Brock of California

This afternoon I was down at my local Old Dishes Superstore, aka Sacred Heart Thrift Store, and found a great old plate by Brock of California.  This was the California Farmhouse pattern...ya got a donkey pulling a hay wagon to the barn...not exactly mid-century modern.
Bertram J. Brock produced his dinnerware in Lawndale from 1947 to 1980 and also used the name Southern California Pottery.  Most of the Brock patterns were rural in nature incorporating various farm scenes. But a couple of patterns break from that and I think they're quite nice.  First, there's Aloha, which as the name indicates is a tropical pattern of palm trees swaying in the South Sea breeze. The other, which I think is just wonderful, is Brock Manzanita. This is a real stark design...a lone leafless manzanita in black and platinum plus a few cactus.  This patterns has aged well and still looks great (to me).
California Farmhouse and the other rural patterns are pretty easy to find.  Manzanita is kind of tough to locate.  And Aloha is really quite scarce.

Backyard Picture Taking

What an absolutely wonderful Bauer oil jar on eBay right now...its the #100, 22-inch oil jar in a bright Royal Blue glaze. Bauer made these babies in 12", 16" 22" and 24" sizes and in an assortment of colors. The 16-inch is easiest to find but still books at almost $1000. This blue jar is at $1,500 with a couple of days to go. $1,500 is about right, but on eBay condition is everything and this baby is real nice, so it could keep climbing.
I just love the picture of the jar. An interesting dichotomy in the reflection...

Ha Ha Ha, that's so funny. Broken pot funny. Not so funny though. Seriously. Check out this heartbreaker...Arequipa Vase.

Free Dinnerware With Every Dinner!

Here's a million dollar idea for steakhouse operators out there. After a customer enjoys a nice dinner at your restaurant, allow each member of the party to choose one piece of the table setting to take home. So for example, if there were five in the party, they could each take a dinner plate. Or they could each take a different piece...one dinner plate, one salad plate, one bowl, one cup and one saucer...that would make one table setting. Half a dozen visits later they could start on serving pieces. Hmmm, this will need more thought.
One thing for certain, you'll need cool restaurant ware. Plain white ain't going to cut it. Some of the coolest restaurant ware ever made were the various western motifs designed by Till Goodan for Wallace China...Rodeo, Boots & Saddle, Pioneer Trails and others.
There's a fabulous water pitcher in the Rodeo pattern on eBay right now, ending 11/12. Bidding on this will probably end about $200 or $225, but could just as easily take off to $500. Maybe a lot more if cousin Willard starts bidding, he got kicked in the head back in his rodeo cowboy days.
If you're collecting the Rodeo line remember two things: 1) it's going to take a lot of money, and 2) there is a reproduction line on the market but its easy to recognize as it has neither "California" or "Wallace China" as part of the backstamp.

New Items at Retro Ranger

Been busy creating new California Pottery themes for my Retro Ranger Cafepress store. Some of them are pretty good, IMHO. I've made some shirts for personal use in the past, but have never designed shirts to be sold.
This Kay Finch T-Shirt is a fairly simple design but I think it came out well. Everybody loves "I heart" stuff and I've incorporated that with the classic Kay Finch signature.
You'll also find shirts and other items with an E. A. Batchelder design, there's a design featuring Barbara Willis's trademark pottery style, a couple of different Franciscan designs and of course some designs for my favorite, Poppytrail.
If you like Poppytrail too, check out the Poppy Trailer Trash design. It makes me chuckle.

Batchelder Bookends

Here's the deal, you probably can't afford a Batchelder fountain in your backyard. So set your sights on something a tad smaller. Check these out...a pair of Batchelder bookends. These are circa 1923 from Ernest Batchelder's Los Angeles pottery. These kids have the engobe finish, which was common for Batchelder pieces. Engobe is different than glaze, being more of a staining technique.
I'm pretty sure these are going to leave my price-range pretty quick. 4 or 5 hundred dollars would not be out of line for the pair. But the seller does have a reserve and that does keep prices down. We'll just have to keep on eye on this. Batchelder Bookends auction ends 11/9.