Great Website of Chinese Figurines

Well, not Chinese Figurines, but figurines of Chinese people. I stumbled across an excellent website put together by Mark Lieu of San Francisco...Mark's Collection of Figurines of Chinese People from the 40s and 50s.
Mark has a extensive collection of over 800 figurines...a great many of which are by California potters like Brad Keeler, Hedi Schoop, Florence and others. The great thing about Mark's site are the wonderful detailed descriptions of each piece and the fabulous photographs, one of which we show here. These are Peasants with Baskets Planters by Kaye of Hollywood.
Mark's Collection = Well Worth Bookmarking

S-Quire Ceramics at CPI

I've added
a listing for S-QUIRE Ceramics at the California Pottery Index. I don't know much about this company, except that they produced some very nice figures of men and women from their Los Angeles factory in the mid 1940s. Chief designer, probably the brains of the outfit, was someone named Zaida.
Really nice pieces that look much like Kay Finch or Hedi Schoop figurines. Any info on S-Quire or Zaida would greatly appreciated!

Goodwill Listing on CPI

I've been tinkering around on the California Pottery Index site this evening, adding Franciscan listings from Shopgoodwill.com. Loading up the Goodwill listings through an iframe seems to work pretty well, but wish the links could open in a new window automatically.
I've mentioned shopgoodwill.com before as a good place to find California Pottery pieces. Their search is a little clunky, and sometimes the pieces aren't described fully, but it still remains a great place to find a bargain.
And I gotta mention, I've been listening to 94.7 The Globe lately. They're a rock radio station out of Washington D.C. And they are very very good. I'm a fan.

Franciscan Desert Rose Collection

A huge mix-and-match collection of Franciscan Desert Rose popped up on Craiglist the other day. If you're in Hollywood you might look it up. I especially like this quote from the seller, "the reason i have so many plates is i had to buy people's entire collections just to get their serving pieces."
Been There, Done That!

Brad Keeler Lobsterware

SecondHandRose blogs on her collection of Brad Keeler Lobsterware. I agree that this is a really cool line. Keeler turned out some beautiful items from his Glendale and Los Angeles factories in the 1940s and early 50s. Especially nice were his Flamingo figurines...and some pretty cool Siamese cats. But the thing that I like about the Lobster items is the deep red glaze that Keeler developed. It was called Ming Dragon Blood red and was the boldest red of any of the California potters of the period.
SecondHandRose is right that the Lobsterware can be a little pricey in shops, but it does come up on eBay regularly. Patient shoppers can find many of the pieces for under $30.

Barbara Willis Pillow Vase

Real sweet Barbara Willis pillow vase starting at a buck on eBay. One would expect it to go much higher, even though the seller has missed the production date by about 25 years.
Figure this turquoise beauty dates to the mid-40s. Very distinctive BW style of glaze above tooled clay. I think the turquoise glaze she used is the most mid-century modern of all her colors.



Addendum: The vase stayed at a buck for most the week. It was almost getting exciting, but pretty gems like this don't go unseen on eBay too often. Closed at $450.