Back again! Take a look at my new shelves

My apologies for the longest ever gap between posts... we moved house, then I got a hideous cold and retired to my bed - and we seem to have been packing and unpacking forever. I swear we will never move again.

But out of this trauma has come the most wonderful thing. For the first time ever, I have space to display some of my collection! I bought these Lundia office shelves online and now they're painted white and bracketed firmly to the wall, and I am slowly slowly filling them.  This is still very much a work in progress, mountains of boxes are still unopened in the garage, but you can see where I am heading.

 (Apologies in advance for substandard pix, I took these in haste just before my camera died. I can't QUITE put my hand on the charger at present!) The display will change and change again as I work out some kind of cohesive 'story' to my collection, but one thing is certain. Centre stage will go the originals, the first things Crown Lynn - then known as Ambrico - made.

Far left is one of the jiggered early mugs, behind it a bowl made for the American Army in the very early 1940s. The others are trickle glazed vases made through the 1940s. They share a shelf with this jug, an early household item in a classic and much-used shape.

Then there are my later jugs... 1950s and perhaps into the early 1960s.

And this striking jug with the rare Rigo Giftime backstamp. Like most of this pattern it is much the worse for wear, the black glaze flakes off. I am pondering the ethics of filling in the flaky bits with new paint. I know that one is NOT supposed to do that, but I feel that as long as I don't try to sell it, then it's ok to re-create how it originally looked. I'll ponder that - not doing anything hasty.

I'm working on a hotel ware section. These are the smallest jugs, given to me by George's brother who worked at Crown Lynn for a while. He recalls that this pattern has some nautical connection - perhaps it was used by a yacht club or on a ferry service.. does anyone remember?

Then here are some of my Cook & Serve coffee cans. There are more - still in a box! I also have black saucers which I have yet to find.

And lastly, I am so very happy this wee mug survived the move unscathed. It's my all-time favourite pukeko pattern, the only one I have ever bought and probably the only one I will ever own. They are like hen's teeth.

There will be more once I find my charger!

All the best till then

ValM

Airways - a collector's dream



Just look at this little beauty, an Air New Zealand butter dish from 1965. It's only 8 cm wide, and at best guess worth somewhere between $50 and $80.

This Air New Zealand ware is truly lovely, and highly collectable. A while ago I met someone who has a whole dinner set. She wouldn't tell me what she paid, but you can guarantee that it is worth much much more now. The first design for this ware was gold on turquoise, but the gold wouldn't stand up to industrial dishwashers so they chose brown instead. This is what the backstamp looks like:

Later, in the late 1970s Crown Lynn made ware for Air NZ second class - the initial order in 1977 was 330,000 pieces. In dark brown with a subtle Koru emblem, it's quite classy but it doesn't tug the heartstrings like the turquoise. In any case they are far far superior to the disposable plastic that comes with the disposable food on airlines these days!

Often the dishes have strange long numbers and letters on the back - they denote specific aircraft, I have been told.

It pays to check before swooping on this ware in junk shops. Some was made in Japan - check the backstamp carefully! This is Japanese:

This is Crown Lynn.

More collectable than the grim brown are Air NZ beakers and ashtrays, in honey glaze from in the Titian factory. I love their graphics, moulded into the shape. The beaker is 9 cm high, the ashtray about 20 cm wide including the handles.  I assume this is an ashtray, but then again it might have been a platter - can anyone enlighten me?

 

This is the base of the beaker. The only ashtray I have seen is unmarked.

They also made a few beakers in a gorgeous lively green:

(Thanks to Ev for letting me photograph some of these items from her collection).

 

Crown Lynn also made ware for other airlines. This classic little casserole was for Qantas. The mini-casserole shape was used over and over again for all sorts of domestic and commercial ranges, they must have made millions of them.

Note that the Qantas backstamp was applied separately to the Cook & Serve stamp - with no consideration as to which way up it goes! 

