Claudia — Page 1005

Collecting Roseville Pottery, Part Two

July 23, 2016 at 9:42 am by Claudia

The process of taking photos, cataloging and writing about this particular line of pottery has made me fall in love with it all over again.

It always happens.

Moving upstairs to the office/studio, where my pale pink china cabinet holds another shelf of Roseville:

7-23 rosevilleinstudio

(The shelf below this one holds cream colored McCoy Pottery.)

Starting from the left:

7-23 clematisbudvase

A bud vase in the Clematis pattern. It’s marked “Roseville” 187-7. Seven inches tall. I got it on eBay.

7-23 clematisbluebase

Next to the bud vase is another vase in Clematis. This time, it’s in blue. Marked “Roseville” 108-8. An ebay find.

7-23 zephyrlilybowl

Next, a console bowl in the Zephyr Lily pattern. This was, I think, my second purchase of Roseville, way back when we lived in San Diego. The only reason I could afford it was because it had that chip you can see on the edge and another chip in the handle. I don’t mind chips and minor flaws. These finds are for me, not for a museum. If the flaw is unacceptable, I don’t buy a piece. If the flaw is relatively minor and I can display it with the damage hidden, I go for it.

Marked “Roseville” 474-8.

7-23 pinkpeonyvase

Next, one of my favorite finds. This gorgeous vase in the Peony pattern was an eBay find that I had shipped to my temporary digs in Hartford, where it graced the coffee table. Dare I say it? It made the room. It’s in perfect condition.

7-23 pinkpoppyvase2

Here’s the other side. Most Roseville pieces have a variation in the flower design from front to back. If there’s one flower on one side, there will usually be two on the other side. Sometimes the leaves change direction. It’s one of the details that I love. Marked “Roseville” 63-8.

7-23 bluecosmosvase

This little vase in the Cosmos pattern seems to be a favorite of many readers. (I love it, too.) It’s marked “Roseville” 946-6.

7-23 clematisbasket

A basket in the Clematis pattern; same green as in the bud vase I showed you earlier in this post. It was a gift from Barbara. Marked “Roseville” 387-7.

7-23 bleedingheartvase

This lovely little vase in the Bleeding Heart pattern is marked “Roseville” 961-4. It was a gift from Barbara, who, though she lives in Canada, manages to find lots of Roseville!

7-23 whiterosevase

And finally, this lovely vase in the White Rose pattern. Found on eBay. Marked “Roseville” 983-7.

Just a few more to share with you. Roseville lives in other places in my cottage.

7-23 rosevilleondresser

These two pieces live on my dresser and Don, apparently, watches over them.

7-23 bushberrycornucopia1

Do you remember that brown piece in the Bushberry pattern that I showed you yesterday? This cornucopia is also Bushberry and happens to be my favorite color combination in that pattern.

7-23 bushberrycornucopia2

Other side. Love, love this piece. It’s marked “Roseville” 154-8. From eBay, several years ago

7-23 appleblossombowl

This bowl in the Apple Blossom pattern holds some of my jewelry. It’s marked “Roseville” 326-6. I’m pretty sure it was an eBay find, but I can’t swear to it.

7-23 rosevilleoncoffeetable

These two pieces live on the coffee table in the living room. Don really loves these colors and since his chair faces the coffee table, we display them there.

7-23 brownclematisbowl

A console bowl in the Clematis pattern. It’s marked “Roseville” 457-8. It’s my best eBay score to date. I got it for $9.95. No one else bid on it. Go figure.

7-23 brownmagnoliavase

A gorgeous vase in the Magnolia pattern. Next best eBay steal: $13.50. Do you believe it? It’s in perfect condition. Marked “Roseville” 92-8.

Two more:

7-23 appleblossombasket

This Apple Blossom basket lives on the music cabinet in the den. It’s flawed; there’s a big chip on the other side of the basket. We found it in a local antique shop and the price was so good that Don encouraged me to ‘Get it!” Marked “Roseville” 310-10.

And finally – my most flawed piece; flawed because it was badly packed and arrived in pieces:

12-12-the-mess

I can’t even begin to describe how upset I was!

It’s a window box in the Zephyr Lily pattern. Marked “Roseville” 1393-8.

I glued it back together.

12-12-glued-together-piece

And now it lives on my desk:

Tomorrow, I’ll share some information about Roseville marks and some reference books that I recommend.

It’s hot here! It ‘felt like’ 103 yesterday. More of the same today.

