Riihimaki/Riihimaen Lasi Oy Glass

Tonight lets look at another item from inventory - an 8 inch glass vase from the 1960's. This vase (see photo below), and others with this label are known as "Lasi" vases.

The label tells the story as to the name of vases of this type of Scandinavian Art glass made by the Riihimaki/Riihimaen company of Finland.

This particular shape was designed by Tamara Aladin, and came in several sizes and colors. I've seen this vase in 6, 8 and 10 inch versions in either clear, red, blue or green. The Riihimaki company, I believe, was renamed Riihimaen Lasi Oy around 1937, most pieces when described carry both designations Riihimaki/Riihimaen, unless labeled specifically one or the other. Aimo Okkolin, Tamara Aladin, Helen Tynell and Nanny Still are probably the best known and most prolific designers for this company.

Glass from this period, 1950's - 1970's,  tends to molded/mold blown pieces with mulitple angles or sinuous curves with repeated (or some would say echoed) forms within a single piece. Colors are usually clear single colors, cased in clear glass, with heavy bases.

This glass is fun to collect as it bright and cheerful, with many different sizes and shapes to make an interesting display. Below is another piece from around this same period, labeled Riihimaki Suomi Finland, this is believed to be a Aimo Okkolin design called "Stromboli". In addition to the label, this piece is acid stamped and engraved with the model number 1436.

Good night, see you again tomorrow.

Know your inventory?

I had found an item listed online as a signed Venini 'a Canne' vase from the 1960's several weeks ago, and found it again just the other day. The photos showed the mark but was difficult to read, and the type of mark shown suggested the item was not a 60's piece, but I couldn't be positive without inspecting the item. Since I was going into that area for the day I decided to stop at this particular shop. I arrived there and the shop keeper buzzed me in, and greeted me. I told her what I was looking for and that the piece was listed on their website. She said to go ahead and look around, while she located the piece in inventory, as many of those are located in the on-site storage area (ie. basement).
She came back with a piece I hadn't seen on the website, and told her that wasn't it. We looked at the site together and I pointed out the piece I wanted to see, she again had to go to on-site storage. I checked out the piece she had brought up while I waited, this piece, while nice,  was not signed (or priced) and not what I wanted. I also looked around the shop at the other items of glass offered. After a few minutes, she returned without the piece, it was not where she thought it might be, so proceeded to check other cabinets in the shop, and text (yes, text) her partner to see where the piece might be stored.

After about 10 or 15 minutes of looking in various cabinets in the shop, and almost every piece of glass in the shop, I did find another piece I liked, but it was not priced (again) so she needed to look that up in inventory too, but it too was not in the inventory list, so another call (voicemail this time) to the partner on this item. The shop keeper mentioned that the partner likes to move things to and from her country house, so it "makes for an interesting method of inventory management". I decided to leave my number and they could call when they've located the items and information.

About 15 to 20 minutes after I left the shop I received a phone call from the girl in the shop. She had spoken to her partner. I was told that the partner had taken the first piece home, "to do a little more research on the piece", so it was still available. I was also told that based on the further research, the piece was not from the 1960's (as the website states), but from 1993, a difference of 33 years. Although I would have expected a price reduction as the piece is now "newer" , the price of course remained the same. A piece from 1960 and that from 1993 are vastly different in value and pricing.

There are a few issues which irk me in the scenario above; the first is the lack of knowledge on the part of the dealer. This shop mainly sells pottery and glass from the 1950's through the 1970's, and Venini from the 1980's on are clearly marked with a year; how did they not know the piece was from 1993? The fact that they put the item up on the website with incorrect information, and not changing it once that information was known. The moving inventory; I feel I have the reasonable expectation, when a shop has a physical location listed on a website, that the piece I am interested in will be available for inspection at that location, not at some offsite storage location (or the partners home) for the duration of it's listing. If it is stored offsite, that information should be available, and that would allow one to call ahead to see if the item can be inspected.

I have since re-checked the website, and unfortunately, the information that it is a 1960's vase has not changed, but inspecting the photo of the vase bottom again does show a date of 93, when one intently inspects the mark.

Questioning the price....

Today I went on an antique buying trip to a location a couple of hours away from me as it was a good day for a drive, and I'd wanted to revisit this area in Upstate New York. I stop at every antiques store along the way so drives like take me awhile, but that is not the story. This is.

I went into one of the shops in a row of shops, the shop had several customers in it already but the shop keeper greeted me pleasantly and acknowledged I was in the shop (I like that!). I looked around at the items neatly arranged in this particular shop, and the inventory was decidedly Oriental, but there were European antiques and some Mid 20th Century pieces scattered about the shop, a pleasant mix. I noticed a nice piece of glass with a really nice color and form with gold foil accents. I decided to pick up the piece and look at it, and read the tag. In neatly written hand, it gave the diameter and height, color of the interior and exterior, the gold foil accents, and that the piece has an indistinct signature and is dated 1995. On the back of the tag was THE PRICE - $1800.00!

