Weller Pottery Vase, ca. 1910
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GUEST:
I found this at a house sale, along with another pot, probably about 15 years ago.
APPRAISER:
So did you pay very much for it?
GUEST:
Probably around $300 for the two pots that I bought.
APPRAISER:
Two pieces together.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
And so what's your guess about the age or origin on this?
GUEST:
Well, I think it's old because it's got some crazing on it. I've never seen anything like it. I'd like to find out what it is.
APPRAISER:
Several of us looked at it, and we agree with you that it is an old vase. It dates probably around 1910. And it is American.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And it's an interesting mix of styles here. The shape is very Art Nouveau. We have this wonderful poppies-- these are poppies here-- design. And you see the stems going down the front of the vase.
GUEST:
Sure.
APPRAISER:
And then we've got this great reticulation around it. And even on the back side, it's really hard to see, there's even some faint poppies on the back of the vase--
GUEST:
Mhmm.
APPRAISER:
--which is kind of interesting. So the shape is a very much of an Art Nouveau shape. But this kind of green mottled glaze, which was very popular around 1910, is more of an Arts and Crafts type thing. So we've got kind of a mixture of the Art Nouveau style moving into Arts and Crafts style, so we've got this green Arts and Crafts glaze. So when we look at this glaze, we think there are so many American potters, they all did it at this time period because it was so popular. Different shades of green and it's always a kind of a matte color, but it was made by Rookwood, it was made by Grueby, it was made by Teco, almost every potter made it. So some of those other places, the three that I mentioned, their stuff, a lot of it was kind of hand made, kind of one of a kind, but this is more of a production piece, more of a mass-produced piece. Actually, this piece was made by Weller Pottery.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
In Zanesville, Ohio.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
There are no marks whatsoever, and normally it is marked. It's normally marked very clearly Weller. This one is unusual that it's not marked. And Weller tried to get on the bandwagon and sell some of this green glaze pottery, which is so popular, and so they made a lot of this pottery. And a lot of their pieces are okay, they're kind of interesting. In terms of this type of pottery, this particular form is the best. In Weller pottery, this is the vase that you want because it's very big and very large, the wonderful reticulation, the poppies. And so this actually is desirable.
GUEST:
Sure.
APPPRAISER: So this particular vase is almost always damaged because of this reticulation in the edges, and so it's hard to find them in good shape. So that's another good point. There is a white spot right here in the reticulation, and at first it may look like a chip, but it's where the glaze did not cover it completely in the manufacturing process. Now a chip would be a bad thing, and this is not so bad. However, it'd be better if it weren't there, but I don't think it's bad enough or obvious enough to where it would significantly affect the monetary value.
GUEST:
All right.
APPRAISER:
When they had these green glaze pieces they were each done individually, and the glaze can vary. What we really like about this one, it's got some wonderful leathering look on it. It's kind of some little crackles in the color in the glaze, and collectors like that.
GUEGST: That's why I bought it. It had the crazing in it like that, and that's why I thought it was old.
APPRAISER:
That happened in the firing. That is not a later problem where it started crazing later, which would be not desirable, but it happened during the firing process, and it actually turned out to be quite aesthetically interesting. At auction, this particular vase would normally sell for somewhere around $2,000 to $2,500.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
It's a really, really good piece.
GUEST:
That's wonderful.
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