by Lin Romberg
Mar 2015
Shawnee Tales
A short month and the deadline comes up faster! All my friends in the Midwest and East have been battling record cold temperatures. let's hope Spring is just around the corner. Arizona has had beautiful weather except for the few days preceding Super Bowl - a lot of visitors were disappointed with our rain!!!
Another auction coming up in southern California - here is a link to the viewing. The last two auctions, prices were pretty low reflecting the current market. A nice assortment but not much in Shawnee, a gold sailor but you might want to bookmark the auction and add yourself to their mailing list.
On Feb 28, so history at this point, but watch for their upcoming auctions. Also feel free to notify us of any auctions you hear about that you want to share information on.
Interesting mismatched jar was listed on Ebay - a Winnie bank lid on
the Smiley bank base - what's funny is I know of close to ten or
twelve of these found mismatched like this - and a couple had been
with the original owners for almost fifty years - as a collector it seems
such an unlikely mix up as they really don't go well together unlike
some of the Smileys that the lids aren't the "expected" color - those
mix ups could have happened at the retail outlet - suppose this could
as well with a sales person putting the wrong lids out on display.
Some answers we will never have - there are a lot of yellow bibs on
shamrock bases and green lids on the red chrysanthemums
( I almost had one of them coming but that never happened). but my
red headed Smiley came originally on the mum base and came that
way originally. It appears that the ones with shamrock base were
switched by collectors since it was the more common match up of
the shamrocks, I don't have the original history going back on the
one I have on the shamrock base.
One of the yellow bib on the shamrock base just recently sold on a proxibid for $80 but there was a 17% buyers fee plus shipping. I think it makes a pretty jar but also a good buy for two gold parts to complete other jars!!!
Most of you are probably aware there are two mold versions of the yellow bib jar and some of the blue bibs - the lids are not interchangeable - the larger mold is an earlier mold and the inner part of the lid is more triangular instead of round. I just learned the LRRH lids are not always interchangeable - I have a mismatched Hull/Regal jar and in trying to find a Hull lid discovered they vary somewhat depending on the basket style. I know a lot of Shawnee collectors are cross over collectors of Red Riding Hood so thought I would mention this. I became interested because of the same decals being on Shawnee and Little Red Riding Hood pieces. Of course Louise Bauer was a designer for both lines - many of the designers worked for several of the local pottery companies, she was the best known.
Doug's Corner
Ref: last month's covered wagon & wheelbarrow question in Doug's Corner .
"This what I have been told about the covered wagon.
Not sure who, but someone once told me that Shawnee & McCoy worked back & forth with each others on pieces and it was thought that perhaps the a few pieces of the covered wagon went down the Shawnee line as size wise they are the same and side view is the same.
As for the wheelbarrow very big difference between one in Mangus book and McCoy book.
Shawnee is 2.75" X 3.125" X 6.875" front wheel has 8 spokes & handle rounded on the ends marked USA
McCoy is 3.3125 X 4.875 X 8.8125 front wheel has 4 spokes & handle squared on the ends marked USA 822
I am wondering if the Shawnee one is actually Shawnee, as Pam doesn't list it in her book."
Maybe we can get Pam to weigh in on this.
Something else I was not aware of in relation to Owl S/Ps. The most common blue-eyed shakers are not maker marked. However, the green-eyed owl shakers (at least some) are marked USA on the back. When you get a chance, take a look at your's and let me know if they don't match this scenario.
Blued-eyed Owls with no mark.
Green-eyed Owls with USA mark, the same on plain & gold trimmed.
Just keep on learning !
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Compare the decals on these pieces,
left and above.
Check in next month for a Valencia question and (hopefully) answer.
Below is some of the discussion generated about the Pig and Duck bowl in last month's Newletter.
"it was great to see the duck and pig profile bowls in the newsletter. I have had the pig before and and enclosing pictures of the duck that we have now. I'm wondering why you attribute to Chic pottery. They seem very much like Shawnee to me. Any information would be appreciated.
The weight of those bowls feels very much like Shawnee to me. Similar to many of the planters, etc. The dry foot and USA make are consistent also. I find most Chic to be blobbier in decoration.
I have had lots of Purinton and it's definitely not Purinton. I'd lay big money on that.
Could be Gladding McBean or something more dinnerware like that, but it really does not feel that to me."
Lin's comment - I really can't say for sure as we have never found any information in any of the catalogs Pam and the Mangus's have to validate these pieces - I agree they sure look like Shawnee. It seems when I was going to Pottery Festival in Zanesville years ago a knowledgeable
collector/picker told me they weren't Shawnee but likely Chic. Other than a few pieces with go with decals, I have little knowledge of Chic - maybe one of our readers can add to this???? Would love to hear from you!
Doug's comment - I've seen and handled a lot of these bowls over the years and have never felt strongly they are shawnee. Initially I thought they might be, but gradually leaned away from the idea. I don't know who is responsible for their manufacture, but Chic is a possibility. I don't have one in hand, but they seemed to me as a little light weight to be shawnee. Also there isn't any texture in the mold, just a smooth finish. I agree the decoration is similar in a lot of cases. also similar to puritan pottery. and as Lin thinks, similar to chic.
bottomline, i don't have any documentation.
