Prices of all ceramics and
collectables vary
enormously as fashions change.Scrolling
through eBay listings is perhaps as good a place as any to get up-to-date values
for Poole Pottery, just because so much is sold on there each week.Typically, in recent years, there have been over 3000 listings each week
within the Poole Pottery category on
When looking at prices
on eBay, obviously the only price that matters is the final value at which
the items sell, and not the starting price or current highest bid.Like many ebay listings, sellers often (and to good effect) set low
starting prices (often £0.99), and over the course of the week these may
not increase by much until the final few hours of the sale, and will often
more than double within the last minute, or seconds!
I’m intending over the
coming months to chart sale prices for some of the more commonpieces sold on ebay to give some idea of trends.
As at start, the graph below charts the sale price (including postage charges)
for identical Ice
Green Poole Pottery Toast Racks sold during last year.
The next chart (below) shows the
eBay sales prices (including postage charges)for identical Contemporary patterned Freeform vases shape
number 653, PX pattern. There's quite a sharp drop in latest sale prices
for this vase.
eBay sale prices for the
traditional Poole Pottery vase below (pattern OR, shape number 354) have shown a
wide fluctuation. As far as I could tell these vases were all of similar
quality and I think the range of prices reflects occasional unpredictability of
auctions.
As you can see, at the moment I
don't have very much data to show. So if you fancy tracking some live listings
yourself, have a look at the
widget below. Use the arrows to scroll through live listings, or follow the links, and (if your already an ebay member) add
them to "Watched Items". Alternatively, if you like what you find, and want
to earn me some commission (at no extra cost to yourself), make a bid.
Generally, the earlier Poole
pieces, from whichever era, attract higher values, as do larger pots and
ones that have fuller decoration.Condition
is also important.Crazing is
acceptable and to be expected both on the older traditional Poole Pottery and on
the decorated surfaces of Delphis ware, but any chips or cracks will
seriously reduce the value of a pot.
There are also premiums
attached to pots that can be identified as being painted by particular
decorators.For example,
traditional pottery painted by Ruth Pavely and Anne Hatchard attract
higher prices because, during their
careers, both women were influential in the development of designs at Poole.Other pots
are more valuable because they were made in relatively small numbers.Perhaps because they were relatively expensive to produce (and
therefore buy, and sold in smaller quantities), or because they were
generally less popular/attractive to the shoppers at the time.This is true both for complete ranges such as “Atlantis”
or particular patterns and shapes. (See my Marks
page for help in identifying and dating Poole Pottery and tips in spotting
any look-a-likies.)
Delphis Ware
It’s a little harder
to get reliable values for Delphis ware, mainly becausethis pottery is so individual.The decorators hand can be seen far more clearly in these than in
the patterns designed in earlier years.Some designs are stronger than others, more defined and richer in
colours and textures, while others appear to have “gone a bit wrong”
in the firing.Earlier pieces
(pre 1971), get higher prices as these are perhaps more cutting-edge, more
individual, and the decorators in the early years apparently had more time
to spend on each piece.Those
marked “Studio” or ones with blue rather than black stamps are the
earliest and usually most expensive.
Among the later pieces,
more popular (and immediately identifiable) decorators seem to command relatively
higher prices, e.g. Carol Cutler, Sarah Worral, Wendy Smith.I’m sure all collectors will have their own favourite
decorators. mine I guess are Carolyn Bartlett, Jean Millership and Pamela
Bevans.
