The latest crop of fake pottery. Even if you are on dial-up, let it load the whole page. The newest Shawnee is at the bottom. No matter what you collect, this catalog is an eye opener !
I haven't had time to deal with the little smiley creamer. His future is still uncertain.
I have been hearing from several collectors about the Centerville sale this
weekend - weather has been rainy but hoping it cleared for one of the last
shows of the season - may have some reports of finds for next month's
newsletter.
Received some interesting pictures of some finds by one of our readers - a
beautiful yellow bib Smiley with some bugs
Another picture of unusual smiley range shakers - the pink poppy is usually found on red bibs but here they are on green bib shakers.
And a beautiful Lucky elephant with a bug on the trunk - most of these are
painted as such because of a flaw on the trunk where the jar had a pottery
defect when the mold was fired - typical cover up that we as collectors later
cherish.......
Here is a beautiful butterfly on top of Smiley - also an unusual pair of air
brushed Smiley and Winnie shakers which I have never seen before - have any of you??
We appreciate the contributions of photos - wish we had more people willing to share each month.
Also another interesting find is a Sunflower piece with the Harmony House
label intact.
I am always amazed to find pieces so vintage with perfect labels intact as
when I was younger and a non collector, I am certain the first thing I would
do on a piece I planned to used would be remove the label - so many others
tell me they would do the same! Yet years later we are thrilled to find labels
in mint condition. Apparently Harmony House was a distributor - any of you
have pieces with these labels or know of the history of the company????
Another collector suggested we have pictures of how collectors actually use
Shawnee to decorate their home and sent a picture of a Bo Peep with a floral
arrangement. I have used the extra clown cookie jar bottom as a plant holder
but have to admit I haven't modified very many pieces for display myself..
Had a nice email from a non collector with an inquiry about the jar that has
been in her family for many years - a tale of survival throughout the years
- warned Eileen that one piece is the start of a collection, I know so many
people whose family piece started large collections over the years. Hers is a
Chrysthanthemum Smiley.
"Aloha Linda:
I just thought you might like a little history of a Shawnee survivor. My
grandmother drove my Smiley from Pennsylvania to Kansas in 1954. She had received it as a gift from her children
While in Kansas, it survived two tornados.. In 1961 my family moved from
Kansas to Southern California where it survived several moves, earthquakes, my marriage, and the start of my own family.
In 1985 my husband and I moved from Southern California to Kauai, Hawaii.
We had over $5,000 damage to our belongings in the move – but Smiley survived!
In 1992 Hurricane Iniki hit the Island of Kauai with category 5 destruction.
There was not a single property on the Island without damage. A tornado
hit our property in the middle of the hurricane, but we survived – and so did
Smiley. Smiley was sitting on my kitchen counter and didn't even move. Right on Smiley.
He is to this day, unscratched, uncracked, no crazing – and perfect I
think Smiley is a very good friend.
I am going to put it in my trust. We have only two children – the “valley
girl” and “the world’s greatest son”. He will know how I feel about the
jar. And, he respects “vintage”."
Please feel free to send pictures for next month's newsletter - everyone I
hear from loves to see them posted.
Until next month, happy collecting......................
