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.