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WEDGWOOD COMES TO US ON YOUTUBE

Here is a great YouTube video with history and current information by our friend and Wedgwood Museum Director, Gaye Blake-Roberts. Enjoy

QUICKIE NEWS SPLASH ~ TIME SENSITIVE NEWS


INVENTORY CLEARANCE SALE -25% OFF ALL BONE CHINA ITEMS, PRODUCT #S IN 600 SERIES - BUY CHINA!!


Opening a brand new book that still smells of ink is such a sublime experience, almost as good as that musty smell of an old book reminding us of its history!

Check out our newly listed items on the WEBSITE where things are always changing. AT ALEXIS ANTIQUES ANNEX WE'VE ADDED MORE NON-WEDGWOOD ENGLISH CERAMICS, TO INCLUDE SOME ABSOUTELY ADORABLE ADAMS Titian Ware VERNACULAR HAND PAINTED PLATES. CHECK THEM OUT! We've added lots of new jasperware too, blue and green AND some excellent black basalt wares!


VISITING OUR BLOG

CLICK THE TITLE OF MANY OF THE BLOG POSTS TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE IMAGE OR TEXT OF THE SUBJECT MATTER. BE SURE TO VISIT OUR WEBSITE OFTEN AS THINGS ARE ALWAYS CHANGING. CLICKING THE PHOTO OF THE FEATURE OF THE WEEK WILL TAKE YOU TO ITS LISTING ON OUR SITE. THANK YOU FOR READING!







Monday, December 28, 2009

Dr. Josiah Francis Wedgwood dies in Paris

Dr. Josiah recently attended the Opening Tea of the 250th Wedgwood Exhibit in DC, taking along his son. He was a member of the Wedgwood Society of Washington, DC and a collector. The medical and Wedgwood worlds will be diminished by his passing. Please click on this post's title to go to the newspaper story with all the details.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Another great WEDGWOOD TEA opportunity with His Lordship FEB 6

THIS EVENT HAD TO BE POSTPONED UNTIL THE END OF MARCH DUE TO
BLIZZARD IN WASHINGTON, DC. IF YOU PAID FOR A RESERVATION, YOU WILL BE RECEIVING A PACKET FROM WEDGWOOD ALONG WITH ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE NEW DATE.

CLICK THIS POST TITLE ABOVE to find out all about another great Wedgwood opportunity in our Nation's Capitol. February 6th brings tea & presentation with Lord Wedgwood, presentation by Tricia Foley and a private tour of the 250th Anniversary Exhibit at the DAR Museum. Reservations must be made by January 25th, tickets $125 each. Oh yes, all this and an event gift too. Call 888-411-8995 or email events@hoffmanmedia.com to register. Lord Wedgwood is a charming man and is always so enthusiastic about the Wedgwood company and its products. Tricia is such a creative lady, you'll love her ideas for displaying your Wedgwood collection. The event begins at 3pm and concludes at 7pm. ENJOY!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

SMITHSONIAN EVENT - GREAT WEDGWOOD OPPORTUNITY JAN 9

Wedgwood collectors who are lucky enough to live in the greater Washington, DC area will be able to enjoy a great post holiday WEDGWOOD fix! Click the title of this post to go directly to the how, why, when & where of the January 9th, 2010 special program WEDGWOOD: 250 YEARS OF INNOVATION, ARTISTRY AND TIMELESS BEAUTY brought to you by The Smithsonian Associates & Wedgwood at the DAR Museum. This presentation will take place all afternoon and attendees will be treated to a seminar and afternoon tea with Lord Wedgwood and the lovely Curator of Decorative Arts of the Birmingham (AL) Museum of Art. The BMA is not only the home of the Beeson Collection of Wedgwood, but now also the famous and fabulous Buten Collection from Long Island, formerly of Merion, PA. You will hear from both His Lordship and Anne Forschler about the heritage, traditional craft skills and the evolution of products and designs. A favorite subject of ours, creative ways to display your collection, will also be discussed along with ways to mix patterns...another passion of ours!

Don't miss this great opportunity to see the 250th Anniversary of Wedgwood Exhibition, meet some of the elite of the Wedgwood world and enjoy a cuppa from a Wedgwood bone china teacup no doubt! You can go to our LINKS for more information on the 250th celebration. Those of us in the rest of the world will just have to be satisified with hearing about the fabulous afternoon from our friends! ENJOY!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO OUR FRIENDS

Merry Christmas to all our Wedgwood friends. We hope you are enjoying this winter season up to the holidays. Be sure to give us a look for your Christmas or holiday gifting needs! We have plenty of inventory in stock, jasper items of many colors, china pieces for tablescape accents and replacements for many patterns. For the bibliophiles among you, we have loads of Wedgwood books and other fun odds and ends with Wedgwood themes - think prints to frame, fabric for crafting, lots of fun Wedgwood stuff!

Remember we always ship right up to the last day - this year you can ship via Express Mail on the 23rd for Christmas Eve delivery.

