by  Linda Romberg
  Apr 2009
SHAWNEE TALES 
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Updated Mar 21st
  Spring in Arizona but so many of you I keep in touch with are still in the midst of winter with  snow!  Here I am envying so many of you the early flea markets, auctions and I forget the weather can create a lot of issues for so many of you!
  If you have been watching Ebay you probably saw our prime counterfeiter Larry's newest Lucky elephant - pretty jar but his own handy work  and bidders continue to jump on his doctored pieces - Doug is terrific about  posting alerts so please do not hesitate to email either Doug or myself if you question the authenticity of a piece - we may not have all the answers but are willing to help whenever we can.
  There IS a Lucky elephant with hand  painted flowers that is legitimate - it showed up on Ebay several years ago - I have a Smiley with hair with the same decoration - in the typical orange and green paint found on the extra decoration of flowers - I had bought the jar as  one with hair sight unseen - almost told the shop to leave the base as was worried it would damage the lid - was so stunned when I opened the bottom first  - learned to never leave half a jar (just in case).

  Another jar with suspicion we touched on in the last newsletter - the blue bib Smiley with red hair. I received numerous calls on this jar - word has it experienced collectors viewed this jar prior to being  listed - drove a day each way.  The seller had two different stories -  supposedly recently finding it and paying close to $2,000 - the other story was finding it in the Niagara Falls area on their honeymoon years ago.  Folks, the more story to a jar the
more suspicious you need to be - I am sure all of you have seen these elaborate tales with some of the listings - I am certain many are legitimate but have often seen the fakes or repros with those wonderful stories - early on the decorated reproduction Chanticleer that we are all familiar with - how many of those came from "estate sales" or grandma's  kitchen????  The collectors that went to Pennsylvania to see the Smiley actually scraped off some of the decoration on the back of the hair area - visible in the pictures later posted
online. While the pictures looked good, they said the jar was nowhere near as pretty. I didn't have any of these details when I saw the jar listed, my main concern was the pale blue bib, not having seen any of them gold trimmed and the fact that all my knowledge has been the red hair comes only on a green bib - usually with the chrysanthemum bottom rather than the shamrock though some people over the years may have  changed the base - not original owners but collectors themselves because we have been programmed that is the usual match. What is most distressing about this particular jar is it appears to be connected to a long time Shawnee collector/dealer who has been on the scene for many years. Someone who has always been above reproach in my opinion. 
  The first time this jar was listed you may recall the listing ended early - the report I got was a big collector purchased it - was very disappointed when she had her hands on inspection so had to second day air it back to meet the sellers refund conditions - notice in the relisting there was NO REFUNDS and the seller tried  to back off the legitimacy issues saying some people questioned the decoration..........  it ended with a fairly low price while the yellow bib  with hair went over a thousand so maybe we are getting the message across about  these scams.
  Description listing for the red headed blue bib on Ebay
On a happier note  -

  There was a wonderful mold variation found by collectors this past month - an extremely rare piece - likely a test mold as over the years we only know of one, maybe two others being found. This is the Smiley milk pitcher with the spray of flowers but the spray is offset to the side. How many of us would notice this immediately if we spotted it - I often wonder if in our rush through markets and shops we miss some unusual pieces?

  I am always amazed at how "standardized" so much of the decoration was for the 40's, 50's and 60's - the consistency is impressive. Wouldn't all of us love the opportunity to have been in the factory and see production of this wonderful pottery???

Another unusual  find is a pair of yellow bib Smiley shakers - I have never seen any like  them.
  We are still looking for pictures of  YOUR collections - even any unusual displays you might have that you want to share with other collectors!
Until next  month,

Lin                                 linromb@aol.com
Doug's Corner
  Would the person that discussed this bank smiley with me please contact me, seems  I had an inbox cleaning and your address got away from me.
Last but not least, try to keep up with Larry -
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Also  shawnee4me@-----------------  , this email address doesn't work for me. Please update it for me.
Zanesville Pottery Festival info - http://www.potterylovers.org/