Poole Pottery 1960-1980 Part One

here are two pieces of Atlantis that i recently picked up in a auction.both in perfect condition and measure approx 6" tall

Tall cylinder vase. Shape no. 84. No artist's mark.
I like that it's wider at the bottom than the top: 11.5cm dia. at the top and 13cm at the base.

I like the hints of red. A shame there aren't more of them.

The inside is quite rough. There doesn't seem to have been any attempt to smooth the inner surface. Would that be evidence it's a trial piece, or just that they were in a bit of a rush for pots to decorate?

no most of my larger vases are like that,I guess they were selling hand made,hand decorated pottery and wanted the customers to see that

I've got my anorak on again....

This 8" Delphis plate has Carolyn Bartlett's mark, with a blue Poole transfer and the smaller footring.

I've read Carolyn worked at Poole from 1962 to 1965.

The blue mark seems to date this to post-May 1966 (to end of 1966?), so I guess Carolyn was at Poole longer than stated.

Can anyone say when Carolyn stopped working at Poole?

dantheman wrote:I would be amazed if anyone remembers..it was the sixties

I wonder if the women who worked at Poole have ever been interviewed in detail about their careers (I have only read a Carol Cutler interview). It seems a shame that more isn't being done to document that period while there's a chance to get first-hand info.

yes we discussed this very thing on the old collector's club forum a few years ago but I got the impression it was only a few collectors who cared,the ex Poole pottery girls couldn't see why it mattered and couldn't remember

Some of the museums have been doing vox-pop recordings, eg, of the war years. It might be an idea to get the ex-Poole people to record their reminiscences of those times on tape. Might be worth suggesting it as a student project for one of the Museums Studies degree courses, run by one of the universities like UCL.

get a few of them together get the Vino flowing i expect you would be more than suprised about what they remember .

here are a couple of pieces i picked up at newmarket at the weekend

l33ham180 wrote:here are a couple of pieces i picked up at newmarket at the weekend

Do either have artists' marks?

I like the 81 dish.

This 9" carved vase sold on ebay recently. It looks like the glazes were sprayed on and I initially thought it was 70s Agean, but the blue mark and lack of a shape number (It's an 84) means it's early Delphis.

The painted mark probably belongs to Geraldine O’Meara, who worked at Poole in 1966.

Has anyone seen any other spray-glazed Delphis?

I have a few spray glazed bowls that were made in the delphis studio

dantheman wrote:I have a few spray glazed bowls that were made in the delphis studio

I'd love to see some pics. Are they the same early period as the above vase?

yes some have the studio mark and others were made a year later with the blue Delphis mark

the slightly later 'blue mark' bowls are not at hand but they are no doubt pictured much earlier in this thread

dantheman wrote:yes some have the studio mark and others were made a year later with the blue Delphis mark

I wouldn't have guessed these glazes were sprayed on.

The eight green parts look like they could have been poured.

I think they called it flowline technique

I am trying to get some info down. Some of the girls come to the Club Gala days and as you say memories do flow when they're together. No luck in recording them ..yet I will keep trying. Although of less interest had a nice chat to Susan Russell a couple of weeks ago and have hopes of getting some of her memories down. The club is also running a series on Tony Morris at the moment

poolejake wrote:I am trying to get some info down. Some of the girls come to the Club Gala days and as you say memories do flow when they're together. No luck in recording them ..yet I will keep trying.

Great news.

When I did an interview in Detroit, I usually had a whole bunch of details and info about that person. In the case of the Delphis paintresses, I suggest you have a laptop with a bunch of images of their work. That should jog a few memories. It'd also be good to have a list of points you want to probe, although try to keep a bit of banter going too. Obviously they won't be able to rcall exact dates from 50 years ago. To get these right they would have to get their employment details from the Inland Revenue or some similar body.

Hopefully something come of this.

Jean Millership, Carolyn Bartlett, Carole Holden, Angela Wyburgh, Patricia Wells are women I'd love to chat to.