Rookwood Auction Offers More Than Just Pots

If you collect Rookwood Pottery – or are thinking about it – this is an auction you need to study.

On Saturday, June 5, the Treadway Gallery held its annual Decorative Arts auction at the Union Terminal in Cincinnati. Informally, this sale could have been called a Rookwood Pottery auction, for the popular Cincinnati art pottery dominated the 563 lots.

What are a few of the lessons you could learn about Rookwood pottery from this sale?

1. There are Rookwood collectors, and then there are Arts & Crafts collectors who like Rookwood – provided it has an Arts & Crafts look.

2. Early is not better. Rookwood began in 1881, when Elbert Hubbard was just a kid selling soap. Their earliest art pottery is more Victorian than Arts & Crafts.

3. Rookwood was prolific. During the Arts & Crafts era the pottery produced as many as 15,000 pieces a year – in more than 2000 different shapes – and were in business for approximately 80 years. That’s a lot of pots.

4. Rookwood collectors are picky. One firing flaw can send the value plummeting faster than a share of BP stock.

5. The artist matters. While for most potteries knowing the designer or decorator is extra information, Rookwood collectors collect artists. Kataro Shirayamadani (pictured above), Carl Schmidt and Ed Diers always draw a crowd, and other artists are on the rise. Learn them.

6. Plaques are hot. They are like pots you can hang on a wall. Art on a clay canvas. A 9”x15” Vellum glazed plaque (pictured) painted by Ed Diers sold on Saturday for $14,000 (plus the buyer’s premium). A 9”x11” Vellum glazed plaque painted by Lorinda Epply reached $5250 (see #5).

7. Silver is gold. Add silver overlay to a Rookwood pot, which they occasionally did in conjunction with the Gorham Silver Manufacturing Company, and the value skyrockets. Four Standard Glaze pieces which, without silver overlay would hardly have attracted any attention, ran to $2750-$3250 with the sterling silver overlay.

Don Treadway’s auction provided Rookwood and Arts & Crafts collectors with something in every Rookwood Pottery category – along with the opportunity to gain a realistic perspective by studying the sales results to see exactly what collectors are looking for today - and what they are willing to pay.

To view both the auction catalog and sales results, go to www.treadwaygallery.com.

-b.johnson