Grueby Pottery Green-Glaze Vase, ca. 1910
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GUEST:
It was given to my husband's grandparents as a wedding gift in around the early 1930s and has been passed through the family since.
APPRAISER:
And they were from which region?
GUEST:
They're from Ohio, I believe Akron. Since we watch Antiques Roadshow, we know a lot of ceramics come out of Ohio, so we kind of suspect maybe this is a piece from one of the artists in Ohio.
APPRAISER:
The Arts & Crafts movement in this country started in the 1890s or so and went on until the 1920s. And it's done in that period.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRASIER: So it could indeed have been given as a wedding gift, but it would have been old then. It's made somewhere between 1905 and 1915 or so.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRASIER: This was made by the Grueby Pottery of Boston, Massachusetts.
GUEST:
Oh. Well, that's a surprise.
APPRAISER:
It's one of the great potteries of this country. The quality was wonderful. And they really epitomized the Arts & Crafts movement because what they made was so organic looking that it's been said it was like picking something out of a garden. Like a cucumber or a squash. They were looking to have a really vegetal glaze to most of their pieces. Now, there's a few other glazes that they would use, like brown or blue-gray, for example, but the green is what they made most of, and that is the most collectible.
GUEST:
Very pretty, too.
APPRAISER:
It's all hand-thrown. The leaves, which you see here, full-height leaves, were all rolled as little pieces of clay and put one at a time.
GUEST:
Is that so?
APPRAISER:
And what makes this piece rare is that it has these little buds in between. You don't see many of those. And that these particular buds are not green, they're not yellow-- they're ivory. If you collect this, this is very good. So the glaze is great, the shape is great, it's a nice, big size. What is too bad about this is that it has several small chips on it. But it's still wonderful. At auction, I would estimate that, conservatively, these days, at $4,500 to $6,500.
GUEST:
Oh, wonderful. It's been very informative. I never would have known that.
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