Happy Saturday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Collecting Roseville Pottery, Part One

July 22, 2016 at 9:46 am by Claudia

Periodically, I stop and set aside a few posts to explore one of my collections. I’ve done it numerous times with my egg cup collection, as well as my collection of McCoy Pottery. Just the other day, I realized that I hadn’t ‘officially’ explored my collection of Roseville Pottery.

Heavens!

Instead of flowers in my garden, we’ll explore flowers on Roseville. Deal?

As far as the number of pieces I own, I have much less Roseville than I do McCoy – that collection numbers well over 60 pieces. Egg cups? Probably about the same. I’ve been ‘officially’ collecting for only a couple of years, because prices used to be so prohibitive that I could only dream of owning a piece. More on prices later.

7-22 Roseville in den

Today, we’ll start with the pieces that are in the china cabinet located in the den.

Top shelf, starting from the left:

12-17 clematis flower frog_

The pattern is Clematis. This is a flower frog, meant to be part of a shallow dish in the same pattern. This was a gift from Barbara. It’s marked “Roseville” with the identifying numbers 85-135. The first number denotes the shape number and the second number indicates the size.

7-22 freesia vase

Next to the flower frog is a blue vase in the Freesia pattern. Marked “Roseville” 119-7. 119 the shape, 7 indicating 7 inches high. I’ve had this vase a long time – it was one of the first pieces I bought – I’m pretty sure it was on eBay.

12-10 magnoliawindowbox1

Next to that is a window box in the Magnolia Pattern. Marked 388-6. Love this shade of blue. Found on eBay. (The little dog was my paternal grandmother’s. It came all the way from Germany.)

12-27 rosevillewaterlily

Next, one of my favorite pieces; a vase in the Water Lily pattern. I love, love this design. Water Lily comes in brown and blue and this pink/green combination. This is marked “Roseville” 74-7. You guessed it – the vase is 7 inches high. I might have taken part in a small bidding war on this one.

3-8 doublebudvase2

At the end of the row: the double bud vase in the Clematis pattern. Marked “Roseville” 194-5.

Moving on to the next shelf:

7-22 magnolia cornucopia

A lovely cornucopia in the Magnolia pattern – this was gift from a Sonja, a reader of this blog. Marked “Roseville” 184-6.

7-22 smallpeonyvase

A small vase in the Peony pattern – marked “Roseville” 57-4. I won this at a local auction along with another piece for a steal at $24.00.

7-22 zephyrlilypillowvase

Next, this vase in the Zephyr Lily pattern. It’s called the ‘pillow vase’ and it’s marked “Roseville” 206-7. It was also a gift from Sonja.

7-22 gardeniacandleholder

And this candleholder in the Gardenia pattern – marked “Roseville” 652-4½. It’s the other item I snagged at that auction.

4-10 Ixia 1a

Next: maybe my favorite piece at the moment, this vase in the Ixia pattern. Marked “Roseville” 856-8. It’s 8 inches tall and it’s simply gorgeous. I found it on eBay and, I have to admit, bid rather vigorously for it. Stunning. Makes my heart go pitter-patter.

7-22 bleedingheartcandleholder

Next, a candleholder in the beautiful Bleeding Heart pattern. Marked “Roseville” 1139-4½. It was a gift from Cathy, a reader of this blog.

7-22 snowberryvase

A vase in the Snowberry pattern. (Those handles always remind me of a lady standing with her hands on her hips!) This is one of the first pieces that I purchased on eBay. It’s marked “Roseville” 1V-6. Don’t ask me why the first number looks different than the others. Roseville changed things up every once in a while.

And finally,

7-22 bushberryjardinere

This little jardinière in the Bushberry pattern. It’s marked “Roseville” 657-3. This is the first piece of ever purchased. I found it in an antique shop in San Diego. It’s the only piece I could hope to afford at the time.

As to current prices:

Because of budget constraints, along with my concentration on the TSP, I hadn’t searched eBay for any Roseville for a few months. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that prices are high again – for no reason that I can think of. Is it seasonal? Are more people suddenly collecting? I don’t know. But I’ve been looking and I haven’t been bidding. My friend Linda and I exchanged an email about it – she’s noticed the same thing.

Just a friendly warning; prices are a bit high at the moment.

More tomorrow. I’ll also share some collecting tips and recommend some price guides/books that will help you in your search, if you’re so inclined.