Where did this price come from? Thin air? Dream pricing? Tarot Cards? From the tag I am being told only that this is a piece of glass from the late 20th Century, and there is no idea who may have made it (could have been an art student from the local university) but you are sure that $1800.00 is a fair price, with nothing to back it up. Aren't prices determined from known selling prices of known objects from known sources? Auctions, recent sales, and price guides do exist and publish prices for known objects. What source was used here? The same people who priced the Helmsly Mansion? Which by the way, was priced at $130 Million originally, but recently sold for $35 Million, a $95 Million miscalculation.

Based on the asking prices on the other pieces in the shop, I was expecting a higher price, but not a high end glass price on an unknown glass vase. The other pieces had known designers and manufacturers and were listed on the tags. What was the basis on the price for this vase? I had nothing I could go on except the dream price theory.

Does anyone else wonder what methods are employed by some dealers to determine their prices beyond just guessing at a number they like?

Last night I wrote a little bit about Rookwood production pottery ware, and it's marks. Tonight I want to touch on the Artist ware. These pieces are the reason Rookwood is collected, well that and the fact that Rookwood pottery is consistent in their standards and are for the most part exceptional pieces of art. Rookwood was the first pottery to "second" their output if a flaw made a piece less saleable, but more on that a little later.

Tonight I will talk about the following piece of Artist signed Rookwood:





The above two photos show both sides of this rectangular porcelian vase in a style called Decorated Mat (sometimes called "Double Vellum").  The vase is painted on one side with Wisteria and the other Anemone blossoms and was painted by Kitaro Shirayamadani in 1944 (XLIV) if memory serves. The following photos show the marks found on the bottom of this piece.

The photo above top shows the Flame mark, the year (Roman Numerals), the shape number, and the size designation. These marks as I mentioned earlier appear on all Rookwood pieces made from 1886 on. Here the marks tell us the piece is from 1944, and is shape number 6292, in size C. This is the larger of the two known sizes of this vase; C is 7.5 inches tall, the other 6 inches tall is size D. Based on research this vase was designed by John D. Wareham. The photo above bottom is the artist cypher of Kitaro Shirayamadani as used on later pieces, his earlier cypher is in Katakana characters, which he stopped using after Pearl Harbor.
Kitaro Shirayamadani is considered one of the most sought after of the Rookwood artists, and is on the A-list of the firms artists.

Rookwood had many glaze lines, both of the two vases I have so far presented are mat glazes, the two color (oxblood red/green) on the Arts and Crafts production ware, and this multicolored, painted and glazed later ware. Other ware has names such as Iris (high gloss, white glaze), Sea Green (glossy, green tinited glaze), Aerial Blue (glossy, blue tinted), Vellum (a hazy, white glaze) and Standard (cobination of brown, yellow and green background glazes), as well as a few others. If you get interested in collecting Rookwood pottery you are sure to find a glaze line that appeals to you, perhaps they all will, as this ware is exceptional.

Rookwood is exceptional due to the standards of production that were adhered to during it many years of production (1880 to about 1960). Pieces that were deemed less saleable were "seconded" by the addition of  a scratched in 'X' on the bottom of the piece, and it's sale price was reduced. Pieces are found where the 'X' has a third line through it, resembling a large asterisk '*', these were seconds that did not sell and were marked to be given away.

Rookwood pottery has many other forms and marks, which are too varied to discuss in a limited venue such as this blog, and I have only scratched the surface of this ware. If you wish to do more research on this pottery there are several fine books on the subject, only three of which, specific to Rookwood,  I will mention below as a starter. The first two are older books that are out of print, but can still be found, and many collectors feel these form a solid base for a reference library on Rookwood, the other is a more current book with many color photographs.

(1) The Book of Rookwood Pottery; Herbert Peck; Bonanza Books, New York. 1968, no ISBN available
(2) The Second Book of Rookwood Pottery; Herbert Peck; publisher unknown, 1985, no ISBN
(3) Warman's Rookwood Pottery; Denis Rago & Jonathan Clancy, Krause Publications, 2008
      ISBN 13: 978-0-89689-633-1 or ISBN 10: 0-89689-633-1

Till tomorrow, Good Night!

And the winner is....... Rookwood

Well, I randomly chose an item from the list and up popped a piece of Rookwood pottery. Rookwood is preeminent in American art pottery and is probably the mose well known after Roseville (which seem to be more commom at most antiques shows and flea markets). The piece that got pulled from the hat is the following:

This 12 inch matte ox blood red and green tinged vase is representative of Rookwood production ware from the Arts and Crafts period of American style, it could have been found in almost any Craftsman styled home of the period. This is the type of pottery that would have been chosen by Frank Lloyd Wright for one of his designs.