May your family have a blessed Christmas and happy and prosperous New Year!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Wedgwood Room in Memphis

A Wedgwood friend of ours, Kirk, lives in a retirement community in Memphis that really has its act together! It is located in an old mid-town ten story building that was opened in 1924. The first floor public area has 18 to 20 foot tall ceilings, lots of wood paneling, large windows and French doors and cast plaster ceiling moldings all reflected in etched glass and mirrors. Kirk describes it as "...very elegant, like walking into an old, grand hotel". The best part is that the dining room is called The Wedgwood Room and is decorated in appropriate colors, no surprise there! There is a glass and wood case near the entrance that contains about a dozen pieces of Wedgwood (probably from residents' collections?)...and three pieces which aren't Wedgwood, but Kirk isn't telling which ones! The building is called The Parkview because it was built at the entrance to a very large park, Overton Park, established in the late 1800s on what was then the outskirts of the city. There one will find the world-class zoo, a 9 hole golf course, Museum of Art, outdoor amphitheatre, War Memorial and a large area of old forest. Sounds like the perfect place for a retired Wedgwoodian to live and entertain guests! The restaurant isn't open to the public, but maybe one can pop in and sneak a peek! Over the years many restaurants known as The Wedgwood Room or similar names have been in existence. One of our long list of in-progress research projects is an article about them. We had a Wedgwood Room in our local Famous-Barr department store in St. Louis, all those eons ago when I was a little girl!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

LOTS NEW IN STOCK

Just in lots of jasperware - blues, sage green, spruce green, a couple pieces of black and some pastels. There are also some new pieces of jewelry too. One treat is the gray jasper cupid plate, a good rare color. The NEW AND FEATURED ITEMS page is a good place to start, just remember there are many more new items than those on the left-hand panel, so be sure to go to the browser and browse your favorite categories. These new pieces are all contemporary pieces in excellent to mint condition. It's time for Christmas shopping so we hope to hear from you soon! JUST CLICK THE TITLE OF THIS POST TO GO TO OUR WEBSITE

Thursday, September 10, 2009

GIFT BETWEEN NATIONS

On October 2 when the Exhibition to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of Wedgwood & Sons opens at the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum in Washington, DC, one of the activities at the Opening Day tea will be the presentation by Piers, Lord Wedgwood of a moumental piece of Wedgwood jasperware made especially for this occasion to the people of the United States. Click this blog title to read the recent UK newspaper coverage of the moving of the Gift from the UK to America.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

REAL JASPER WARE - DON'T BE CONFUSED

A couple of weeks ago the Barlaston factory made redundant (laid off) more workers. There is no more jasper production except specially commissioned pieces, a few one off pieces in the Museum's exhibition area and high end prestige wares. It has come to our attention that Tuesday Morning is selling a blue and white "jasper" teaset in its stores. This set is part of the Wedgwood 250th anniversary celebration merchandise offering, but it is made in China, and is NOT traditional jasper. It is a molded bisque type product, think of the Christmas ornaments of late and you'll know what we mean. These same teasets are turning up now on eBay of course at far higher prices and it is our opinion unsuspecting buyers are going to be very disappointed when they discover what they have received. There is another complication, which Peggy Kerner, a friend and Wedgwood expert, has recently shared. The composition of the "new" porcelain Wedgwood seems to be calling Jasper does not meet proper lead content standards. Imagine this, going backwards several generations in the technology of safety. Probably don't want those tea parties to include actually drinking from the "new" faux jasper! Of course, those who just love the look won't be disappointed, they are lovely to look at! Unfortunately the company is not announcing the difference, and inexperienced shoppers won't have a way to know...so the words of the day are buyer beware!!! In the promo photo, the teaset looks like jasper! The only way for a Wedgwood collector to purchase real jasper and other Wedgwood dry body products now is on the secondary market. There are some companies selling a product they call Wedgwood Black Basalt, but the factory isn't making such; they did make some black jasper pieces with a special polishing technique to try to emulate basalt, but it is not basalt. Find a dealer you can trust, read up on the marks and ask questions. You won't find new Wedgwood dry bodied wares, i.e., jasper, basalt, caneware, etc., so relax with a good Wedgwood reference book, teach yourself then shop with a reputable dealer who knows the products. If you just love the jasper "look" then there are plenty of products around; one can find Wedgwood's new products on their own website. And Wedgwood certainly is continuing in the china dinnerware business, of course it is no longer English bone china, but china made in Indonesia by Wedgwood employees. Note the paper labels on many products, once these are washed away, there is no longer any manufacturer's identification!

We are frequently asked to appraise pieces of jasperware which aren't Wedgwood. One company which made gorgeous blue jasper was Adams. If you see the December, 2009 issue of The Magazine Antiques, check out the ad on page 31, a beautiful array of antique Adams blue & white jasper, ca 1790-1800. That's real jasper too! It's not Wedgwood jasper, but if you love the blue and white stoneware with classical figures in beautiful relief, you'll love looking at this photo. There is some gorgeous Christopher Dresser Minton china in another article, not to be missed!

Monday, August 10, 2009

POTS AT MARTHA'S AND OTHER STUFF TOO!

We really subscribe to Martha Stewart Living to see how she's using her Wedgwood collection to illustrate her articles, and this month, unlike several recently, she hasn't disappointed us on that score - today arrived the new issue, gee how can it be the September issue already??? Check out the gorgeous decorator ideas, especially the fabulous array of terra cotta pots on page 121 - you too can achieve that look, just use your imagination, hit some garage sales or go to the title of this blog post, click and voila, you'll see some of the fabulous English terra cotta pots Martha recommends (see the article on page 21). AND if you are lucky enough to live in New England, be sure to take the Cabot Farms tour! See their great ad, and awful sounding recipe, on page 97. Their cheese is wonderful and the tour is tres interesante. Oh, the Wedgwood, hmm, see the lovely dark green glaze cabbage leaf plates on page 131 - and please remember, these are Josiah's Green Glaze Ware, he invented this lovely dark green glaze, and it's NOT Majolica - no matter how many eBay sellers try to convince us it is. Majolica and green glaze wares are not the same...do a bit of reading and you'll see the difference! Cheers!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

