Thrift Potttery Obsession Week

[SecondhandSophisticate]

My Thrift Pottery Obsession Week in Review:



The big planter I found for 1/2 price, 6.49. I just weighed it. It weighs 12 pounds!!!  Look at the colors on this baby:

(This is the planter of the "If it's meant to be...topic")

The two cups are Paul McCobb "Contempri" I got these for .39 each. I almost fainted when I found them:



I never thought I'd own anything by Paul McCobb!  So what if I don't have any saucers?  As you can see by the pic above, I am using the incredible Red Wing "Merrileaf" plates I found a few weeks ago, also 1/2 price.

This tile isn't really my style. But really:  how often do you find stuff like this for .25? It reminds me of the cleanser:



It's marked on the back: "Wheeling". I LOVE the colors!  (Look! There's orange in it!)

The lovely little crystal paperweight vase is inscribed on the inside "MMA" which, I believe stands for Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a buck, and despite what my photo shows, it is in mint condition :


Finally, my find of the week:

My photo is a little light, the colors are more intense than show. It is signed, under the glaze, by brush stroke: "Made in France" and then underneath that the artist's initials "RP".  I found almost the exact piece here, if anyone is interested:  http://www.colceram.online.fr/val3b.htm

I believe my piece is by Robert Picault (1919-2000). 

My understanding is that Robert Picault is a mid-century artist (French) and is part of a great French school of pottery and ceramic design, the Vallauris school, I believe. I loved that piece from the second I saw it. Also, did I mention is was only a quarter?

I love the beauty of all these pieces. And the price certainly is a positive.  Aftert a slow, long, dry summer of  finding nothing but imported cheap mediocrities in thrifts, I have found art and beauty and classic design again. I am at peace, my eyes, heart, all my senses and spirit are being nourished!

Abundance and Beauty to all,
SeSo

 

[Good Buddy]

You need to change your username to Queen of Clay....

[Sprocket]

Sweet planter and way awesome cups!  They look perfect for sipping coffee.

-Sprock

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Good Buddy, isn't there a song out  called "Queen of Clay"? Wasn't it done by the Police?

I believe the first two lines are these:

"There's a little clay pot on a shelf today
It's a shelf in the neighborhood Salvation A..."

Do you know the rest of it, GB?  Anybody else know?

Sprock, Merci!  Funny you should mention using these for coffee.  What strikes me is how small they are compared to today's size coffe cups and mugs. The color on these is superlative.

Ciao,
SeSo
who does no caffeinel

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

Knowing that you are a petite lady, I am having interesting visions of you hefting that massive (and lovely) planter.

It's a nice collection o' stuff and it's funny how it all somehow coordinates together. Timing just works out that way sometimes.

So the little plate is from the Wheeling Pottery company, eh? If it IS the Wheeling Pottery company which did a lot of whiteware pieces, then that ended operation in 1909, so you may have yourself a bit of an antique there. If you can take a picture of the mark, I'd be happy to verify it in my Decroative American Pottery and Whiteware collector's book for you.

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Oooo, thanks TSR. I have no idea what I'm looking at with this tile, but I loved the decal. That's what I thought it was...a transfer or a decal.

Can't find my camera at the moment, but if this helps it says WHEELING and this is embossed in the tile, so it's the same color as the bottom of the tile, which is white. Then there is what appears to be some faint pencil marks on the bottom as well,which look to me like Asian characters, but might be fancy cursive English script. They're very tiny and faded.  The letters I can make out:  J O N or J H N, possibly.  Or maybe it's just pencil marks from somebody's kitchen.

Do you think it's that old?  I placed it from the 50s, (but then I place everything from the 50s )   

I await your expertise with breathless anticipation 

Also, I had no idea that planter was that heavy when I bought it.   I got my exercise for the day lugging it to and from the car, I can tell you that!

 
SeSo

[Other People s Junk]

What neat finds!  I love the color of the planter- this past year I added that color to my bedroom... I found a vintage lamp in that same sort of color and that snowballed into other things. 

And my other favorite of your finds is the paperweight vase!  I'm not sure that I have ever seen a paperweight that is also a vase.  It's pretty neat!  I collect paperweights... well, not actively, since I have a bunch and they are hard to display.  When I was little and my parents would drag my sis and I through antique stores they started that collection for me, so I would have something to look for/at. 

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

Heya, SeSo- I sent you an email with a pic of some potential marks in it. Hopefully this will help a little bit re: your plate. If not, at least we'll know what it isn't, even if we won't know what it IS.

[MrsGoodwill]

....isn't there a song out  called "Queen of Clay"? Wasn't it done by the Police?

I believe the first two lines are these:

"There's a little clay pot on a shelf today
It's a shelf in the neighborhood Salvation A..."

Pffft! You just made me spew my tea!

[ChrisMiss]

Wow, you picked up some really great stuff!  I love the tile, it does remind me of the cleanser.  It would be cool if it turned out to be worth some major bucks. 

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Mrs. Goodwill, hope you did not stain a good shirt

Can you--or anyone--add a verse to that little ditty?  It's fun, isn't it

ChrisMiss, I checked out the mark.  As far as I can discern, it's from a place called Wheeling Tile in (surprise!) Wheeling WV.  Whether or not it's worth anything, I guess, would depend on the design and the obscurity of it. Also, this adorable tile does have a small chip in it, which may offend the serious collector , but doesn't bother me in the least 

I'm glad it reminds you of the cleanser, too because I was thinking that, as a wee one back in the day, those advertising icons seemed so alive to me!  Like the Mobil winged horse (Pegasus) and the Flying A, and the little Dutch Boy, the Bon Ami chick, Mr Clean, (hey, what can I say?  my mother kept a clean house ). Kind of a mid-century-modern postwar mythology for little ones.

SeSo

[genuineimitation]

wonderful finds! when you get tired of the little orange dutch boy.. send him my way!