Not a lot of news this past month - no reports on Pottery Festival from anyone this year. In fact very little news period from all of you collectors.
I am just back from a trip to Calif and was so disappointed by the lack of Shawnee in all the shops and malls - literally saw no Smiley pig cookie jars except for the blank cold painted ones - ranging from $96 to $295, one set of Smiley range shakers which were a mismatched set of peach and red bib. A nice gold Puss n Boots cookie jar for $695. The only reasonably priced pieces I saw were several lavender Granny Ann teapots, each at $75.
As most of you know, California is having record heat temperatures, living in Arizona, I didn't think it could be any hotter but it was miserably humid and like an oven - very few of the antique shops had any cooling and it was like being in a blast furnace. Even the beaches were HOT. I cut my trip short and left San Diego at over a hundred degrees. All the way home the temperature read 117-118 from El Centro past Yuma. At least in Arizona most everyone has central air so we can breathe!!!!!!
For those of you who collect the Pennsylvania Dutch series, you know how RARE the batter pitcher is, for years, we wondered if any existed when Duane and Janice Vanderbilt were writing their book and there was only a catalog sheet showing the piece. Then in the past ten years we have heard of three, maybe four, turn up - I just heard from a collector in Ohio who also has one. Keep your eyes open for these elusive pitchers.
Another rare piece is the corn king casserole that has kernels on the lid of the piece - very few of those are know to exist. Who knows, many of us may have walked by one at some time or other and not even noticed if it was a piece we weren't looking to add to our collection. To date through collectors less than half a dozen have been "found" but that doesn't mean they aren't out there still with an original owner or family member for one of us to discover. Would love to hear from any of you that may have these unusual pieces.........