One of the best features of Rookwood pottery is how well they were marked and documented, this marking system makes Rookwood fun and a joy to collect. The pottery itself is an aid in identifying and dating a piece. Take the gander at the bottom of this piece in the photo below:

The first thing most people notice is the large lightbulb shaped mark at the top; this is the Rookwood Flame mark. It consists of a conjoined back to back RP surrounded by small flame marks.It was first used in June 1886, and consisted of only the RP without any flames, it became their standard mark at that time replacing the previously used "ROOKWOOD". In 1887 a single flame was added to the mark, and an additional flame was added for each following year until 14 flames surrounded the RP in 1900. Pieces made after 1900 have an additional Roman Numeral stamped below the flame mark. In the photo above we see the 14 Flame mark with an impressed VII below, this denotes the year 1907. 

Below the Flame/Date mark is found the shape number followed by the size letter. In this case this is shape 951 and is in size B. The size letter does not stand for a particular measurement but more a relative measurement. There were six size categories of Rookwood pottery, A through F, with A being the largest and F the smallest. So A was larger than a B, which is larger than C, ans so on though F. So this was the second largest size in this shape. This shape according to recorsd published in books on Rookwood was made in sizes A, B, C, D, and E only.

All Rookwood has a minimum of the Flame mark with/without date stamp and the shape/size mark, if it was made from the second half of 1886 on. Pieces prior to this had a different series of marks but are marked.

This piece being production ware is not Artist signed as many Rookwood ware are, and  at 12 iches it is larger than most Rookwood pieces. Rookwood tends to found in sizes 10 inches and under.

Tomorrow I will examine an additional Rookwood piece which is an Artist signed piece, and review the similarities and differences in the markings, as well as other pertinent information not covered here.

To All a Good Night!

A new beginning and a rambling start......

There are so many different subjects and categories of collecting that it is often an arduous task for me to decide what I should discuss next, and tonight is one of those nights. Time and space, and my limited typing skills, make it difficult to cover a single subject in one sitting, as there are so many facets to even a single subject, and deciding where to start, well.

Take American Art Pottery as an example, there are many, many manufactures that one could collect: Roseville, McCoy, Weller, Rookwood, Whalley, Niloak, Grueby to name only a very few; or you could collect this pottery by region or state: Ohio, Masachusetts, California, North Dakota; or a single artist: Valentine, Irvine, Bailey, Rhead; or a single pattern or line: Futura, Iris, Matte, Sunflower, Dickensware, Louwellsa; and I bet you would never tire of finding pieces to add to a collection. The options just in this one collecting category is virtually endless, so you can see why it is difficult to know where to start.

I want to encourage new collectors to start and seasoned collectors to maybe branch out into other areas, by introducing collecting areas that I find appealing, such as art pottery, glass, dolls and dishes. There is alot of territory to cover, and I don't want to overwhelm anyone with too much at once, myself included.

Thanks to my ramblings above, and I thank you for allowing me the time to do so, I have decided that probably the best way to continue is the way I started, one piece at a time, and starting with tomorrows entry I will randomly select one item from inventory and discuss that item as best I can, allowing us to explore the large territory in front of us, one square foot at a time. I'll probably skip around a bit in different areas of collecting as I randomly select an item, but that should make the journey a bit more interesting for us both.

Till tomorrow. 

Follow up on Farmington Antiques Show

A while back I had a blog entry on the Farmington Antiques Show, and I was questioning whether this show would survive. Well, the show this past fall was in fact a bit smaller than the earlier spring show. But just recently I saw some news that tells me the promoter is watching the trend, listening to dealers and customers, and is attempting to do something about it. In the Art and Antiques Weekly dated October 1, 2010 there is a small article stating that the show will be moving to a new home in 2011, the Harwinton Fairgrounds in Harwinton, CT. This venue it appears will offer indoor as well as outdoor spaces, and better permanent facilities for dealers and customers. I like the fact that indoor spaces will be offered rather than just tents (albeit the tents are very high quality) for protection from the elements, as well as the outdoor spaces for the ambiance of the original Polo Grounds show. The new location is a bit further for me to drive to than the Farmington Polo Grounds, being three miles off Route 8 in Harwinton, but I look forward to seeing how the new location fairs. I am hoping this move proves to be successful and that the Farmington Antiques Weekend survives for many more years, as I have been attending it for as long as I can remember.

Quick Update before heading to 9 to 5

Just checked the email bin and I have almost 200 emails in the 9 to 5 bin! I didn't look at it at all this past weekend (for shame!). As you can see I updated the blog, I added a slideshow of items that are on my shop website, hope it doesn't slow the blog down when it loads. I'm heading to the 9 to 5 shortly, but wanted to say Good Morning! Be back later!

Time to get it in Gear!

Have been away from the blog for far too long, and I am afraid I have bored my loyal readers. Time to get it in gear, and start to be faithful to my readers with a minimum of a weekly entry if not a daily one. I have allowed my 9 to 5 to usurp more than enough of my time and energy, it's time to fight back and renew my passion for antiques.

I am thinking about subjects for discussion and will be preparing them to present to you, loyal reader, in the days and weeks ahead. I still wish to inform the new collector, and inspire the seasoned collector, so I will be back!

Look for a new entry tomorrow, I will be here.