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!

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

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!!

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!

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".

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.