WEDGWOOD, PORTMEIRION & SPODE IN THE NEWS

Click on this blog post title to go to a recent UK Sentinel news article about Wedgwood current events. The following news was found on Kovels Komments, the Kovels blog, from an email link today. I can't seem to verify it in the UK papers we monitor, but if it's true it will be a big boon to the Spode and Royal Worcester brands. We'll keep looking for more new! "The Spode and Royal Worcester brand names and trademarks, patents, etc. have been purchased from Royal Worcester Spode by Portmeirion Potteries for $5.27 million. Portmeirion plans to continue making the brands' products and some patterns. Portmeirion's chairman says some of the brands' patterns, including Spode's Blue Italian and Christmas Tree and Royal Worcester's Evesham, will be "reinvigorated." " Send us an email or contact us through our website if you have any information that we could share on the buyout of Spode and Royal Worcester and we'll post it!

Friday, July 31, 2009

THAT PESKY EXTRA E

In filing and generally trying to clean up my office today I was putting some old china catalogues in a binder when I noticed a nice 8.5" x 11" color brochure mailed to me in 1983 from Robin Importers, Inc. 510 Madison Ave., NY NY.... They must have used a mailing list from a Wedgwood "club" to which I belonged. There are lovely color photos of various china and Queen's Ware patterns, with the pattern name printed below ... Adams-Lancaster, Mikasa-Silk Flowers, WedgEwood-Flying Cloud, WedgEwood-Potpourii [sic] ... so much for shiny color catalogues being of any better quality than something lesser! The moral is probably to not ignore smaller companies who can spell but maybe have less "slick" promotional material!!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

LATEST WEDGWOOD 250th PRESS RELEASE

PLEASE CLICK THE TITLE OF THIS BLOG POST TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE LATEST WEDGWOOD 250th CELEBRATION AND EXHIBITION NEWS or find it from HERE . We are adding a lovely set of EASTERN FLOWERS Queen's Ware today which was made in that magic year 1947 and discontinued in the early 1960s. This particular set is in such mint condition we might think it was a reproduction if we didn't know its source! Over the years Josiah Wedgwood & Sons produced many patterns with an oriental motif and this is a lovely example of that genre - timeless and elegant, as at home on today's tables as those post-war patterns were when they were brand new and all the rage!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

WHAT'S NEW AT ALEXIS ANTIQUES THIS WEEK

Recently I was in suburban Chicago and came back with some lovely china from a lovely 92 year old lady leaving her home of 59 years, a home FILLED with historic memorabilia, china, glass, Wedgwood, French china, you name it, she has it! A retired teacher, she had many interests which are beautifully reflected in her collections. In the coming days we will have her beautiful set of 1960s era "Eastern Flowers" Queens Ware displayed on our website - it seems I may even have an original Wedgwood ad for this pattern which will likely be added in for a buyer who might enjoy having it. There is some old Brownfields china which looks very much like it was designed by famed Wedgwood and Minton designer Thomas Allen. We also have a great historic plate showing a different scene of Fort Ticonderoga than what we already have in stock, and a spectacular polychrome, mint condition "Jenny Lind" plate. For those of you who love the brown Aesthetic transferware of the late 1800s, you'll find a large, two handled floor urn/vase too. It would be gorgeous with dried fall flowers, sunflowers, feathers, or whatever your imagination can conjure up! So stay tuned and visit the website this week for some new "sights".

Monday, July 13, 2009

WEDGWOOD IN THE NEWS

For those of you who might belong to the Wedgwood International Seminar and couldn't go this year, or those of you just interested in what the WIS is all about, we have linked to an article in the UK Sentinel of 11 June 2009 which tells about the WIS members and their tour this year to the Potteries in UK. Pictured are active Wedgwoodians Bob Reichner from Illinois, Mike Smith from California, Ellis Rubin from PA and Anne Forschler-Tarrasch, curator at the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama, all personally known to me; I hated to miss this year, but daughters graduating from Medical School just don't grow on trees, but they DO keep one in New England, not merry Olde England! Click on the title of this blog post to go right to the Sentinel article.

Also the July issue of The Magazine Antiques is out and you will see an interesting and unusual bough pot c1810 in the ad of Mr. & Mrs. Jerome Blum on page 24. This is not a common shape at all so you might wish to check it out. Those who went to the WIS meeting in Kansas City last year will want to see page 68 for an article about the Nelson-Atkins Museum there which has recently undergone some renovation.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