Here is a British Airways dish, the same shape as the brown one above.

This is the backstamp:

Last, I have a little mystery. This gorgeous hotel ware oval plate (also known as an ashet) is the same turquoise as the Air New Zealand ware.

I have no idea when it was made or why. It has the standard vitrified ware backstamp which was used from around 1955-1970:

But it also has some impressed marks which I have not seen elsewhere.

AND it has a very fuzzy shape number (1631) also not usually seen on plates.

If anyone can tell me who this plate was made for, I would be most grateful. And if anyone has any for sale, I would be even more grateful! I would love a set of four for our motor home.

In the next couple of weeks we are moving house, so there will be a bit of a gap before my next post.
Take care meanwhile
ValM

 

 

 

 

 

Made in New Zealand... plastic!

This week I'm taking a brief break from Crown Lynn to introduce you to some of my lovely collection of  New Zealand made plastic kitchen jars, all picked up for a few cents in op shops.  This is my favourite:

It's about 9 cm tall, and on the base it is marked Premier Pl.  Premier Plastics is still operating in Auckland, still making containers of various sorts. I also have a  brown jar in the same gingham pattern, I am not sure if there are other colours.

There were several NZ manufacturers of plastic jars as far back as the 1970s and 1980s. Each jar was moulded, then screen printed individually on hand-operated semi-automatic machines. There are quite a few different brand marks on the base of these jars. This spotted treasure is marked  Aunty Auckland New Zealand. It is tall, at 23 cm, and normally holds my couscous.

My rolled oats jar is also tall, made by Smiths Plastics which operated out of Newmarket. It is not marked on the base. The red and white blips are soap bubbles I believe. Smiths Plastics manufactured for Service Wholesale which were also based in Newmarket.

Another manufacturer was Nuon Industries; an upper case NUON is imprinted on the base of this jar with orange flowers. You may be able to see that the plastic has darkened slightly, a sign that it will not last for too many more years. Light very slowly but surely denatures the plastic, making it brittle.

And to finish, here is one more classic: its barrel shape is the same as the glass coffee jars of the same era. This jar, made by Premier Plastics, appears with prints in various other colours and styles.

This is only a small selection of the range of NZ made kitchen jars. They came in all shapes and sizes, including a square version in various heights. They are not perfect - the screw tops are not airtight, and after many years of use the plastic is inclined to split around the top where the lids screw on.  They have no particular value at present, but they are a New Zealand product - a memory of a bygone age before so much manufacturing got moved to China.

Despite the offshore competition, not all is doom and gloom in the plastics industry. Several of the 1970s-1980s manufacturers still survive, though most are under new names and of course they're making different products. One highlight is Systema, a New Zealand company making a wide range of plastic containers and drink bottles which you will have seen in many shops and supermarkets. Often the name of the manufacturer and the country of origin is marked on the base or on the label. Check before you buy, and...
Buy New Zealand made!
Take care
ValM



1970s brown - Country Fair

It's not to everyone's taste, but the brown Country Fair range deserves more recognition than it gets.  Just look at this chunky salt pig - how cool and classic 70s is THAT?

It's huge too, 14.5 cm tall. The Country Fair range was released with fanfare in 1978, designed at Crown Lynn and made at the Crown Lynn owned Titian factory.  (For those who don't remember the 1970s, a salt pig was believed to keep salt dry. There was one on almost every kitchen bench.)  I also have another salt pig in a similar style, but this one is designed to hang on the wall.

This is what it looks like from the back, you can see the hole that was used to hook it onto a nail.



Though the hanging salt pig is the same colours as some Country Fair ware, it has a different mark on the back - Titianware NZ.  The Country Fair range has the standard 'Made in New Zealand' and a four-digit shape number on the base. This is the base of the first salt pig above. Often the numbers and lettering are submerged in the thick brown glaze.

