Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Pretty in Pink...

A while ago I was sent this photo.
Then it turned out this was only part of the pink collection. Here's some more!
All this quite took my breath away - and I hope the collector has it well insured. This pink glaze was not easy to apply evenly, and consequently there is not much pink Crown Lynn ware around. Ernie Cooper, who began at Crown Lynn in the early 1960s and rose to the position of chief chemist then factory manager told me this: "Interestingly the pink colour was made from one of the Blythe Colour works glaze stains (I even remember the number stain 8005) consisting of Chrome/Tin which suffered from an unusual firing fault called white spot. If there was any organic contaminant in the glaze before firing it would cause localised reduction in the glazing kiln resulting in a very noticeable white spot about 3-5 mm in diameter. By the way these cups were dipped in glaze rather than being sprayed, a very interesting and locally produced dipping system was used for this purpose."

 All this made me start thinking about the lack of pink in my collection. Here's my solitary cup and saucer set, which is spoken for - Pete, it's still here waiting for you!
It is possible that as well as the technical difficulties, pink simply wasn't as fashionable as some other colours.  Judging by the amount of chocolate brown, teal blue and olive green colourglaze ware around, there is little doubt that they were the front runners at the time.  Anyway, for the record, here's the rest of my pink collection. A kitchen bowl, backstamped Aero British:

And my mostly-pink dessert bowl, backstamped Tudor.
 
That's about it for me. Unlike some, I definitely can't claim the title of Pink Princess.
More next time
Happy collecting!
ValM

                  

7 comments:

  1. Wowee, the pink collection is stunning! I have a pink cup and jug and that is it from years of op-shop rummaging so i suspected they were somewhat rarer, and now i know why!

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  2. Oooh famous! Love your blog Val. X

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  3. I think I recognise that collection - though I haven't seen it for real... yet.
    You have me thinking about how soft colours, rose motifs and indeed pink, were features of the late 1950s/early 60s, and that maybe pink, though it might have been popular in Britain and America didn't quite have the mass appeal here in NZ. It may not have been considered very practical! Neat to read about the chemistry of application. I've been following your blog while I was in England but Google Chrome doesn't allow me to comment, so I'm trying this via Internet Explorer.

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  4. Jeez! You say you hope it's insured. How much is that collection worth?

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    1. To be honest, i have no idea how much this collection is worth. But if you search 'Crown Lynn pink' on TradeMe you will see that pink is one of the rarer and more collectable colours.

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  5. Catherine Anselmi explains her use of a Crown Lynn stamp here: http://www.newzealandpottery.net/t2670-crown-lynn-catherine-anselmi-stamped-fruit-bowl#21876

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  6. Thank you Jeremy. That is very useful info from Catherine herself.

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