WEDGWOOD SERENDIPITY

Sometimes we Wedgwoodians glory in the fun of finding Wedgwood even when we are trying not to! This week I was visiting the Marietta, Ohio Campus Martius Museum and the closeby area called Stanleyville, both homes of one of my Revolutionary War ancestors Thomas Stanley and his wife Mixenda Dix Nott Stanley. I've wanted to be there for ages, and finally able to get there on the way home from my recent New England trek. During the guided tour of Gen. Rufus Putnam's preserved home I was busily looking around the late 1700s kitchen and paying rapt attention to the wooden trencher, iron pots and tilt top table owned by Persis Putnam. In the next room, the parlor, sat an antique table with 2 dinner plates and a lovely tureen with underplate. I recognized it immediately but waited until our tour guide paused for questions and I asked if he would lift a plate; he allowed me to do so and of course there was the impressed word WEDGWOOD just as I knew there would be. What they have is 3 pieces of the early feather edge pattern, ca. the mid 1800s - too late to have been in the house when Mrs. Putnam was hostess, but apparently donated by someone later on. I spoke to the small tour group about the china and laughed at the thought of one of my pal's having once told a group I could 'smell' Wedgwood! In the main part of the museum building itself, I found glass cases with other items owned by the original family and descendants in the area...to include a lovely Widow Finial black basalt teapot. If you have read our New and Featured Items frames, you have seen the story of Thomas and Mixenda who migrated from Farmington, CT and settled at Campus Martius. Their daughter, my 4great grandmother Nancy Anna Stanley, was born in one of the blockhouses on 1 Jan 1791, the day before the Indian attacks became more serious and organized. I drove to Marietta from Farmington, CT where I photo'd the graves of Thomas' father and grandfather. Be sure to see our Campus Martius commemorative items by Wedgwood in stock now. And as you read on, you'll see the news of the lovely new Wedgwood book by Tricia Foley. Check page 30 to see the pattern I found at Campus Martius. Illustrated in the book is the soup tureen, the Museum in Ohio has a gorgeous oval covered vegetable dish with underplate, in gorgeous condition and a treat to see since it is a pretty rare pattern to find; there is some at Williamsburg if memory serves.

BACK HOME AGAIN - SO MUCH NEWS

After 5 weeks away, I'm back home and trying to ship orders, unpack, remember where I keep things at home, and glad to be off the road for awhile. There is mail totally covering the dining room table to include, among the stacks, interesting Wedgwood news. First, the receipt of a book we ordered some time ago before it was available, from Amazon.com. Designed & written by Tricia Foley, a former President of Wedgwood USA, and others, it's full of gorgeous table top photos and other scenes of china, Queen's Ware, jasper and black basalt. You will find many things in the book which are in our inventory. Check out page 40, a great illustration of the "Adam" pattern, named after the brothers of architectural fame, but mis-marked on many pieces as "Adams" - we have 3 pieces of that in stock. Page 67 also illustrates items we have in stock as does the Table of Contents page. The book is a treasure trove of ideas for using your Wedgwood collection to compliment your home decor, your meals and your collectible shelves. You'll see scenes from Lord Wedgwood's beautiful home as well, not to be missed. Martha Stewart and Vera Wang designs are also presented. This book is a catalog, a learning tool and a great coffee table book! Find it for less than cover price at Amazon.Com ISBN is 978-0-307-45184-2. You will notice a definite predominance of white and cream patterns, check out our inventory for lots of white and cream, but in particular we have a place setting of the timeless pattern "Wedgwood White" seen on the Title Page of the book, see it here. Additionally you will see on page 150 the timeless Queen's Ware pattern "Edme". Over the years I've written often about this pattern, one of Wedgwood's longest running patterns, in fact I believe that right now it is probably the longest running pattern currently in production. We have a good deal in stock but I'll let you know that the older "Edme" is a creamier color, not as white as the newer pattern seen on page 151. Personally I love mixing stark white and creams, but others might not. Beware as you buy the older patterns to mix with newer ones. Be sure to check our Queen's Ware inventory for undecorated and decorated "Edme" pattern pieces!

Also in our mail is the newest issue of the great newsletter published by The Wedgwood Society of Washington, DC. Loaded with photos this issue, more than normal it seems, it also sports a great, detailed, account of the recent Wedgwood International Seminar in England and more news about the Wedgwood 250th Anniversary Exhibition coming from October to February at the DAR Museum in Washington, DC. Check out our website LINKS to find information on all of these subjects - membership information for WSWDC and WIS, press release for the Wedgwood 250th and much more!

Friday, June 26, 2009

BIRMINGHAM MUSEUM OPENS BUTEN COLLECTION

New Wedgwood Gallery to Open in November

On November 19, 2009 the Birmingham Museum of Art will open its new Wedgwood gallery featuring objects from the Buten Wedgwood Collection. The Collection, which came to the Museum in the fall of 2008, includes more than 8,000 objects dating from the inception of the Wedgwood factory in 1759 through the mid-twentieth century. About 200 objects made in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries will be installed in the new gallery adjacent to the Beeson Wedgwood Collection on the Museum’s third floor. Additionally, a group of pieces dating from the mid-20th century will be presented in the hallway immediately outside the gallery. This new installation will build upon the Museum’s fabulous gallery of eighteenth-century Wedgwood and will further the story of the Wedgwood factory, undoubtedly one of the most important ceramics manufactories ever.

Please join us for the following events:

Thursday, November 19th, 6pm annual Chenoweth Lecture, Dr. Anne Forschler-Tarrasch, The Marguerite Jones Harbert and John M. Harbert III Curator of Decorative Arts, Wedgwood: A Living Tradition, followed by a reception and book signing by Lord Wedgwood.

Friday, November 20th, 5:30pm opening celebration of our new Wedgwood gallery, featuring Anne Forschler-Tarrasch and Lord Wedgwood in conversation in the gallery, with reception. LATER: By all reports the celebrations were wonderful, congratulations Anne and staff for a job well done, as always!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

ART FUND PRIZE JUDGE LAUDS WEDGWOOD

The ceramics world and of course, everyone in Stoke-upon-Trent, is still excited over the recent win by the new Wedgwood Museum of the Art Fund Prize. If you will click the title of this blog post, you'll go to one of the best articles we've seen on the Museum. Our friends at the Museum have been telling me they are so excited and overwhelmed with the support by everyone in the Wedgwood "realm" the world over. Thank you to all of you who voted for The Wedgwood Museum!

