Daryle Lambert: Where Beauty Began - Marblehead Pottery

I have outlined several different pottery companies for you to watch for throughout these blogs. I hope that you are beginning to see what an advantage having knowledge of multiple companies in your head is, as you are looking around. You are becoming the expert, and these will be your secrets to success.

Today we're adding Marblehead Pottery to our ever-growing knowledge base. This very simple small studio was started in 1904 to help teach ceramics to sanitarium patients but it became something entirely different. Arthur Baggs, founder of Marblehead, was a master potter at that time, and Marblehead produced some of the best Arts and Crafts pottery of the period. The factory was closed in 1936.

The carved Marblehead pieces are the most valuable, and many have as many as six colors included in the design. If you run across one that is heavily carved with five to six colors, the value may be well in the five figure range or more. The favorite colors are dark green, blue, light green, pink, yellow, brown, gray and orange. The more common the piece the less desirable it is, but just having the Marblehead mark on it means that it will bring several hundred dollars.

The subject matter for most of these pieces included simple nautical designs on matte pebbled backgrounds. Also used were many geomectic designs, and these are much in demand today, bringing very high dollars. Marblehead also made tiles, so watch for those as well.

Damage on Marblehead pottery pieces will be a real problem for collectors and might reduce the price as much as fifty percent. This is because Marblehead pottery was hard and durable, so you will find less damage to these pieces than most of the other pottery pieces.

When I first became interested in Marblehead Pottery, I found a small vase that I didn't think looked like anything special, so I offered under $100 for it. When the seller accepted my offer, I began to wonder if I had paid too much for this 4" tall vase with a few small carved flowers with three colors.

I put the vase up on eBay, hoping to make a few dollar. Then, the questions started to roll in. "Is there any damage?" and "Are you sure it's got three colors?" From the responses, I knew that this piece must be something special, but what were they willing to pay? After seven days I had my answer. It sold for $3,500.00. Today it would probably be even more.

Marblehead's main mark is a circle with a ship between an M on one side and a P on the other.

Today's Photo: Marblehead vase sold through Craftsman Auctions for $33,600 in 2006

Make sure your friends and loved ones have a copy of our book. You can sign them up for our 31 Club, and they'll get the book for free. Or order them the book, and get the membership for free. Either way, this makes a great Christmas gift for the special people in your life.

Discover how our book can be the tool that helps you become financially free simply buying and selling antiques, collectibles and fine art.

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If you haven't yet had a chance to see what we've got listed in the 31 Gallery & Marketplace, click on over and take a look. You might even find a real bargain. We've got many high quality items priced reasonably. If you have a high quality piece you'd like us to find a buyer for, why not consign your item to us. No high fees when you sell with us. Contact us here.

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Daryle Lambert: On Merrimac Pottery

While we are studying pottery, why not look at the company that produced some of my favorite pieces. This company is Merrimac Pottery from Newburyport, Massachusetts.

This company founded in 1897 by Thomas Nickerson, burned to the ground in 1908. I truly believe that if this hadn't happened, Merrimac Pottery would be the best known of the Arts and Crafts Pottery in this country today. I personally like it much better than Grueby, and it is more rare than Grueby.

The pieces of Merrimac Pottery are often heavily carved, with thick walls, often finished with just the glaze. Their best pieces often depict underwater vegetation.

Some people say that Merrimac pieces are molded, but even if that is true, the work and design on their surface is hand tooled. In my opinion, they are the most natural of all this type of pottery.

I always like to have things that you can't find in most people's homes, and this is true of Merrimac. The true collectors out there would pay almost anything for the right piece of this wonderful pottery, but they may have to wait a long time just to have the opportunity to buy a common item made by Merrimac. I wish that I had a super piece in my collection. So, it anyone out there is wanting to sell your piece of Merrimac, please give me a call.

Today's Photo shows the Merrimac mark so you can add this to your memory bank or keep it on the paper you keep with you.

To see examples of this fine pottery, Rago Arts and Auction Center has some very fine examples of Merrimac Pottery. here.

Don't forget to make sure your friends and loved ones have a copy of our book. You can sign them up for our 31 Club, and they'll get the book for free. Or order them the book, and get the membership for free. Either way, this makes a great Christmas gift for the special people in your life.

Discover how our book can be the tool that helps you become financially free simply buying and selling antiques, collectibles and fine art.

Be sure to visit our web site for more information about how you can join the 31 Club Wealth Building and start your own race to your millions! Read more about The Million Dollar Challenge.

If you haven't yet had a chance to see what we've got listed in the 31 Gallery & Marketplace, click on over and take a look. You might even find a real bargain. We've got many high quality items priced reasonably. If you have a high quality piece you'd like us to find a buyer for, why not consign your item to us. No high fees when you sell with us. Contact us here.

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Daryle Lambert: Don't Walk on Those Tiles. Especially If They're Grueby.

How often have you seen a tile and thought, I don't need to look at that? In your haste to look at something more interesting, you may have just passed a real treasure. Most of the better potteries made tiles to hang on the wall or place around the fireplace. The complex quality these tiles have make them of great value in the market place.

Grueby started in the tile manufacturing business in 1894 when William Grueby began to make tile under the name of Grueby Faience Company. These tiles were enameled architectural faience pieces, and they immediately became popular. They came in many forms, with carved mermaids, ships and flowers being some of the favorite subjects chosen by the artist. Some of these tiles may well bring $10,000 plus in today's market. I have been fortunate enough to find several of the Grueby tiles in the past, but nothing that was very special or rare. For the most part, I have had the little cupid tile, but even these they may bring $500 each. That isn't bad if they were purchased for $5.00.

