When my sister and I cleaned out our parents’ home, we
had to make many decisions about what to do with all the stuff. Which things
are truly “valuable” and which have only sentiment in their favor? Should we
sell it, keep it, or throw it away? To help ensure a future for our family’s
heirlooms, I plan to leave a booklet for my daughters telling the stories of
what they will inherit one day. (Not TOO soon, I hope!) With this challenge I
begin my book of Heirlooms.
is for Roseville. I own 4 pieces: 2 large vases or urns
and 2 candlesticks, but only the vases are truly “heirlooms.” They once belonged
to my grandaunt Violetta Davis Ryan. The candlesticks, however, were a fairly
recent Christmas gift from my Aunt Betty who thought they would look nice with
the vases.
Roseville pottery is highly collectible today. It was
produced by the Roseville Pottery company, one of three major producers of
American art pottery in the 19th and 20th centuries. Most
of the pottery was made for simple household use as flower pots, candlesticks,
vases, wall pockets, baskets, and garden pedestals. The Art Nouveau and Arts
and Crafts-inspired designs have proved to be almost timeless in their appeal.
The revival of Mission-style furniture and Craftsman-style architecture has made prices on Roseville soar.
My urns are in the Dahlrose design which was introduced
in 1928. It is marked with a paper label, of which only a black sliver remains.
One of the urns has a badly chipped handle. However, the other is in perfect condition. A seller on Etsy has this very urn for $675. Obviously the
chipped one would be worth very little, if anything.
 |
| I have turned one around to show both sides - a full bloom and a bud |
What I enjoy most about Roseville is how it feels - the
smoothness of the field, the smooth edges of the raised flowers. It is probably
a good thing that most antiques dealers keep Roseville out of reach or behind
glass doors.
Wendy
© 2018, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
That is so pretty, I've never heard of Roseville pottery before.
ReplyDeleteYou are sure up on your knowledge about your heirlooms, impressive! It's great you could look all that info up and record it for future generations.
I was just wondering the other day what I ever did before google??!!??
My A to Z Genealogy Challenges
Google makes life easier, that's for sure. Remember planning a vacation before the internet?
DeleteRoseville pottery has passed us by. However we do have a bungalow in our village with that name. However it is to be knocked down to make the entrance to yet another housing development on good farmland.
ReplyDeleteI guess Roseville pottery is purely an American thing. Obviously carving up farmland for housing developments is NOT just an American thing. Roseville sounds like a good name for a cottage or even a town.
DeleteBefore the internet we only traveled to visit family and stayed with them, so no problems there.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful candle sticks, which reminds me I haven't lit my morning candle.
Before the internet, I had a hotel directory that listed addresses for every hotel in the brand all over the United States. That is pretty much how we decided where to go.
DeleteThese are beautiful - I have never heard of Roseville before.
ReplyDeleteIf I had never visited an antiques store, I probably wouldn’t know of Roseville either.
DeleteSo pretty with the urns. I wonder if one is going for $675 now, what was the price back in 1928?
ReplyDeletebetty
Probably something ridiculous like $3.00. Or 50 cents.
Delete