Friday, June 19, 2009

WEDGWOOD WINS ART FUND PRIZE!

Great news for the Wedgwood world, for the Staffordshire potteries area, its workers, its residents and all of its businesses. The Wedgwood Museum's winning the Art Fund Prize, as announced yesterday, will ensure the success of the Museum into the future and tourism in the Barlaston area should benefit as well. Read more by clicking on the title of this entry to go to the article in the UK SENTINEL...
Congratulations to all our friends at the Museum!!!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

WEDGWOOD STAFF CHOSEN

9 Jun 2009 - here is today's news from the Staffordshire newspaper, UK Sentinel. The WWWRD buyers have announced the make-up of the new Corporate staff. You can go here to read the article.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Portrait Medallions

Since I've started the Blog, I remembered a box of books, magazines and loose papers that I've been saving for writing articles - might as well get started. It seems that Portrait Medallion collectors don't have as much print material to refer to on their subject as collectors of other categories. Marvin D. Schwartz was the long time Curator of Decorative Arts at the Brooklyn Museum and as such in custody of the Emily Winthrop Miles Collection, given to the Museum in 1953. There are a number of publications about this collection, i.e., Exhibition Catalog from the Museum and auction catalogs as well as a book or two about the collection itself. The February 1968 issue of The Magazine Antiques contains a well-written article by Mr. Schwartz. The Miles Collection contained both "ordinary" and very rare examples, a good cross-section of what was listed in Wedgwood's 18th Century "The heads of Illustrious Moderns from Chaucer to the Present Time". The article points out the amount of detail found in the medallions and discusses the fact that the time was one of interest in people. The medallions illustrated in this article represent the more unusual examples. There are 12 black & white photos of larger medallions, one in basalt, the others in jasper. There is another photo of 9 medallions in a grouping, smaller photo but the figures are recognizable such as Gortius, George III, Shakespeare, Louis XVI and others, among the more "regular" figures. Each subject is discussed and the date and marking plus modeller's name are included in the discussion.

For antique creamware collectors, this issue also has a small ad for a blue feather edge covered tureen with undertray and ladle. The dealer had a set of 64 pieces and wouldn't it be interesting to know where it is now! You can't miss this cover, green with pink romantic Staffordshire figurines - very much a Valentine look for the February issue. These old issues are fun to look for in antiques shops and malls. Take your list with you when you shop!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Wedgwood and Ceramic GLOSSARY

If you go here you will find a concise Wedgood and ceramic Glossary which may help you navigate websites easier. Once you click this link, click the image to make it large enough to read.

Another Elusive Wedgwood Book - a quick review

Another elusive Wedgwood fiction book came our way some time ago. This one has obviously spent time in a wet basement, the binding is falling off, and there is lots of evidence of mold on the cover. The book was bound, produced from a typescript - not hard to tell, the printing is that of a typewriter! The title of this gem is The Wedgwood Pitcher, written in 1944 by Ruby Dell Baugher, a shut-in who wrote several books (Google her name and you'll find a list). In this volume, she thanks her friend who did her library research for her. The book was published by The Hobson Book Press, Cynthiana, KY. The story is a classic one of early American pioneer migration from east across Kentucky and along the Ohio River to a new home and new life in Ohio. Conestoga wagons, trials, tribulations and a Wedgwood pitcher make the journey west with the family of a wife and mother, daughters, sons and slaves. The story is warm and exciting, the love of family stands strong. The Wedgwood pitcher means very little in the grand scheme of the rigorous trip, but everything in the minds of the family members. It represents what they left behind, it represents their status in life, their pride, their sumptuous residence abandoned to the sense of adventure. Reading this book might help understand the psychology of Wedgwood; you won't learn a thing about Wedgwood bodies, history, colors, marks or values, but you will find a sense of pride, a love of beauty, a sense of why collectors collect things - symbols in our lives that tell far more in our minds than sometimes we can express aloud. It's a bit of a laborious read, but probaby worth the trouble in the end! Especially if you are searching for the meaning of your Wedgwood life! Go to this website to find some copies in a few libraries around the country. I'd love to know what you think after you've read it! Enjoy!

Caverswall Castle in Staffordshire

What a gorgeous place to have a wedding, spend a honeymoon or make a movie! Thirteenth century Caverswall Castle in Staffordshire survived the Civil War, provided a safe haven for nuns fleeing the French Revolution and was the home of the Wedgwood family. Sir William de Caverswall founded the castle more than 700 years ago where the two tributaries of the Blythe rise, seven miles south of Stoke-on-Trent. A moat was formed from the river. Completed in 1275, the castle had fallen into disrepair by the late 1500s. Matthew Craddock, wool merchant and mayor of Stafford, began to refurbish the castle in 1625. Members of the Wedgwood family, Hope and Godfrey Wedgwood, moved in during the 1880s, and the home was the center of a great deal of family activity. In 1891 it was bought by W E Bowers, who remained there for 40 years, in which time he added a wing, now a separate residence. In the past few years it was for sale for 2 million GBP. Obviously some enterprising group has purchased it and turned it into a paradise. Go to the website at http://www.caverswall-castle.co.uk/index.htm and enjoy the views. Be sure to go to their History tab and click on both photo albums. The photos are worth the time. The models are a vision themselves, to say nothing of the gorgeous gowns! Enjoy!