Sssssh! Don’t tell Caroline that I’m writing about my collection. Otherwise, you know what will come next.

By the way, if you’re confused; the difference between a black raspberry and a blackberry can be easily determined by taking off the stem. A black raspberry has a hollow core (just like a raspberry) and a blackberry has a white core. Blackberries are more tart to the taste, as well.

Happy Friday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Quirky

July 21, 2016 at 9:35 am by Claudia

Riffing a bit on this Thursday morning:

7-21 phlox

The scent of phlox is everywhere these days as more and more blooms appear. This is David Phlox, which grows very tall and is quite striking in the garden.

7-21 phloxinthegarden

I see photos on blogs and on Instagram of flowers that have been plucked from a garden and are now inside the house in pretty vases. I love these photos, but I am not one who picks flowers from my gardens. I only do it when there is danger of frost or when, in the case of peonies and rain, the flowers are soon going to be on the ground. Or, as I had to do this summer, when Japanese Beetles are about to destroy them.

Otherwise…no.

Why? I’ve been thinking about that. I like seeing the flowers in the garden beds, blooming where they’ve been planted. I like the landscape of plants that I see each day. I put them there for a reason and that’s where I want them to be. I fully realize I am most likely a weird exception in this particular area. The fact is, when the gardens are in full bloom, I don’t need flowers in the house. I can see flowers everywhere when I look out the windows and, better yet, I can go outside and smell them and observe them and marvel at all the splashes of color. They are out there, not just for me, but more importantly, for the butterflies and the bees and the bugs that need them to survive.

Cutting the flowers also shortens their life and I want them around as long as possible.

If I’m desperate for flowers in the house, I can always buy an inexpensive bouquet from Trader Joe’s. But I’m really only desperate for flowers inside when the seasons change; when autumn heads into winter and winter takes over for several months. Or when I’m on the road and a bouquet of flowers makes a strange place more like home.

At times, I’ve toyed with the idea of a cutting garden, but I know what would happen. I’d set up the cutting garden and then I wouldn’t want to cut the flowers. They’d stay where they were planted. So the ‘cutting garden’ would become another garden bed.

7-21 hydrangea

I tend to be this way about things I really like. I want them to remain in their ‘pure’ state. (I determine whatever the heck my concept of ‘pure’ is, of course; it’s all in my head.) It’s a longstanding joke between Don and me. Don: “How about if I add this and this to French Toast?” Me: “Not for me. I like it with butter and syrup.” Don: “What about powdered sugar?” Me: “No.”

Don: “How about sour cream on that baked potato?” Me: “No. I like it with butter and salt and pepper. Nothing extra. I don’t want to mess with it.”

We just went through this yesterday, although in this case, Don agreed with me. We toyed with the idea of making pancakes with the black raspberries and then we realized we like them the way they are. We didn’t want to bake them, or warm them up, or add them to batter. On our cereal? Yes. Maybe a few of them added to some plain yogurt? Sure. But otherwise, we’d rather eat them out of our hands and get that pure burst of taste from the berry without anything else added to the mixture.

All female casts in productions of Shakespeare? Not my thing. All male? Not really, but there’s a precedent for that since the actors in Shakespeare’s company were all male. But that was because women couldn’t do that sort of thing back then. Now, they can. Nowadays, it tends to be a directorial gimmick to change things up. I don’t think Shakespeare needs any gimmicks. Likewise, radical changes in the text – no and no and no. Tell the story that Mr. Shakespeare wrote. Don’t mess with it.

7-21 pinkishhydrangea

Oh, I know I’m quirky. And opinionated. I sort of like things that way.

But I’m tolerant as well; if Don wants to add things to his baked potato, have at it, I say. If he wants to add things to his French Toast, go for it – just as long as he doesn’t mess with mine.

He is not allowed to pick flowers from the gardens, however. That’s where I draw the line.

On to other things: I ran some errands yesterday (gathering supplies for the dollhouse build) and I had to stop at Target, where I found myself adding this $23 lamp to my cart.

7-21 newdesklamp

I needed a lamp for this section of my desk, which is the section where I work on miniatures. It’s in a lovely shade of seafoam green and the brass matches the brass trim on my other desk lamp.

I like it a lot.

How can it be July 21st already? Summer is passing much too quickly, don’t you think? I’m trying to savor it while I can.

Happy Thursday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Collecting Roseville Pottery, Part Two

Collecting Roseville Pottery, Part One

Quirky

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives