British Rainbow Spatterware Pot, ca. 1860
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GUEST:
A friend of mine was settling his parents' estate, and he knew I liked antiques, and so he invited me to come in and pick what I wanted. I just loved it on sight, but I got some other things too. But I really like this teapot. I like spongeware and have some pieces of blue. I have never seen yellow. I've seen green and red...
APPRAISER:
Let's talk a little about what it is. It's a coffee pot, by the way. It was made in England, in Staffordshire, in the midlands of England, probably around the time of the Civil War. I would say around 1860.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
And you mentioned spongeware, which is a variety of decoration. This one we would call spatterware, which is a little different from spongeware, but they're both techniques basically designed to decorate pottery inexpensively and quickly to kind of maximum effect. This type of thing was made in England, but exclusively, really, for the export market, and particularly to the United States export market. You don't see many of them after the end of the 19th century, and they're mostly limited to the middle or the third quarter of the 19th century. How long ago did you buy it?
GUEST:
About 15 years ago.
APPRAISER:
Okay, and may I ask what you paid for it at the estate?
GUEST:
Because I bought other things together, I think my bill was $42 to $46, and I think this had ten dollars on it, I think.
APPRAISER:
Ten dollars?
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
This is what we call, by the way, rainbow spatterware. And rainbow spatterware is, perhaps, the rarest and certainly the most desirable of all the varieties of spatterware. And there isn't much of it around today, one reason being, I think, that this was originally an inexpensive object, and people used it and didn't necessarily treasure it or look after it. But this one survived rather nicely. There is a little bit of staining here, just a tiny bit of staining. And a tiny little chip on the spout, as you would expect. But this is in great condition in most things. Well, I think your ten-dollar investment has gone a long way. We all believe that if it came to auction, the low estimate would be about $3,000 and the high estimate could be as much as $5,000.
GUEST:
Such a nice little thing. It's so pretty, I love it, but that's nice to know, too. I didn't think that.
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