The Wedgwood Medallion, A Book Review

BOOK REVIEW

THE WEDGWOOD MEDALLION
By Emily Beatrix Coursolles Jones, Published in London by Chatto & Windus, 1922
302 Pages

Scouting the internet one day, I found this little volume on eBay from a Welsh seller. He was honest that it wasn’t in the best condition, but it is hard-bound and the pages are all intact. Having no pre-conceived idea of its content or subject really, I dug right in. It takes a number of chapters to arrive at the first mention of the Wedgwood medallions collected by the father of some of the main characters. The symbolism comes out as he gives the medallions away to the fiancée of one of his nephews. The book is a love story, very Victorian in style, very much a “coming of age” story. Sweet, innocent people leading sweet, innocent lives. The main character, a young girl living a cloistered life with her mother & sisters on the Devon coast of England, discovers love when a group of young men vacation near her home one summer. She meets one of them and falls in love, but in her own way loves all of them. In the end things change, but the circle remains intact. Her maturation from child frolicking on the beach to young Englishwoman living on her own in London is traced through the adventures of her new-found friends, their loves, lives, tribulations and family ties and her own discovery of the meaning of love.

The Wedgwood medallions owned by her uncle-in-law-to-be mesmerize her and many others in the family. Her fiancée’s sister has already married into the family and has been given a doublet made from two of the small medallions, sometimes called cameos in today’s world. The owner of the medallions sees them as small works of art, not different from many Wedgwood collectors even today. The star of the story is named Sophie which will help clarify the following quote:

‘Come here, little Sophie,' said Mr. Watergate with a lightening of his solemnity, as he took out a large, flat jewel-case, 'and you shall see your prototype.’

She rose;...to her host’s side. He displayed his treasures-a double row of little Wedgwood medallions, some round, some square; and one blank space,in the puckered velvet of their bed. ‘Here were Euterpe and Terpsichore you see; Enid has them as a locket. And here is the lady tying her sandal, and her companion.’

Sophie, fascinated, leaning closer, saw, on the background of clear, definite, yet delicate blue, the tiny white figure of the Grecian Sophie and on the reverse of the medallion that of a young man, standing upright, with both arms raised to tie the fillet round his head.

‘Here, you see’, he pursued after a moment, 'is another pair; Hebe and Hermes, cup-bearer and messenger to the gods of Greece-and, subsequently, of Rome. That finishes the pairs; the rest are single.’

‘I think they are perfectly lovely....they are so complete. Aren’t they? That, little Sophie, is Art. Completion. You recognize, and yet you are startled...shall I give you that fillet-holding swain, and the lady whose sandal he is not worthy to unloose?’

Further along in the story we hear a commentary by one of his sons:

“Yes; those Wedgwood plaques, for instance-father admires them, of course; but half the excitement about them is because he inherited them from his father, with a lot of the Hepplewhite and Chippendale and William-and-Mary furniture. It’s not so much as works of art that he worships them as because they are heirlooms, and symbols of his solid position in society- honest back-bone of England, patron of the arts, father of a family, and so on”

There is more symbolism, but I’ll let each reader come to his or her own conclusion. Don’t expect a rousing adventure story here, if it were made into a movie, it would definitely be called a “chick flick”!

This book can presently be found in a few libraries around the country, to wit: Chicago Univ., Northwestern, Miami U, Ohio, Cincinnati Pub Library, Milwaukee Co. Library Sys., Western Mich U., Ohio State, UAB Sterne Library, Birmingham, U Michigan, Minneapolis Pub Lib, Atlanta Pub Lib, Cleveland State U Lib, Cleveland Pub Lib, Texas A & M, Smith, Cal State, Duke U, Los Angeles Public Library, Whittier College, CA.

It’s a small compact volume, of course bound in a slate blue color. Enjoy!

UK Sentinel 20 May 2009

Just a little bit of local news. In this issue of The UK Sentinel, our favorite Staffordshire newspaper, we find a great advertising scheme on the part of the paper and the new Wedgwood Museum. Check out how we could have spent our Wednesday if we lived near Stoke on Trent!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

CLEANING OFF MY DESK

Those of you who have read my enewsletters for a long time know that when I have a hankering to clean off my desk, or organize my office, there is always going to be lots of Wedgwood information flowing! I tend to get busy and stack up things I want to share. Really, no harm is done by this, EXCEPT that when I finally get to the information it's often stale. But, great print articles about and photos of Wedgwood are never really stale in the opinion of some of us who hang on every Wedgwood shred. Back issues of magazines may not be worth the cost to buy, but if you archive your magazines, or like to find them in antiques malls or on-line, you might like to check to make sure we didn't see something you accidentally missed! We try to evaluate the issues and if we think it IS worth buying, we will say so. So let's see what today's "stack elimination exercise" produced! Maybe the BLOG will help keep the stack-building to a minimum since I can quickly write about a magazine article, happening, book, etc. right away before it gets stale!
 
Martha Stewart Living for December 2008 - Page 54 - gorgeous photo of two plates of different patterns beautifully blended - Queen's Shape under an antique laurel leaf pattern...much like Ceres.

Page 68 sports more similar patterns and page 72 shows off two very old Queen's Ware patterns with great recipes! The piece de resistance however, is page 98, an article entitled Cameo Appearances, where you can learn to make decorations for a cake or your tree in the Wedgwood jasper image. THIS issue would be worth the trouble to get for all you gals who love to do Martha Stewart activities for the holidays and have a passion for Wedgwood. Page 168 isn't to be missed either, with its great photos of a selection of green glazeware, a 6 page article full of photos. Many people mis-describe green glazeware as majolica, but according to the experts it's not, it's a class of its own. Whatever we call it, it's beautiful and still popular and in vogue today!

