Archive for the ‘Finds’ Category

Finds #4 – Alice Mylie Peppin Bowl

 

In what turned out to be a nice little purple patch for my treasure hunting I turned up this little Tasmanian gem in a local op shop while on the way to the post office.

Made by Alice Mylie Peppin (know as Mylie Peppin) in 1953 and hand painted with what looks to me to be a Fuchsia type floral design. I have a 10 pieces of Mylie’s works and although this is the oldest piece of hers that I own her body of works go back to the 1930’s and extend right through to the early 1990s.

In that time she achieved so much. She went from being a student Tasmanian pottery icon Maude Poynter to runnning a small commercial pottery from her back yard. She traveled overseas and spend time working and studying in England. She ran the Killiney potters group and managed to fit in a few pottery classes too. To say she kept herself busy was probably an understatement.

Forever the great experimenter it would have been sometimes hard to know who was learning more in her classes, the teacher or the student.

This willingness to experiment combined with a career lasting some 60 years means there is an interesting range or works to collect if you can find them. Perhaps unfairly, this mish-mash of styles has lead to a common phrase being used in conversation about Mylie’s works around dealers and collectors in Hobart and that is “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly”.

I do fear however that a large portion of “The Ugly” out there may be either poor imitations of her works or student potters who by coincidence have the same initials. I do know of at least one working potter with the same initials A.M. Penprase who was producing pottery towards the end of Mylie’s career. Thats not to say it’s ugly. It just must be noted that there are other AMPs out there.

This confusion with initials was a problem early on for a young Mylie Peppin who shared the same initials with her teacher Maude Poynter. This prompted Mylie to adopt a distinguishing mark of her own. To differentiate her works from her teachers she inscribed her works with a picture of a small hat with a feather stuck in it.

It’s not certain when Mylie stopped using her hat cypher but my pot from 1953 is pretty late for this mark.

Maybe you have to be Tasmanian to appreciate Mylie’s works. All I know is since moving from Sydney 5 years ago I have certainly developed a real affection for her style.

Tim

Finds #2 – Diana Waltzing Matilda Jug (UPDATE)

Just a quick update to to my May 1st 2011 post Finds #2 – Diana Waltzing Matilda Jug where I asked if anyone had a spare musical mechanism from a busted jug to replace the one mine was missing.

Well you wouldn’t believe it but I went to a local auction and what did I see but a box lot containing a badly broken Waltzing Matilda jug with it’s mechanism still in place. The replacement is not perfect but it works. The original plywood backing board has suffered an attack by some wood worm but it’s still holding together just nicely.

Not only did I get the mechanism for a price I was more than happy to pay but also thrown in with the lot were 2 Marutomo ware Don Bradman mugs one in perfect condition and another one in a broken but repairable state.

See! All good things come to those who wait.

On that subject I’ve been waiting a long time for a piece of Maude Poynter to turn up. Just sayin…….

Tim

Finds #3 – Derek Smith Pedestal Bowl

With a full time job and helping with my partners Salamanca market stall on Saturdays it’s not often these days that I get a chance to do a little snooping around the op shops, and Antique shops of Hobart. Rarer than finding the time to go treasure hunting is, finding a treasure when I do go hunting.

I am very happy to report that recently I did have had a chance to get to a shop or two (albeit on the way home from a doctors appointment) and I DID find a treasure indeed! The Derek Smith pedestal vase pictured above is the latest addition to my all too long list of keepers (for the moment).

Standing about 16cm high and 13cm across the top it’s not a terribly imposing piece but it’s big enough to get noticed especially since it’s more than 3/4 gilded and mirror reflective!

There is not much I can add to the Derek Smith story that isn’t already covered by Judith at Australian Pottery at Bemboka on her Australian Pottery 1960’s to Date blog here: Known potter #10: Derek Smith.

Over on Flickr you will find the Identifying Australian Pottery 1960s to Date group which is also run by Judith which had a dedicated Astrix (*) topic dedicated to Derek Smith and a comprehensive list of the marks used throughout his career here: * Derek Smith.

Derek Smith is a Tasmanian icon of modern pottery surpassed only by Les Blakebrough in his celebrity to the point that if you were to tell a shop keeper down here that you collected Modern Tasmanian pottery the answer almost invariably comes back “do you collect Blakebrough or Derek Smith?” although having said that it can be a bit difficult to get anyone down here to look past the standard Campbell and McHugh.

Tim

Finds #2 – Diana Waltzing Matilda Jug