search  current discussion  categories  techniques - cracking 

cracked pots worth "millions"

updated mon 17 nov 03

 

Sam or Mary Yancy on sun 16 nov 03


If you watch TV like I sometimes do, you may have come across some shows on public television wherin regular folks bring pieces in to be evaluated and priced.

Recently a women brought in two vases, one in perfect condition and one with a crack in it. The valuation on the perfect condition piece was about $20,000 and the cracked one was worth much due to it's style , age and where it came from.

Perhaps we should sell all our cracked or rejected pottery with a guarantee that it could be worth "millions" in the future?

I remember having folks over to my work place and they would sometimes sellect a "reject' over a"'perfect" piece due to it's uniqueness. I now keep them and give them away with the remark that someday the piece could be worth millions! Pottery is about the only thing that lasts forever. Have a nice day!!! Sam in Daly City

William Sheppard on sun 16 nov 03


Millions?? I know where a lot of "cracked pots" are. The only
problem is that somebody else now owns the property where my family's
ceramic studio once was located.

I the 1950s' my Grandmother (according to what I have been told)used
to throw here "seconds" into a deep pit her husband had dug in back of the
studio. Somewhere along the line she started selling her seconds at a
discounted price. As far as I know the pit was just filled in with the
unsalable pots in it.

Many times I have thought of going there and asking the current owners
if I could did up the back yard and look for the ceramic pieces. For me it
would be a wonderful experience, I think.

Of course what if the old lead glazes were leaching into the ground
and I had the EPA on my butt?

Interesting to think about.

William Sheppard
A family that has been making ceramics for 50 years.