Commonly Seen Majolica Reproductions That Many People Don't Know Are Reproductions

I think it's important to periodically remind dealers and collectors that reproduction majolica exists everywhere. I have written about these reproductions in the past but some of them are persistently still being offered as old ware by dealers who should know better. I'm not really surprised about this for a couple of reasons. There are some antiques dealers I've dealt with over the years who would auction their mothers for a sale. They have no problem whatsoever misrepresenting their merchandise.

There is also a younger group of dealers entering the market who aren't aware that many pieces that are taken for granted as being old simply aren't because they have always seen them. These dealers are too young to remember when many of these repros first flooded the market some 30+ years ago. It is really for the latter group that this post is intended.

One of the first of these I recall seeing are the blue fish head oyster plates in the Palissy style. I wrote about these back in January of 2011. They surfaced in the early 90s at a time that these Palissy oyster plates were bringing big money at auctions. What differentiated these reproductions from the originals were their glaze colors and nothing else. They were exact reproductions artistically made at a private pottery in the South. The reproductions had a blue ground while the antique plates usually had a green ground. They were being sold as new reproductions by a dealer in South Carolina, then finding their way onto the secondary market as antiques. Unfortunately, they're still floating around today, fooling people who couldn't possibly know any different. To make things worse there are now reproductions of the reproductions!

Antique Palissy oyster on the left and reproduction on the right

Another group of reproductions that have become common is the Arsenal Pottery plates. I wrote about these in April of this year.

Arsenal Pottery stag plate reproduction on right

Arsenal Pottery blackberry plate original on left, reproduction on right

Still another reproduction that I see constantly is a reproduction of a Wedgwood cheese bell. These surfaced in the mid 1990's and while the quality is appalling they are still fooling people.

Wedgwood floral mat cheese bell on the left and reproduction on the right

The same can actually be said of a number of other cheese bells from Asia. They are as badly made as reproductions can be yet I still see them showing up at legitimate antique dealer's shops and on eBay.

George Jones majolica Rustic cheese bell on the left and reproduction on the right

Minton majolica bee skep cheese bell on the left and reproduction on the right

George Jones majolica cheese bell on the left and reproduction on the right

Forester cheese stand: antique on left, copy on the right

Original Etruscan Lily cheese bell on the left and reproduction on the right

The quality of many majolica reproductions have improved remarkably since the early 1990's. It is because these pieces are so well done and effectively "aged" that they are difficult to detect. They are fired in the old manner using heritage glaze formulas. This is particularly the case with the Arsenal Pottery reproductions, some of which are difficult to tell from the antiques. But then again there are some that are just awful, like the cheese bells.

As I have said on numerous occasions, do your research before you buy and you won't be caught short with an antique that isn't so antique.

Some interesting new reproductions

Several reproductions of high end majolica pieces have surfaced recently. Two of these pieces are copies of George Jones and one is a copy of a Wedgwood piece. Here are the reproductions followed by the original.

The first repro is a copy of a George Jones dresser tray:

Reproduction dresser tray

George Jones majolica dresser tray

The next is a copy of a Jones Strawberry server:

Reproduction strawberry server

George Jones majolica strawberry server

The third one is a copy of a Wedgwood game dish.

Reproduction game dish

Wedgwood majolica game dish

None of these are very good and certainly none would fool a seasoned collector.

Another reproduction that recently became available was found in the most unlikely place: Pottery Barn!

Reproduction leaf tray

Etruscan Majolica leaf tray

This reproduction of the Etruscan B-5 round leaf tray is well made but it wouldn't fool anyone any more than the others would. Still, it's good to know what's available on the market.

Some Current Majolica Reproductions

Here are a few reproductions I found online.

This corn pitcher is a relatively common example of the type of reproduction coming out of southeast Asia today. The opaque drippy glaze, the thin sides that echoes the exterior design on the interior and the thick rim are all commonly seen on repros of this type. On the underside is a faux English registration mark as well as a thick clumsy foot, two features which are also commonly seen on these pieces.

Here is another example:

Another common English design that has also exploded on the reproduction scene is the venerable parrot pitcher.

The reproductions below bear only a superficial resemblance to the original above.

Badly modeled and glazed in garish colors that were never seen on the originals, these are relatively easy to detect. A look at the inside of the pitcher is a dead giveaway.

I have never seen a Victorian majolica pitcher that is glazed only partway down the interior. That wouldn't make much sense since these were made to be used.

The next repro is a vase that is a copy of a copy of a Minton piece, only taller and more fanciful.

As in the case of the corn pitcher, the drippy glaze and the thin sides that show the exterior design on the interior are give-aways that this is a reproduction. The thin blue glaze that puddles at the bottom is also very common. Victorian majolica interior glazes do not, as a rule, drip and puddle in this manner.

The next piece is also a reproduction of a reproduction of a Minton piece.

The Minton monkey and rooster teapot shown below has been heavily reproduced in the past several years, following an exceptional auction result a few years back.

The earlier reproduction, shown directly below, was a decent copy of the original.

The new reproduction wouldn't fool anyone even remotely familiar with the original.

