Majoilica or 'Due Diligence'.

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I’ve seen a lot of posts here and on Facebook vintage groups tossing around the word ‘Majoilica’ referring to any glazed ceramics. Finding a piece of Majoilica can mean a 150 year old piece of Minton, or a plate from Pottery Barn, or a vase purchased from Hobby Lobby in the last 20 years. 

Just because some dealer has a piece listed for $99.00 on ebay ---doesn’t make it real or worth anything at all. Unmarked ceramics and even marked (impressed or printed) ceramics or Majoilica may not be authentic 19th century or older ceramics.

The best way to know what you have found or what you are selling (and staking your reputation on) is to do –due diligience in research. DUE DILIGIENCE -reasonable steps taken by a person in order to satisfy a legal requirement, especially in buying or selling something.
In other words---not knowingly lead others astray. In this day and age of having the world at our fingertips--we SHOULD all use due diligence in attempting to find out what it is we are actually selling.

We are often guilty of searching in all sorts of high-end places when we think we have found something ‘special’. But, ln Victorian Majoilica---fakes, reproductions and mass produced inferiors abound. What we have to do---is search for the fakes.

For this article I simply googled “fake majoilica” or majolica and here is what I came up with in a few minutes.

http://shantiqu.dot5hosting.com/featuredfake4.html

Excellent article on reproduced or replication of Minton Majoilica

I remember similar pieces appearing on Hobby Lobby shelves in the late 1990s and early 2000’s.

Color is the biggest giveaway---for reproductions. Originally majoilica was produced with tin glazes and lead-based glazes---more can be found here on the EPA blog about lead in ceramics. https://blog.epa.gov/2009/07/16/lead-in-pottery/

When you remove or restrict lead in glazes it affects colors and glaze behavior, so colors are sometimes, just a bit off from the original lead glazes of the 19^thcentury. Too bright and too on the surface color and not really imbedded within the original two glaze process of original majoilica.

Reproductions are most often from Asia, but European markets abound in contemporary majoilica pieces in Spain, France and Italy. Often the identical piece can be purchased in several different locations all proudly hand signed with the made in ---‘town’, Italy. Tuesday Mornings have some great ‘Made in ‘town’ Italy pieces in the majoilica style.

Look at this beauty---be still my heart!

Here is an Antiques Roadshow piece---from a video---that has since been disabled. But, I snagged a screen shot---and fully attribute this shot to

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/stories/articles/2013/4/23/real-or-repro-majolica-collectors-conundrum/

I would be tempted with this piece---The dripping glaze is something that does occur in tin-lead glazes, when the kilns are a bit too hot---causing wonderful pooling and sometimes gorgeous muddling in pieces. Made in Japan ceramics from the 1940’s became very adept at creating ‘majoilica’ like glazes, with fully leaded glazes. 

A consistently excellent source of information on real Majoilica and fakes is Jimbo at the Glazed and Confused thoughts on Pottery or http://etruscanmajolica.blogspot.com/2019/03/

Or the Etrustcan Majoilica blogspot.com. He has been posting for over 10 years on majoilica and the fakes that have popped up over this time and is the author of a book on Etruscan Majoilica.

Does this look familiar---that daisy pitcher....? The top photo is an original--the bottoms are the reproductions.  I think I have seen this before on a vintage site.

READ HERE!

http://etruscanmajolica.blogspot.com/2011/06/another-etruscan-majolica-fake.htmlmajolica-fake.html

This one I would have fallen for

I would have grabbed this piece in a second for any price….unless it didn't 'feel' right...one of the down-sides of buying online---that touch--test, and wear marks---ps---be wary of 'stained feet and bottoms on 'fake' pottery. Wear use is often uneven and multicolored, not an even gray wash.

http://etruscanmajolica.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-latest-majolica-reproductions.htmlhttp://etruscanmajolica.blogspot.com/2019/03/

I think this was a Hobby Lobby piece----or similar Asian for the design trade. They did an entire lines of ‘fake majoilica’ including serving pieces with that horrible ‘not for food use labels on the bottom. Why have a tureen or baking dish you can’t use--BUT, they make great flower arrangement pots.

At least Hobby Lobby doesn't pretend they are antiques. I actually saw one of their HL 'cache pots' in the front window of an Alexandria, Virginia antique store...this was before Hobby Lobby had encroached on the East Coast. BUYER BEWARE!

Any of these below look familiar---notice the bright fresh colors, or the lack of depth in the glazes. 

