of Etruscan majolica produced, regardless if it is marked with the GSH mark or not, will have a decorator's mark like the stamped mark seen below, but there are exceptions! The piece is marked Etruscan. The example in question sold from a very reputable online site for a great deal of money. No professional dealer would risk their reputation selling a piece they knew to be a fake.


Our Take: When we examine the Etruscan mark itself something is clearly wrong. On the piece in question, shown left on the illustration below, the center logo is distorted, stretched horizontally. The condensed font used for the words "Etruscan Majolica" that compose the logo is entirely different from the one on the one on the right—there is no stress or variation to the strokes in the letters. They are generally uniform throughout. Where there is a variation, like on the letter U, the stress is on the wrong side. The slender rim on the inside of the outer seal ring is also missing.


We're sure the dealer who sold the piece assumed it was authentic but no antique dealer can know everything. We think it could have been a reasonable mistake.

So, what do you think?
If it is a fake it is really quite upsetting to see a copy this good. We are always on the lookout for majolica with exceptional decoration. What peaked our suspicions with this piece was the intensity, the application and the color of the glaze. It stuck out like a sore thumb as we were sifting through hundreds of similar GSH oak trays on Google Images. The reverse seal only makes us more suspicious.

Without actually examining the piece in person there is no right or wrong answer to this quiz. You need to decide for yourself whether you would purchase this piece if you saw it for sale online. When buying majolica use your head as well as your heart. If something seems off, it probably is. No one wants to be cheated. As always in antiques the burden of proof remains with the buyer. 

Let us know what you think.

Monday, November 21, 2016

Majolica Terrines and Tureens

“Beautiful soup, so rich and green, Waiting in a hot tureen”
—Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

As the holidays approach it’s the time of year when friends and family gather to celebrate the joys of the season. This year we thought we'd do a celebration of majolica terrines and tureens, those wonderfully ornate, over-the-top serving pieces made to dazzle upon presentation. 

The word terrine is a French word, meaning a container of chopped or ground meat or vegetables prepared in a loaf. It is derived from a Latin term terra meaning earth or pottery. Today the word terrine is used in a broader context to describe any container of cooked food. The word tureen is an Anglicized version of the same word generally used to describe a deep, footed container for stew, soup or any other type of similar food preparation. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably although they do have distinct differences in use.

Retail advertisement for game dishes

The English in particular excelled at the decorative majolica dish but continental Europeans contributed beautiful examples as well. Most are traditionally decorated by images relating to food. Since majolica was not meant for oven use, game terrines usually came with plain earthenware liners in which the food could be cooked, that fit inside the decorative terrine for table presentation. When purchasing a game terrine it should come with its interior liner, otherwise it is incomplete. Fruit and vegetable terrines—which are most common in France—and soup  tureens, which generally contain preparations cooked in other types of containers, do not usually have such liners.

Unattributed game terrine derived from a Wedgwood design complete with earthenware liner

Page from the George Jones pattern books showing a few of their terrines

The "mother of all" English terrines is the Minton hare and mallard terrine, a huge, intricately detailed piece that is a showstopper in any collection—always with a show stopping price!

Minton majolica duck and hare terrine 

You don't need to afford a hare and mallard terrine though to make a statement at your holiday table. Imagine your friends and family's excitement with any of these fabulous pieces as your centerpiece. Lets take a look.


Holdcroft fox and goose terrine 


Minton majolica fox and mallard terrine

A Hugo Lonitz variation of the above Minton terrine

Another Lonitz variation of the above Minton terrine

George Jones lobster terrine

Sarreguemines chestnut terrine 

George Jones majolica terrine with boy and dog finial



Large Minton majolica fish with lemon slice terrine
Wedgwood partridge majolica terrine

A Wedgwood variation on the partridge terrine above

Wedgwood majolica terrine

George Jones fish, game and fowl terrine

George Jones "full nest" quail terrine

George Jones prawn terrine

French crab tureen

Continental majolica egg terrine

Sarreguemines egg basket terrine

Sarreguemines egg basket terrine

Sarreguemines egg terrine

Choisy-le-Roi majolica egg terrine

Sarreguemines strawberry basket terrine

Minton crab tureen and seafood server
Minton majolica terrine with hunting dog finial

Minton majolica hare and mallard game terrine

Sarreguemines squash terrine

George Jones majolica fish terrine

Victoria Pottery Co. boar terrine
Brown-Westhead Moore majolica terrine
Huge Minton majolica boar soup tureen

Holdcroft majolica squab terrine

Majolica boar tureen 
Brown-Westhead Moore majolica terrine
George Jones boar's head terrine

Brown-Westhead Moore hare terrine

Copeland majolica game terrine
Forester fish terrine

Victoria Pottery Company game terrine


VPC majolica mallard terrine


Minton majolica lobster terrine

Minton lobster terrine design from the Minton pattern books

Unusual unattributed majolica egg and chick terrine

Wedgwood hare game terrine

George Jones “empty nest” game dish
Minton majolica squab tureen

George Jones fox and duck terrine

George Jones game terrine with deer finial

George Jones game terrine with hunter finial
Minton seafood terrine

Choisy-le-Roi lobster terrine
Sarreguemines seafood tureen
Wasmuel majolica soup tureen

Julius Dressler strawberry tureen

Dreyfus majolica duck tureen

George Jones Partridge Game Pie Dish

Partridge game terrine

Choisy-le-Roi game terrine

Brownfield game dish

Wedgwood hare and dogs terrine 

Brownfield game terrine

Brown-Westhead Moore chick game terrine 


George Jones majolica hare terrine

Unattributed majolica boar terrine

Holdcroft seafood terrine

Wedgwood lobster terrine

Brown-Westhead Moore crab game terrine
Sarreguemines pansy terrine

So, invite the family and set the table with these glorious pieces they will never forget.

Have a wonderful, joyous holiday season!