Another new reproduction on the scene is this copy of a copy of an English water lily pitcher, which itself was also contemporarily reproduced by the New Arsenal pottery in the nineteenth century . (Confusing isn't it?)

The older reproduction, shown directly below, was closer to the original than the new one shown above.

The biggest giveaways in these reproductions is the thick rim, the poor modeling and the grey-green glaze, which is a color never used in Victorian majolica. Of course, why you would want to buy either reproduction shown above when the English original or the New Arsenal copy can easily be bought for around the same price as the reproductions is a mystery to us.

A reproduction we've discussed before is unfortunately still going strong.

These copies of the blackberry plate have completely saturated the majolica market. Their success has been so complete that many new dealers are not even aware that they are reproductions. That's a pretty sad state of affairs. The original, shown below, was never made with the kind of care and precision given to the copies. 

One reproduction that doesn't seem to fool anyone is this rabbit teapot.

Aside from its appalling workmanship, this teapot isn't even a reproduction of an existing Victorian piece. It is a copy of a contemporary majolica piece made in the early 1990's.

There are several other majolica teapot reproductions also making the rounds, many of them also copies of copies. Below are the new copies followed by the older repros.

Modern majolica style teapot

Tiffany & Co. modern blackberry teapot

 Then there are the fanciful designs that have no Victorian precedent.

As I say at the end of all of my posts about reproductions, the key to not being fooled is to read as much as you can about majolica and to buy from a reputable dealer. Both of these will guarantee that you'll have a collection you can be proud of.

Detecting reproduction majolica

If there's one topic on this blog that always attracts a lot of hits it is those articles where I write about reproductions. Is it any surprise? With the number of reproductions growing daily it is getting more and more difficult for beginning collectors to discern between the genuine article and the copies flooding the market. We have written on this topic several times in the past but with reproductions becoming more common, we thought that maybe we should go over the basics for new readers.

The most important thing that any buyer can do to educate themselves about reproductions is to look at a lot of majolica. Go to an auction house or antique show that has a lot of pieces to choose from and look carefully at the pieces. You will find that after you've handled quite a bit of majolica you'll note a difference between reproductions and contemporary copies. Victorian majolica is heavy for its size. It is solidly potted earthenware. Most plates were thrown by hand with a molded face. Contemporary ware is slip formed in molds. It is light in weight.
Antique majolica hollow ware was also slip molded on the exterior with thick sides that are smooth on the interior. Contemporary majolica hollow ware is hollowed out-- the inside shows indentations from the design on the outside. Take a look at the two examples below.

The cobalt example immediately above is a Victorian majolica bowl by Wedgwood. See how the interior is quite smooth with only the slightest indication of the ruffled fan design from the exterior of the bowl? The white bowl shown above it is a contemporary reproduction by Mottehedeh. See how different the interior is? You can practically see all of the details from the exterior of the bowl on the inside. This is commonly seen in reproduction pieces because of the change in manufacturing of pottery in the past 100 years.

Another indication is the presence or absence of saggar or stilt marks on the base.

Above is the underside of a genuine George Jones horse chestnut plate. In the center of the plate one can see three small, rough, unglazed marks. These are stilt marks, left over from the original firing of the piece. The plate was balanced on these three small stilts as it was fired in the sagger. This kept the piece from sticking to the saggar tray as the glaze melted. All Victorian majolica has these marks.  Now take a look at the reproduction of the same plate below.

The saggar marks are missing and the foot itself is completely unfinished. This is because the base was ground down after firing to allow for a smooth foot. This is typical of contemporary inexpensive ceramics made in southeast Asia. Any kind of large unglazed area like this should immediately send up a red flag. 

Now let's take a look at the obverse of these same same two trays.

The top tray is smoothly glazed with a bright shiny finish. Detail is good and the colors are rich and clear. The face of the reproduction below is coarsely modeled with a semigloss type of glaze. There is a clumsiness to the modeling, something very typical to these reproductions, and an overall yellow cast to the entire piece, an attempt to give the piece an antiqued look. In this case the reproduction is the heavier of the two pieces--too heavy in fact. It feels like it was made from dense plaster, which it may well have been.

Let's take a look at another example of an original and its reproduction.

The piece directly below is a Wedgwood Victorian majolica cheese dome. The piece below it is the contemporary reproduction.

Every aspect of the original is superior in quality: the modeling, the glaze, even the scale. The runny glaze one sees in this reproduction is extremely common. There is no crispness to the glaze application which is very sloppy, another indication of its poor manufacture. Victorian majolica has an iridescent quality, something you don't see in reproductions. Even that clumsy knob on the top is a give away. It is wildly out of scale with the remainder of the design.

Here are another two cheese domes.

The top piece is an original Minton piece, the one below it is the reproduction. Again, as in the Wedgwood copy, everything looks wrong. Minton invented majolica. Their craftsmanship is sublime. There's nothing sublime about the reproduction: the glaze is dripping everywhere, the modeling is coarse and the scale of the handle on top is much too large for the bell. Even the base is wrong.

Nothing substitutes for education when it comes to buying antiques. The best advice anyone can give a beginner is to look at as much majolica as you can. Soon you'll be able to tell a reproduction from across a showroom like a pro.

For information on identifying true Etruscan Majolica go here.