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by  Linda Romberg
Jan  2008
SHAWNEE TALES
  I have a number of tidbits you may find useful this month. The first being Ebay, packing, shipping and insurance. I'll let the words of the buyer tell you the story. It started with an auction for a lobster plate in an unusual glaze, probably a test piece.
This is a story of broken pottery in transit -

" the Saga continues,

I went to the PO today, and they said all they would pay would be the
limit of insurance which would be $50.00 for $1.65 paid, but the
declared value was only $27, so they might not pay but that Amt. plus
the shipping. 

The est. to repair the place from an internet place I found was $600-700.
In any event, they also said they may not pay anything because it
appeared that there was not 3" of padding around the entire piece. 

I was at a branch office and they said I need to go to main office to
present the pkg. for evaluation.  Looks like I'll be lucky to get my
money back.
  It's hard to say exactly what the lesson for the buyer is here. Other than we are at the seller and shipper's mercy. In this case the shipper was the USPS.
  The next thing I've been sitting on for a while is some mini creamer questions. A creamer like these show up on page 90 of Pam Curran's Shawnee Pottery book. This one apparently is marked U.S.A.. I have seen a number of creamers that look like this, but never marked. Also, as a lot of you know there is a matching open sugar. I, as well as some of my "experts", feel these unmarked ones may not be Shawnee. There is no way I know  to prove this either way, so I'll just give you some pictures to ponder. Part of the original question was whether the pink creamer and sugar are Shawnee. I haven't found anyone that thinks they are.
If you have any thoughts on this, let me know.                   
  Now we have a Sailor cookie jar with a dishonorable discharge -
Vintage
Vintage
New
New
  I have saved this for last, because it's not Shawnee. But, how many times have you seen these banks accredited to Shawnee. I've learned something about Royal Copley with this exchange. It all started with an "is this pig bank Shawnee". The first pair of pictures came with the question. Surely not Shawnee, so I suggested Royal Copley or maybe American Bisque because of the flat bottom. Shortly after our initial exchanges I was on my way to GA and found one in an antique mall, or so I thought. I took some pics to show the person that was asking for comparison with her's. It's shown in the second pictures.
These banks are about the same size. The label and stamp on the bottom are pretty clear as to who made it. This led me to think the one above was a repro, probably Japan.
  Now for the rest of the story. The lady wasn't satisfied with my "I don't know" and continued her research.
  "Wanted to let you know what I found out... The bank you found and sent pictures of is the royal copley bank,and it does have what they call 2 runners "ridges", it was also stamped with the green stamp.
      My pig is the same height as a pig lamp made by royal copley. This lamp also has the unfinished flat bottom like my pig. Also where the shirt and belly come together looks more like my pig.The lamp is also an unmarked royal copley, as is my pig.
       The best I can come up with is, Spaulding the maker of royal copley, also produced the royal windsor line for florists etc... To keep the peace they they had to change something about the copley pieces to make them a windsor. So maybe my pig is a windsor... or it is possible that an employee made my pig special, because this was something that happened often.
      So my pig is a perfect match the royal copely lamp expect it is a bank...
     What do you think????"
  So what do I think? - I think she did an excellent job of researching this little pig.  Funny how it comes back to the possible "lunch box" piece. Thank you Carla
  I've given Lin the day off. So now I'm forced catch up on my backlog.
  Some information for new collectors that may be useful for those of us who haven't been paying close attention over the years. I received an email asking about the animal figural banks of the Pekingese, Squirrel, Tumbling Bear, etc mini-figural series. She was asking about a Shawnee Bear bank for sale on ebay. After my reply she told the seller it was not Shawnee, which the seller didn't think was true because it was marked on the bottom - Shawnee. The seller contacted Lin and I to find out what's going on. Below is in part the explanation Lin provided the seller of the figural bank -
  "The banks were fashioned after the set of original miniature animal figurines and produced by The New Shawnee Pottery out of Zanesville, Ohio, in the later 1990's. If I recall correctly - the owner of the new  company was Cecil Rapp, also a long time Shawnee collector - he also produced the Sowly Pig cookie jar and Farmer Pig cookie jar - both original designs (there is  a vintage farmer pig set of salt and peppers but never a jar)  It has caused confusion among collectors and sellers for many years.  They are  high quality and still collectible - I am familiar with your second high bidder  and am guessing they know the piece is not vintage but may still be interested,  just a guess on my part.
  I reviewed your listing when the buyer contacted me and realized you weren't aware of the origin - definitely not an intentional misrepresentation as so many Ebay listings are today - we deal with it almost daily. I hope this helps clarify the history of the bank."
  It turned out the seller was unaware of the history of the piece and let the high bidder bailout with no hard feelings or negative feedbacks. An honest, intelligent seller, not the Carolina crooks. Basically everyone lived happly ever after, a rare Ebay ending.
Happy New Year, Doug
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