Weil Ware Snack Set

I'm a big fan of Weil Ware. Who says dishes have to be round? Well, whoever said it, Weil didn't listen to 'em. There's a very nice 31-piece Weil Ware snack set on eBay right now and the price is very reasonable under $30. A real pretty set but I'm more partial to the bamboo decorated pieces. I've never gotten around to building out a Weil Ware page at California Pottery Index, but do include them in the "More Potters" category. Yes, Weil Ware deserves better.

Freeman-McFarlin Indian Chief on Horseback

Over at California Pottery Index, Ron Carnes posted a question to us...

Help! We just acquired a large statue (19" tall) of a Native American Indian Chief seated on a horse with his right arm upraised. This is marked on the bottom Anthony California USA 168. The odd thing about this piece is that it seems to be made of metal, not ceramic. It is hollow and has a distinct metallic ring when struck lightly with another piece of metal. Both Indian and horse are done in an odd antiqued matte brown finish, and the Indian wears a white chief's headdress. From the signature, I believe this is a Maynard Anthony Freeman piece -- any ideas on what I have here? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Capt'n Ron

Our Answer to Ron

Hey Cap, I'd say what you have is a Freeman-McFarlin piece...it is hard, that's what keeps the chief from having a stump at the shoulder. The glaze sounds like the FM woodtone finish.
A place called the "Black Horse Ranch" has an example pictured in their online collection of ceramic horses, which is pretty cool in itself - check about a third of the way down in pic labeled "#C Upper".

Value? I'm not certain but would put it at least $125-150.

and here's a pic of the Chief from the Black Horse Ranch collection. Very cool piece.

Otto Heino in Ojai

I don't know how long Otto Heino has had a website, but I just found it today. Mr. Heino has been throwing pots for over 50 years, and he's still working out of his Ojai studio...Otto's Pottery on McAndrew Road in Ojai.

The beautiful bowl to the left is a 12" bowl with oatmeal glaze with copper red. Absolutely wonderful


Check the website for a look at some of Otto's beautiful work, especially note the high-temperature yellow glaze that he has developed.
Otto Heino, one of the great California studio potters.

Potter's Art in California

I picked up a book last week that I recommend to all fans of California Pottery...The Potter's Art in California 1885 to 1955 by Hazel V. Bray. Published in 1980, this is the catalogue for a 1978 exhibit at Oakland Museum and Scripps College. Excellent information on the early potters of California...Alexander W. Robertson, Ernest Batchelder, Arequipa Pottery, Rhead Pottery and others from before the Great Depression. These are all the great artists who preceded the Mid-Century Modern crowd with whom California Pottery is most often associated. Those people are in here too...the great studio potters of 1940 to 1955...Glen Lukens, William Manker, Otto Heino, Edith Heath, Laura Andreson and others. Best part of the book are the super color and black and white photos of representative pieces.
Up top is a picture of some Arequipa Pottery from about 1913...a "Madrona" vase by Albert L. Solon and a beautiful green bowl by Frederick H. Rhead. The bottom pic shows a couple of bowls by Manuel Jalanivich and Ingevardt Olsen as well as a 1937 yellow plate by Glen Lukens.
The Potter's Art in California 1885-1955 is a wonderful addition for your California Pottery bookshelf. It's long out of print, but luckily its readily available from online booksellers...find it on Abebooks

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!

California Clay & Paint

Fans of Gladding-McBean Pottery will enjoy "California Clay & Paint," the new blog by Deb Hollis, aka Renaissancewriter. Deb has numerous pictures of her GMcB collection and promises more.

Aztec Coffee Set

Oh yea, its well documented that I am a big fan of the Poppytrail California Aztec line of dinnerware from the late fifties-early sixties. Its my favorite of the Metlox designs. Aztec is pretty hard to come by and so a little pricey.
This coffee pot with six cups currently on eBay is wonderful and should go for about $400.00...figure $300 for the decanter and $20 each for the cups. With the bids sitting at $36 this could be a steal.
So what I would like is for everybody that recieved a Christmas gift from me to please take it back to the store and cash it in for money. And then bring the money to me. Otherwise I won't be able to get a bid down.
Auction closes 12/31.