Shelf Pottery bird

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vintage Shelf Pottery bird with yellow tulips in the background | H is for Home

We picked up this striking pottery bird last week. It’s actually a money box and it was made by a company whose wares are very familiar to us – namely Shelf Pottery – who operated in Shelf, near Halifax and only a few miles away from where we live in Todmorden. We often come across their pieces at local markets, antique centres & auctions.

vintage Shelf Pottery bird

It’s quite distinctive pottery in terms of design & colourway with the warm oatmeal, cream, beige & browns. We love some of the stylised birds that they produced in the 1970s era. You can also find some great bowls & vases with quite eccentric and abstract forms. You’ll find a little more info and images of a few more examples on the 20th Century Forum

Chicken Little

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small blue slipware pottery figure of a chicken

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

side detail from a small blue slipware pottery figure of a chicken

In our case, it was the egg – the one that came with the Terrybaun egg cup & saucer we blogged about last week!

rear detail from a small blue slipware pottery figure of a chicken

This chicken is also a piece of slipware that we recently found – the cute little figure is only 9cm tall. We thought it might be a pie funnel when we first saw it. It’s hollow but there’s no hole to let the steam out. Perhaps just a little ornament then… unless you’ve got other ideas? Its colour is reminiscent of that classic Wedgewood Jasperware blue.  Very sweet – we wouldn’t mind a flock of these!

Egg-squisite!

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vintage slipware egg cup & saucer produced by TerryBaun with vintage Viners 'Studio' teaspoon designed by Gerald Benney

We picked up this gorgeous little egg cup & saucer this week. It only cost a pound, but it’s one of those little items that we’re going to treasure. We’ve mentioned previously how much we love this type country slipware pottery.

vintage slipware egg cup produced by TerryBaun

We did a bit of research into the maker and it turns out that it’s by Terrybaun Pottery – one of the oldest, if not the oldest, craft potteries in Ireland. It was established by Madeleine & Grattan Freyer in the late 1940s. Our egg cup looks like it might be one of their quite early slipware pieces.

base of vintage slipware egg cup produced by TerryBaun showing impressed back stamp

Below are just a few examples of the slipware & scaffito pieces they produced in the 1950s/60s – the pictures are taken from the Irish Arts Review’s online archive – stunning!!

trio of vintage slipware bowls from the Terrybaun Pottery

long oval Terrybaun Pottery dish with scraffito decoration by Oisin Kelly depicting the Last Supper

The couple’s nephew, master potter Henri Hedou, alongside his wife Fiona, carries on the tradition – taking over the running of the Co. Mayo pottery in 1983.

Mug Shots

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collection of vintage Hornsea Pottery mugs | H is for Home

We posted a blog recently featuring the ‘love mug’ series produced by Hornsea Pottery in the 1970s.

The company is famous for their mugs – so we photographed a few more examples whilst we were sorting through our ‘Hornsea box’.

vintage Hornsea Pottery mug with newsprint toucans vintage Hornsea Pottery Libra mug

They feature a vast array of designs and commemorate all manner of events.

vintage Hornsea Pottery mug with buildings vintage Hornsea Pottery World's Greatest Fisherman mug

The love mugs were the work of Kenneth Townsend, but the main name most associated with Hornsea Pottery is John Clappison. He’s certainly the name that collectors look out for.

vintage Hornsea Pottery mug vintage Hornsea Pottery mug with fish

Some examples are quite rare and attract strong prices.

vintage Hornsea Pottery mug of knight with shield vintage Hornsea Pottery mug with witches

They’re now often kept safe as display pieces and you can understand why. The company has long since closed down, so the number of surviving pieces can only decrease. You have to be quite brave to use them for your everyday brew…

vintage Hornsea Pottery mug with newsprint owls vintage Hornsea mug with owls

…but if you do, they’re sure to give you a bit of pleasure with every sip.

vintage Hornsea Aries mug

Justin has his Aries star sign mug. He doesn’t take any notice of his horoscope, but he loves this fabulous design… and being reminded of all of his positive traits at the start of each day!!