Martha Stewart Living for May 2008 - This issue which stresses color and its effect on our lives also sports a great article about tea pots (in many colors of course), to include a great photo of two Wedgwood examples, one of which we have in stock currently in two different colors.

The Magazine Antiques for December, 2008 - One of Leo Kaplan's elegant and colorful half page ads showing a pair of vases with Lady Templeton sprigging. The Kaplan ads in TMA are frequently Wedgwood items, but always gorgeous ads!

Bonham Auction House magazine Ceramics & Glass for Winter/Spring 2008 illustrates a Wedgwood portrait medallion of Captain Cook from the Lord Hirst Collection, sold on 6 Jun 2007 for 7,440 GBPs and an encaustic painted plaque, c1770, also from the Hirst Collection for a whopping 31,200 GBPs....a lot of money in any currency!

The Magazine Antiques for February, 2008 - Beautiful coverful of blue & white plates and article about American china manufacturer Bonnin & Morris. Also illustrated is my favorite black & white jasper engine-turned covered vase, in the holdings of the UBS Art Gallery, New York City. There is also a good amount of information and plenty of pix about Massachusetts samplers and a gorgeously illustrated article about one of my all-time favorite cities, Key West.

The American Heritage Society's AMERICANA Magazine is always full of interesting articles on a multitude of antiques subjects. The March 1977 issue brings news of the restoration of Gadsby's Tavern in Washington, DC, the site of a Wedgwood exhibition in 2002. Many of our Wedgwood fans in the DC area still enjoy this venue. An excellent catalog from the exhibition was prepared but is not longer available unless one were to be found through a used book dealer or such
. The Gadsby's Houdin bust of Washington by Wedgwood is pictured in the article which has other pictures of the Tavern. There is a very interesting and timely article on collecting prints of Abraham Lincoln, an article about the still interesting town of New Harmony, IN, spongeware, antique roses, harpischords, maple sugaring and several other interesting subjects.

OLD BOOK YIELDS WEDGWOOD GEMS

May 19 - While doing research for an appraisal, I came upon an article inserted into an old Staffordshire pottery book which at one time belonged to Elizabeth Chellis & Elizabeth was well-known for her notes and addenda!. It's a short poem entitled "Stafford Canal":

Where lichened locks all dripping cool
So deeply store their limpid pool,
Gay-painted barges dream & drowse
In soft shadows of haymows.
And by the inn with open door
Old bargemen speak of water lores,
Crews or cargoes, miles per day,
Copper bars, and bales of hay.
While off in distant growing gloom
I see dark massive Wrekin [large hill in Shropshire] loom
Low lightning-lit in Shropshire sky,
An anchored cloud as night flows by. R. N. T.

Wonder if this is how Josiah I thought about the Canal~~it certainly caught Elizabeth's sharp eye.

May 19 - another article, dated 4 Feb 1947, from Elizabeth's book and so timely even today: "Hensley [sic] Wedgwood...arrived in this country on a business trip. He was interviewed by a group of ...writers about the manufacture & sale of Wedgwood. One interviewer noticed that in his lapel he wore a tiny pin on which was the letter "E". When asked if this was a British award, he answered, 'It's there to remind people about the correct spelling of my name - that there's only one "E" in Wedgwood.'" Hensleigh is no doubt spinning in his grave.....

WEDGWOOD BLOG MOVES FROM OUR WEBSITE

Below is our running blog from our website that we have transferred here to Blogspot. We'll be putting short references to our BLOG on the website so if you are at our site and want to read further, you can just click the hotlinks there to come here! It should make it all easier to use - we welcome your comments!
May 9 - Our good friends & Wedgwood experts, leaders of the Wedgwood Society of Washington DC, Al & Adele Barnett have recently returned from a trip up to Toronto to see the Royal Ontario Museum's 250th Anniversary Exhibition.




They also paid a visit to the Corning Museum of Glass in New York and of course came away enthralled with the glass Portland Vase held there. The photo shows side by side a Wedgwood Jasper Portland Vase & the cameo glass version.



The big black plaque by which Al & Adele stand is the VERY famous black basalt plaque made for Beeshy's Department Store.



Peter Kaellgren, Ph.D., Curator of Decorative Arts at the Royal Ontario Museum, treated Al & Adele to a great day of visiting and viewing at the ROM. Thanks to A & A for sharing their adventures with us!



May 7 - Somehow we didn't get the video of the balloon ceremony and interview with Lord Wedgwood at Barlaston on May Day, but thanks to Adele Barnett of WSWDC, we have it now!
GO HERE to see the short video about the celebration of the Wedgwood Company's 250th birthday at the factory.

May 6, 2009 The Wedgwood Museum has reached the SHORT LIST of 4 MUSEUMS vying for the large monetary award and recognition should it win the ART FUND PRIZE. Please GO HERE and click Comments at the top to vote. The vote will be announced June 18th. Public opinion is one facet of the vote, there is also a panel of judges, so we need to make our opinion count!

May 1, 2009 - Today is the day! Wedgwood & Sons is 250 years old today. Take out your best Wedgwood teacup and drink a toast to Josiah and his family and friends - great talent, great business acumen, great ideas, great service to the local area in which they found themselves and great heritage! Hail to the blue & white!

