Classic Art Ware - Debateable origins

[islandretro]

I have been thinking about and discussing with various collectors the origins of Classic Art Ware pottery for quite some time now, and since the publication of the 2nd People's Potteries book and the attribution of the label to John Barnard Knight, and subsequently the attribution of some CAW pieces to JBK in an upcoming Australian Pottery auction, I have decided to "go public" in the hope of flushing some information, or at least informative debate out of the woodwork 🙂

As I have said else where, I don't agree with Dorothy Johnstons attribution of this label to John Barnard Knight, a Melbourne potter associated with the label Janet Grey. I, (and others, not having come to this conclusion in isolation, I have talked to various collectors), believe there is a connection with Delamere Art Pottery from Sydney; whether this was a label attached to their wares sold through a certain outlet or a range they sold themselves similarly to Diana's Hollywood or Pate's Regent labels no one is sure.







Anyway - here are some photos for you to see labels on various CAW pieces that have always been attributed to Delamere (except the Koalas which are attributed only to CAW and the frog in the 1st pic which has a Delamere sticker). Aside from this there is continuity of glaze colour, and various motifs common over CAW and Delamere attributed pieces I can post pics of as well if anyone is interested, to support this theory.

Hoping there are some other CAW/Delamere collectors reading who might have info to share

cheers
Rae

[islandretro]

Maybe Lake, but edge is pretty clear lol! I have had a few of those little ashtrays in that shape with various applied bits, I think a lot of the potteries might have made them.

I don't know about stickers at the time of these pieces, but Dorothy included a picture of a roll of "Studio Anna stickers from the 1960s left to me by Karel Jung-Virt when he was clearing out his pottery " in the article, probably to illustrate how someone could come by a lot of stickers of the one type to use nefariously.

However, that doesn't explain where they came by a whole lot of Delamere pieces only, to put these stickers on, I haven't seen any other makers pieces with them attached.

Dorothy also mentions that "I came across many pieces of Delamere pottery in antique and secondhand shops but had never seen a Classic Art Ware sticker attached to the pieces"

I wanted to point out that I here around 30 pieces of CAW/Delamere and only ONE has a CAW sticker. None are signed or stickered Delamere. However I have seen pictures of many of the same pieces with the stickers, and from many different sources. Again I guess you have to ask the question - WHY would anyone with a roll of CAW stickers (allegedly from JBK, but with no evidence) from Melbourne stick them solely on Delamere pieces from Sydney? Makes no sense to me

Pip - the bowl on the right in the first picture is just gorgeous! any change of a pic of it on its own?

cheers
Rae

[islandretro]

woops chance of a pic I mean!

[singingyamada]

there is an article in collectors magazine about this. I never knew it existed until reading about it. ?:|

[rosecottagesales]

Just wondering, is this chick made by CAW / Delemere? The glaze looks very similar to Rae's jug above 🙂





cheers

[kooriflag]

Hi Rae,
The Anna stickers that you mention I think are from the 70's and were adhesive like sticky tape so yes of course they came off a roll. The CAW stickers are from the 50's and like Diana,Gardner,Davnel and so many others had to be moistened to make them stick.

It's hardly worth mentioning the fact that these pieces with stickers turn up all over the country and are amazingly always on the right type of pottery !!!

Sorry Rae I thought that I had posted a pic of that bowl....that just got packed 😞 away to make room for more new pieces 😄 and will probably be there for a long while yet.

LL please have another look at the ashtray which although similar has 3 dips for cigarettes and not 2 like yours,
Cheers,
Pip

[thepeoplespotteries]

It has been brought to my notice that the latest “Collectables Trader Magazine” has unfortunately been printed with at least four errors (not of my making) in the article entitled “Detective Work Delamere Art Pottery A Contentious Issue to Unravel.”

The original captions as submitted by me to the magazine were
4 Delamere Koala vase
5 Classic Art Ware Koala vase

The embellished(and wrong) captions appearing in the article were...

Caption 4. Classic Art Ware koala vase
Caption 5 John Arthur Barnard Knight (1910-1993)vase c.1935,wheel-thrown, glazed earthenware with carved relief decorations *

No one knows better how hard it is to escape errors in the written word and I would normally overlook printers’ mistakes. This however cannot be overlooked and I have written to the editor to seek a correction but this would not be for another two months at the earliest.
Upon being referred to the surprisingly long , occasionally defamatory (in the case of John Knight) and on-going discussions in DEBATEABLE ORIGINS I can empathise with your interest in and confusion about these potteries…especially now with my latest article.
As to Delamere, I am still in contact with Bob and his son Dennis and will have to phone them soon to explain the mis-caption.
The vase (caption 4 ) is in the possession of Bob Johnson and was photographed by me. It is not signed. The vase (Caption 5) was owned by me and came with its own provenance...also not signed.
“Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive”(Shakespeare): and that is just what John Knight did when he wished not to be known as a commercial potter.
I wrote in my article that a follow-up story on Classic Art Ware would be forth-coming but this was not recorded. Hopefully it will appear in the next edition and maybe make things clearer.
For those of you who already have seen the Collectables Trader I have burned the roll of stickers shortly after photographing them for you. So there should be no confusion over Studio Anna pieces when I am gone.

* This mis-information seems to have been taken straight from Encyclopaedia of Australian Potter’s Marks by Geoff Ford .

[islandretro]

Hi Dorothy, thank you for taking the time to post to this thread - it is a fascinating subject.

I am very pleased to see you confirm what I have long suspected and that is that the large koala vase in the article (Pic 4 and the same as the one in Pips post #338 for those without the article) is owned by Bob Johnson and therefore (I assume) is Delamere Pottery. The article picture no 5 you say is CAW, however, except for the fact it has a yellow koala (as does the signed Delamere one in post #334), and wider leaves, I do believe it is the same vase as that in pic no 4, even down to the aqua coloured interior and vine like branches so characteristic of these pieces. I have pieces here, as I posted previously, with varying width of leaves but clearly from the same maker. I would love to see any evidence to associate it with JBK (to whom you attribute CAW) rather than Delamere.

I am hoping you will feel you can share the provenance you say comes with the CAW vase in pic 5, and how this leads you to attribute CAW to JBK?

I am also interested that you mention that original CAW koalas did not have black on the edge of their ears - I have checked the 7 grey koala pieces I have here - and they all have some black on the tops of their ears - I wonder if these are therefore Delamere koalas, as the one in the article (no 4) has black on the ears as well?

cheers
Rae

[kitty-kat1234]

Yes,thanks heaps for joining this post Dorothy,
Somewhere along the way some answers maybe found.

[grannyfrogsmith]

Hi all,interesting reading on the CAW and Delamere pottery.Good to see Dorothy has replied.
As I am new to Australian pottery I find all the discussions very informative.Have to admit I sometimes "get lost"in various topics.
Now a very silly question,the Koala vase I posted is that CAW?
Reason for asking is-my friend has very kindly given it to me as she as she knows I have grown to like Australian pottery.
Would you say I am a lucky new time collector?

[islandretro]

Granny, yes it is, or Delamere if you prefer it seems 🙂 Can you see it is the same koala (or maker) as on the front of the vases in posts #334 and #338?

cheers
Rae