A great pinterest Fakes page https://www.pinterest.com/emajolica/reproduction-and-fakes-in-majolica/

I lost the reference of the above photo---but they are all fakes.

This is a magnificent fake---almost perfect---well too perfect maybe. Colors seem right and some glaze pooling---now if it was 150 years old---would it be that perfect??

These two glasses were probably a part of a Japan beverage set---popular in the 1940's. I have biscuit jars and serving dishes from this period---specifically for their fun colors and designs.

So definitely buy what you like---but don't call it Majolica because it has pretty colors.

DUE DILIGIENCE ---do your

 research of Real and Fake so you don't lose your reputation for selling something that isn't an antique or even vintage. 

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.

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 None of the above photos are mine---and I have tried to attribute them to their source. Please visit the pages sourced.

Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi

Pottery Bowl Mark Mystery! Stoke on Trent!

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Have you ever found something OLD, or been gifted an unusual piece--and just had to find where it came from?

Being a potter---I knew this was bowl was OLD---and definitely a piece worth searching for.

oldnewgreenredo

I had received delicious homemade candy in this lovely antique bowl 

from a good friend for my birthday.

oldnewgreenredo

The bowl had deep cobalt blue transfers on an embossed molded body---with a very sketchy and blurred mark. Blurring often happens when the cobalt lifts or floats into the glaze during firing.

This is part of the 'flow-blue" thing.

oldnewgreenredo

This mark was very hard to read. Now, my bowl had become a needle in a haystack. 

This photo is not fuzzy, as you can see from the clear and precise glaze crackles, 

but the mark itself was totally illegible.

 Best I could figure was Uffer H----Y and  all that was really clear was a faint England in the lower center, as well as the coronet crown, 

and semi-porcelain- (a euphemism for a high fire ironstone faking porcelain). At least I knew where to start looking--England.

 I persevered and tried to track a similar mark by the crown in English pottery. First via pinterest, and then this useful marks site, I use so often. OldandSold.com
But, I found no marks that were similar enough. 

So, I googled a half-dozen combination descriptions, circle-coronet-pottery-mark, crown-circle-semi-porcelain- England, etc. until I found a crown that looked similar.

This one had the similar crown, on this mark the top was missing a bit, but I thought it was close. The same-crown styles are often associated with a specific town or region, and then the Stoke on Trent. UH_OH! Stoke on Trent had been a center for pottery industry in England, forever.

Below, all those bottle shaped buildings are kilns or Stokes.

Bottle kilns

 Now, I knew my haystack had just become bigger.  Stoke on Trent (England) was the heart of ceramic manufacturing in England for centuries, and this area alone had over 1500 different potteries through the years. I needed to narrow this more. I knew the clay in this piece wasn't porcelain, it was too heavy. Porcelain is only heavy if very thick. I searched Stoke on Trent ironstone, potteries, marks on search and found this from Hanley, England and that similar crown.

I looked at more Stoke on Trent potteries---one of the best known is above. I tried adding Hanley to my searches and then these popped up

And further down the page, the crown and.....

Here it was MY MARK!----very clear---Uffer H----Y was UPPER HANLEY

Once I had this----I could search for Upper Hanley Pottery-one of the best basic resources for Stokes on Trent Potteries is http://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/1018.htm. This site has basic information, marks, photos, history, and just lots of Stoke On Trent info. I had used the site before.

This Upper Hanley company was only in business for a few years. Like many potteries, they were bought and sold, absorbed into larger companies or simply closed. 

Here is the basic information I found.

Earthenware manufacturer at the Upper Hanley Works, the High Street, Hanley (from c.1895 - 1902) and then at Brownfield's Works, Cobridge (c.1902 - 1910) from  http://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/1018.htm. 

Stoke-on-Trent is a unique city in England. 

It made up of six distinct towns: Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton - collectively known as "THE POTTERIES". (http://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters)

With all this wonderful information, I now could now find pottery by 

Upper Hanley pottery by its name.

Searching Pinterest (Upper Hanley) showed dozens of pieces---one exactly like mine---which led me to this same exact bowl on Etsy, with a much clearer mark!

courtesy of Etsy (not my site)

OLD Antique Bowl Mystery solved and it's worth a pretty penny, too.

I won't be selling this piece, as it was a gift, but I will add a note on the bottom of what it is,---so my kids won't have to wonder what the heck this needle in a haystack was.

When doing a search: don't give up, but do try many different avenues. You may have to go to many sites to get to the information you want. And, you never know, Granny's old dishes may be worth plenty of pennies.

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless noted. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. 

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