The closest I have ever been to making a killing in tile was when I attended the Music City Show in Nashville. Cecil and I decide to run an ad in the local paper, and we got a call of interest to us, so off we went. What a disappointment this visit was until I eyed the fireplace. My eyes almost popped out of my head. There before me was a fireplace completely made of Grueby tile, and some pieces I hadn't ever seen before.

I began to ask questions very cautiously so not to give my hand away. After some time, I knew that no one had ever approached them about buying the whole fireplace, so I ask them if it was for sale. Their answer was "at the right price."

What a predicament I was in, wanting to be fair but not scaring them at the same time. I finally said I would pay them $25,000 for it and waited patiently for their answer. “What will we do with that large hole in our living room wall?” the woman asked me. I scratched my head and did some calculating, finally offering to fix it if it wouldn't cost more than $5,000. There, for a minute, I thought that it was mine. But it wasn't to be. They said I would hear from them, but it never happened. To this day, I don't really know what the value of all the tile would have been, but when I put the total to them, it could have possibly come to over $100,000. You see there were over two hundred tiles and half were the very decorative ones.

Most of you might have been aware of the Grueby pottery in the form of vases and bowls, but how any of you knew that there was gold in them thar tiles? Often you will find tiles lying in groups, and most people just pass them by. I'm sure you won't pass them by from now on. I have lost the name of their company but if you want to know anything about tile call Wendy and Sandy at 978-649-4983. There are also many wonderful books on Art Tiles that you can search out as well.

I was going to include Rookwood tile in this blog, but I think I will keep that for tomorrow.

Be sure to visit our web site for more information about how you can join the 31 Club Wealth Building and start building personal wealth buying and selling antiques & collectibles. Read more about The Million Dollar Challenge.

If you haven't yet had a chance to see what we've got listed in the 31 Gallery & Marketplace, click on over and take a look. You might even find a real bargain. We've got many high quality items priced reasonably. If you have a high quality piece you'd like us to find a buyer for, why not consign your item to us. No high fees when you sell with us. Contact us here.

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Daryle Lambert - The Best of Chicago Pottery - Teco

Many years ago I was at a neighborhood yard sale when I spotted a large green vase. I took a close look at it and seriously wondered why anyone would want to have it in their house. It was inexpensive, so I bought it anyway. I think I paid somewhere around $50 for it.

When I got home, I did some research and discovered that it was Teco Pottery, which, at the time, I had never heard of. When I found out that the vase I was holding could bring up to $2,500 I almost fell off my chair. I decided to immediately sell it, and it brought me $2,250. You can bet I will never look at that plain green color the same again.

Teco --The Terra-Cotta Tile and Ceramic Company was formed in 1887 by Williams D. Gates. This immediately became associated with the Prairie School movement and was included in most homes of the time that featured the Arts and Crafts Style. At the time, Prairie School and Arts and Crafts were new terms for this Southern boy. I was use to terms like Primitives and Folk Art, and these were the things we searched for in the South.

Frank Lloyd Wright, the famous architect, was one of the most notable members of this movement. I found his designs often imitated the great American Prairies that surrounded Chicago. This seemed to play in to his love of the Western movement that was happening in this country.

Some of the purists wanted to discount the value of Teco pieces, because there were very few pieces hand thrown, and most were massed produced. They had some of the largest factories producing pottery at the time and so their production was extremely large. In fact, Teco had over 10,000 different shapes in its catalogues. This pottery was primarily a commercial venture, and I am still rather surprised that it commands the prices that it does.

When others were making high glazed and very decorative pottery, Teco produced great designs and the highest quality pottery on the market. Most of their pieces are matt green with very little secondary glazing, however they sometimes do have a charcoal effect on them.

The variety that William Gates created with his pottery does amaze me, but even till this day, it looks common to me.

Damage to a piece of Teco will devalue it more than most other pottery, and as a general rule, it should be avoided. This is because it was mass produced, and true collectors will wait for a prefect example before they buy.

The larger the pieces in Teco seems to be where the value is. While many of the Teco shapes come in brown, maroon, blue, yellow, and pink, it is the Teco Green that is most valued by today's collectors and will bring in the highest price. Some pieces will bring tens of thousands of dollars at the better auction houses such as Treadway and Toomey Auction Gallery and Rago’s.

Be sure to familiarize yourself with the Teco mark I've shown in today's picture. Pieces of Teco will often have this mark stamped several times on their bottom and often the mark will be almost invisible.

So, be on the lookout for Teco, because it just might make your day. A good reference book on Teco Art Pottery is American Art Pottery by David Rago. Why not order either a used or new copy through our Amazon Link to help support the 31 Club Wealth Building?

Be sure to visit our web site for more information about how you can join the 31 Club Wealth Building and start your own race to your millions! Read more about it here!"The Guy in the Red Tie" --- Daryle Lambert

If you haven't yet had a chance to see what we've got listed in the 31 Gallery & Marketplace, click on over and take a look. You might even find a real bargain. We've got many high quality items priced reasonably. If you have a high quality piece you'd like us to find a buyer for, why not consign your piece to us. No high fees when you sell with us. Just contact us here.

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