Almost without exception, Country Fair came with an identifying sticker:

I have amassed a small collection of Country Fair. Here is a mug I am particularly fond of. It's bigger than most at 8 cm high, and a nice shape to drink out of.

Country Fair ware all has distinctive raised dots moulded into the shape. There are two main colourways - green as in the first salt pig, and this dark brown. The darker glaze has an attractive steely finish which contrasts nicely with the glossy glaze trickled over the top.  This is a detail from the salt pig. You can see the glaze is not perfect - air bubbles have popped up where the two glazes meet. This style of decoration is a revival of the trickle glaze (or more correctly flowing glaze) technique used to such effect on the collectable 1940s vases.

There are myriad of Country Fair items including towering jugs (about 14 cm tall)...

lidded cheese platters (9 cm high)...

soup ramekins (6.5 cm high)...

and even this vase, in a shape which is more commonly seen in white. It is 17.5 cm end to end.

There is also a series of corked kitchen storage jars in various sizes.
After the launch of the brown and green Country Fair range, Crown Lynn made a few examples in apricot and white. The results were a bit mixed. I really like this little milk jug with its glossy white glaze.

But WHY did they plonk floral transfers on so much of their ware when a clean finish looks so much nicer, the shapes carry themselves. This teapot (14 cm high) is shut firmly in a box because the odd little Italian-style transfer offends me!

(But then, who am I to judge when the designers and marketing people were only following the fashions of the time?)
I found some apricot Country Fair a few years ago, I have to admit it's quite pretty, despite the floral transfers.  The jug and sugar bowl are 7.5 cm high.

But sadly it got wet and mouldy in a box in our leaky shed. Such a pity... the glaze was crazed and moisture got in, then black mould grew. No amount of soaking, bleaching and exposure to the sun fixed the problem and this is what it looks like now. A very real example of what can happen if you don't look after your treasures!

More next week.
Take care till then
ValM

 

Another new backstamp!

Just after my book went to print I bought this interesting duo on TradeMe - with a Tudor British backstamp I had never seen before. In the intro of my book I said there were no doubt more backstamps than I had listed - just as well!

This is a1950s - early 1960s cup and saucer, with this backstamp, beautifully applied in gold.

On the other side of the cup and saucer there is this interesting image - victims of our huntsman. Poor little things. I think this is what they mean in those old historical novels when they talk about our hero coming back from his shoot with a brace of partridge.

 

The only other Tudor backstamp I have come across is on this 1950s desert plate which I bought at great expense from a dealer because it is not a common mark. The rose is a hand-applied transfer, the pink is sprayed-on glaze, and the gold rim is also applied by hand.

 

My other recent TradeMe extravagance was this Wildlife British plate. This too is a very unusual backstamp - I had to go to the museum to photograph one for my book. I have only ever seen this mark on cake plates decorated with this transfer of Canada geese - please can you let me know if you have seen it on anything else. 

 Once again I love this backstamp, just look at the two flying ducks above the word Wildlife.

On TradeMe this plate came with a mug, also decorated with the Canada Geese. It is unmarked, which is unusual for Crown Lynn mugs; they usually had 'Made in New Zealand' moulded into the base. It is a Crown Lynn shape, and it may be Crown Lynn, but then again it may have been  manufactured overseas, and decorated with the same transfer as the plate. The transfers were probably not exclusive to Crown Lynn.

 

Last, I have to share this little demitasse I found for $5 in our charity shop up the road. It's backstamp is Jubilee British.  These little cups and saucers are pretty much totally useless, so many of them have survived in the back of Nana's cupboard or the china cabinet.  This one is a particularly lovely shade of eggshell blue so into my china cabinet it goes!

I think that next week I will write about plastic kitchen storage jars... no they're not Crown Lynn, but they are New Zealand made. Watch this space! Meanwhile it's time to get back to bottling peaches; our trees have had a bumper crop this summer. YUM.

 

Take care

ValM