25 April - a friend just brought us the March 2 issue of Antique Week which sports a gorgeous large color photo of a Water Lily pattern dinner plate in blue & white. This is a great pattern, named with Darwin in mind of course, and this particular plate recently sold for a respectable $110 at an Ohio auction of a flow blue collector who had other, non-flow, items in her collection. Speaking of Darwin, the Royal Mint has produced a 2 pound coin to celebrate this year's anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth. The coin and the packaging sport a bewhiskered Darwin face to face with a chimp...the coin celebrates the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection". Of course, we Wedgwoodians care about Darwin mostly because he married his cousin Emma Wedgwood in 1839. They had 10 children and lived at Down House in Kent. He is buried in Westminster Abby. The coin and its brochure make a nice addition to a Wedgwood "ephemera" collection.

May/June 2009 issue of Victoria Magazine - one cover story is about Wedgwood, nice photos but watch out for some inaccuracies in the text, not particularly well written. There are also colorful articles about blue & white china, bridal gowns, floral china & white linens too!

24 April 2009 - after a busy 11 day trip to Washington DC and southern Virginia we're back and anticipating the college graduation season - be sure to check http://www.collegeplates.com/ for the ideal gift for your graduate.

Additionally, we have learned of a new book which would probably interest many Wedgwood scholars, that being a volume about Joseph Priestley called "The Invention of Air" by Steven Johnson, published by Riverhead Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. New York, 2008, www.riverheadbooks.com. It has been highly recommended to us by a UK scholar.

1 April 2009 - no April Fool's joke! Thanks to the Wedgwood Society of Washington DC (see our links for more info) here is a link to a paper we don't monitor -check it out here. It appears from commentary we have seen that many people are very concerned about Indonesian production of English bone china! In the USA Wedgwood will have to be marked with the real country of origin by law, no scraping by with bogus or incomplete backstamps! BE SURE TO READ BELOW AND GO VOTE FOR THE WEDGWOOD MUSEUM IN THE ART FUND COMPETITION - VOTING IS STILL IN PROGRESS!!!

From today's Kovels Komments, an on-line newsletter, comes this over-simplified and pithy comment: "Waterford Wedgwood Assets Sold Most Waterford Wedgwood assets have been bought out of receivership by KPS Capital Partners of New York. They are not buying the Irish production facilities, so jobs will be lost. Some manufacturing will be transferred to Indonesia, Germany, and Slovakia. But this does mean production of the famous brands will continue. And higher-end Wedgwood products will still be made in England." Wonder what the definition here of "higher-end" might be? This is definitely a short version of a much more complicated situation!

26 March 2009: Thanks to Adele Barnett I was reminded I haven't been checking the internet for the latest Wedgwood news! GO HERE to read today's update on the sale of Waterford Wedgwood right from the UK newspaper.

1 March 2009: JUST IN, the March issue of 'The Magazine ANTIQUES' arrived on our doorstep yesterday. The cover sports the W word, and inside we find a great article by Birmingham Museum of Arts Curator and Wedgwood fan, Anne Forschler-Tarrasch. The article is well-written and lavishly illustrated, making the issue well worth the price to non-subscribers. Articles about mid-century American studio artists, early Massachusetts furniture and two ads showing other Wedgwood items fill out the issue. It should be on news-stands soon, I believe subscribers receive theirs a bit early. ENJOY!

WEDGWOOD IN THE NEWS FOR AWARD CONSIDERATION - The BBC announces the Long List of entries for the Art Fund Prize and Wedgwood is among the contenders. The BBC article sports two external links of interest and a great photo. Go here to the article. Be sure to navigate to the Wedgwood Museum website via this article's link (or the link on our site). I have noticed that the new Wedgwood Museum is keeping its website well-updated, changing from time to time. Currently, the pictures and categories are very well executed. Thanks to Carol McLeod of Canada for this one and to Adele Barnett for an earlier announcement. Seems there is lots going on in the Wedgwood world these days, a good excuse for us all to keep in touch with one another. Cheers!

So perhaps a rest from the hustle and bustle of the bestirred Wedgwood world is in order. Check out the Jan/Feb issue of 'Tea Time Magazine' for some beautiful photos of a famous Wedgwood bone china pattern, NOT made in Indonesia! Also to be found are some pictures of presentations of food and dishes, AND scrumptious recipes for tea parties. 'The Magazine ANTIQUES' for January, 2009, has a great article featuring the Birmingham Museum of Art and the 19th century mantel which is now in the Museum's collection. And don't forget the Buten Collection has joined the Birmingham Museum's other extensive Wedgwood holdings to become the largest repository of Wedgwood in the USA! For my genealogy pals, be sure to see the article on the famous painting 'The Baptism of Pocahontas'; it is a well-written, well-illustrated and interesting article.

Check out our Website LINKS for the website of Wedgwood 250th Anniversary Celebration and a January Wedgwood press release on the same subject. Let's hope that the miserable economic state of Wedgwood and the world in general doesn't spoil our plans for a fun and interesting celebration of the 250th anniversary of Josiah Wedgwood & Sons! Stay tuned to our website links and blog for the latest information!

Welcome to our new BLOG site

Welcome to our new Wedgwood blog. We have moved our blog from the New and Featured Items section of our website so that the blog won't interrupt our readers' ability to read about our products. We'll be posting news and views pertinent to the world of Wedgwood here. You might find news from England, news from Wedgwood USA, perhaps information from the worldwide Wedgwood societies, and often literary contributions from our vast Wedgwood and English Ceramics library. We monitor the UK newspapers for news of the current financial situation with Wedgwood and many other interesting sites. Please feel free to comment, and tell us what YOU want to read, ask questions or just stay in touch!