The Choir has song, the New Year arrived, it's time to get back to work.
Hope all of you had a wonderful holiday - winter is finally here, we even
have freezing temperatures here in sunny Arizona. I was actually caught in
a snow blizzard in Flagstaff a few days ago. Detoured my plans to antique
in Prescott on the way back home.
One of our readers sent some information on Harmony House - it is featured
in some early Sears catalogs and may possibly be the label on those Shawnee
pieces distributed through Sears in the 1940's. As in the previous newsletter
Shawnee was found advertised for sale in Montgomery Ward's catalogs -
something to consider when you are out looking for Shawnee - check those old catalogs to see what you can find. I have collected some of the Chessie Railroad
Kitten paper memorabilia as I originally started looking for it for Duane and
Janice Vanderbilt after meeting them at Pottery Festival over fifteen years ago - it so happened I had a two year old cat I named Chessie but have never heard of the Railroad Kitten from the Chesapeake Ohio Railroad, featured in Life
Magazine in 1939 - one of the biggest and most successful advertising
promotion ever. As often happens, when you look for items for fellow collectors, you end up collecting the items yourself! Many times I see advertisements for appliances as well as other household items - somewhere there HAS to be a Smiley pig setting on a stove top or a kitchen counter in an old advertisement!!!!! I still check out the paper shows and dealers for old advertising memorabilia - amazing the items you see - black memorabilia, automobiles, perfume bottles, dogs, planes - you name it and collectors can find it. It is a trip down memory lane for those of us in our forties and fifties!!!!
Speaking of the Vanderbilt's, when their Shawnee book came out in 1992 - the
cover featured a strawberry Smiley that is absolutely beautiful. A very RARE jar, speculation was it might be a one of a kind. Networking was fast and furious in those days with so many of us looking for pottery beyond our own area. It got to be kind of funny that every brand new collector wanted to find a strawberry Smiley - those of us who had collected for a long time thought "yeah, who wouldn't!!!" Takes a bit of time collecting to learn what is practically impossible to find. Well a couple of weeks ago a collector acquired a Strawberry Smiley - rumor/stories are that there were at least two made for a strawberry farmer/distributor which were featured as table decorations for a banquet or some sort of business function. Years ago, late 1980's I believe, one of them sold out of Minn via the Antique Trader - naturally those of us who were one of more calls too late were sick about missing it. After all this time another has surfaced. Here's a picture of him.
I have also just heard of decals of a strawberry on a couple of Smileys
which I'd never heard of - am hoping to have a picture to share soon. I am
most definitely living in the wrong part of the US as far as pottery is concerned -
I have to live vicariously through stories of finds back East............
Another collector sent some pictures of planters in solid green - possibly a
limited production, maybe experimental - definitely more commonly found in
multi colored glazes. There is so much out there that we don't know much about.
Also assorted early animal figurines.
Have had several friends contact me thinking the newsletter had stopped -
you might help spread the word among collectors - Doug and I were running into
problems sending out the notice as bulk emailings constitute spam - yet AOL
won't tell me how many mass forwards I can send - they just close your account
and it is a big hassle to get back on. All servers seem to have implemented
the same policy to avoid unsolicited mailings. You need to enter the
website at the link below to gain access to the newsletter.
On this page just click "Add page to favorites", or right click a clear spot on the page, then "create a shortcut".
Doug's Corner
There is no better way to buy pottery than in the hand. I am surprised the Prairie Schooner has been reproduced, but here it is. Where did it show up - Ebay of course. The number on this "medallion" piece is the one that shows up on regular glazed Schooners, 733 vs 1151 on real Medallion.
Repro
Repro
Repro
A couple responses from you for display pictures. Both from the state of New York. .
First a fine collection of little guys.
Next we find gold in the hills of upstate New York.
