Featured What has happened to the pottery market?

I have sold quite a few pieces of pottery the past few months, mostly lower end like 1930s-50s McCoy. People seem to love it, I sold 2 McCoy flower pots this past weekend.

I have to say I buy cheap so I can afford to sell at an attractive price.

 

Was at an estate auction on the weekend and picked up two pieces of Roseville and thirteen pieces of Weller. These were mostly slightly better lines that don't have a glut of available price comps on the Bay. Overall I'm quite pleased. Nice stuff without defects in near mint condition. Will post pics later in the finds thread.

What are your thoughts on Weller Pottery?
@verybrad
@dgbjwc

 

Prices are line specific, of course, so it really depends on the individual pieces. Some pieces I can't seem to give away but others seem to be selling. Looking forward to seeing what you got.
Don

 

The auctioneer who did the sale I was at was hired to sell the contents of two homes that contained a vast amount of art pottery and glassware among other things. Overall there must be 1000+ pieces of art pottery.

Only about a hundred and fifty sold at the sale I was at and the rest will sell at later dates. Lots of variety to be had, some damaged pieces to avoid, I made sure to be very selective.

 

Just posted my buys in the finds thread.

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/finds-thread.137/page-996

 

Certainly still a great time to buy. Have seen a slight up-tick in interest in Roseville and Rookwood. Weller is still pretty much in the dumps, though extra nice pieces will sell. I am more of a fan of Weller than Roseville for the most part. I like their inconsistency in matching glaze to form and the oddball pieces can be quite interesting. I find most of the floral lines from both Roseville and Weller to be uninspiring. Ditto, the run-of-the-mill Rookwood. Give me a killer glaze on a large classic form. Maker is less important to me.

 

Was talking to the auctioneer's wife about this estate and she said the deceased was an avid art pottery dealer and had nearly every wall in their two houses packed with display cases, curio cabinets, and shelving to hold all of the pottery. Apparently some of the pieces have provenance to major pottery auction catalogs decades ago. There was another prominent auction company written into the will and they took nearly 500 pieces of Rookwood for future sale and the auctioneer I attend got commissioned to clear out the remainder. Apparently the auction company with first dibs on the stuff didn't dig very deep and let some great stuff slip through the cracks.

 

Obviously the things they passed on were items that they thought would not meet their price point. That's why the big house like Sothebys et al pass on stuff all the time. They feel it is just not worth their time & effort.