Four digit numbered Hand Potted

On the Rhodes vases, this is a great display and the Rhodes should have been given a mention in the book "Conetendown". They were as much a part of the 1960s New Zealand craft pottery movement as anyone even though they were employed by the lumbering corporate behemoth Crown Lynn. Mirek Smisek was too, and his time at CL was well covered by Moyra Elliot and Damian Skinner.
As Ev has identified, you have the full range of them, based on the four digit numbering records. Of course within those size bands you are going to find any number of form and glaze/texturing decoration permutations

Great food for thought teaandcoffee ..... no corrections from me at this point
Thanks to sunny for the brick and pipe Rhodes display which shows the consecutive sizes.
Really those decorated Steenstra's are magnificent!!!!
I didn't know you had the Carpay's sunshine and they should be in the Artist Craftsman Gallery, as they are as rare and beautiful as Huia feathers.

I found some more food for thought in Gail Henry and Val Monk last night and will post it in some format tomorrow.
teaandcoffee I admire your writing talents which are like a breath of fresh air.
Moyra Elliot is writing another book which continues on from the last one, perhaps there will be a place for any oversights?

It's been a few years since we had debates about the eggcups and it makes me smile to see your comments.
I do recall reading 'somewhere' about the person who made the eggcups and how he could only make so many at one time.........
I'm going to have to locate those words now as the eggcups are another bone of contention that have to be addressed
I merged this topic with the one you suggested teaandcoffee and realised that this wee shape is totally different to the other angular shape, so I put it back where it was for now.

I've added Jonno's tiny 2 inch vase as a 7010 to the Handpotted 7000's Gallery and also I've determined mumof1's 7019 - approx 7"and 7020 - approx 9".
When making items repeatedly usually the clay is weighed to get similar sizes, but there is always differences no matter how hard one tries to get them all the same size

So we are looking for these to get the entire Handpotted 7000's picture :
7015 - 8" Rimmed Bowl Coloured [I haven't come across one of these, has anyone else? Going by the slip decorated Flower Pots, I would suggest these will be of a similar nature.]
7016 - 8" Flower Pot Coloured
7021 - 10" and over in brick or pipe clay

Found this reference in Gail Henry page 197 [2nd edition] -
In 1948 Ernie Shufflebottom joined Crown Lynn and shortly after his arrival the hand-throwers and turners had formed their own special unit.

Jack Aberly was his assistant and also worked at Spartan Products.
Ernie Shufflebotham stayed at Crown Lynn until around 1956/57 so not quite 10 years.

Carpay joined Crown Lynn in 1953 and only stayed for 18 months !!!

Daniel Steenstra joined Crown Lynn in 1953 and stayed nearly 20 years. He was working at Beach Artware in 1973.

I'm going to have to merge this thread with the 7000's one to keep it all together!

Hi Ev
Thanks so much for that information. This means I think its more probable that mumof1's large matt-white "handthrown sample" vase was made in 1957 rather than 58.

This still leaves the question of the small colourful vases from the early 1950s. The little green vase of Heather's (that seems to have fallen off the thread?) is stamped with that late 40s-early 50s straight-line stamp which it seems to me would more likely have been used before Steensra got to CL. So Aberly, other throwers and/or Shufflebotham?

Below is a seven inch diameter Steenstra plate from the 1960s that I think could be the stand for the 8" flower pot (numbered 7017). Sorry I don't have the pot. It has the same blue-stamped mark as on mumof1's leaves-decorated vase - and most interestingly the same three-colour pallete, although this plate is sponge decorated not hand-painted. I would say this is more circumstantial evidence that the vase is from well into the 1960s (ie. 63-64)

I found Heathers little unusual green pot.
It had wandered off back to where it was with all of the merging and splitting going on!
Thanks so much for the larger Flower Pot Stand teaandcoffee it's in the Four Digit Gallery
I meant to add before that the sponged on coloured slips is another decoration form that I'm fairly sure would have been used by Daniel Steenstra. Those bands cut through the decoration look like they have been done while on the wheel when the clay was still soft.

I realise that we haven't sorted out the maker of the three unusual little vases, but in attempting to do so we have answered many other questions and we are well on the way with them I would like to see more glazes, as the ones I do see point to the early little vases ..... which I don't think I've seen a definite time frame for yet ...?

You are right about the bands Ev. They do feel like they might have been made into the wet clay rather than more precisely with a lathe into dry.

I suspect we are going to have to wait for more information on those early hand thrown vases before we can venture much more about them. They may be pre-Steenstra, in which case Sir Tom Clark's memory of Steenstra throwing lots of very small vases would be likely to refer to the 7010s a decade of more later.

I have a question Ev: Have you come across any record from the 1960s which records Crown Lynn filling an order for decorated hand thrown wares on behalf of Royal Oak?

Another form of slip decoration that could well be Steenstra's is the ones with slip trailed white dots, usually on a blue or green plain background. We have one on the site from Manos, but unfortunately it eludes me at the moment. I've seen these many times as attributed to Daniel Steenstra probably for the thrown shape.
Edits to add photo from Manos -


I haven't come across any orders for decorated hand thrown ware on behalf of Royal Oak.
But I have seen some truly wonderful pieces like that on auctions. Some even have the Royal Oak sticker still on them. They are usually decorated with colour and have lines cut just like the pot planters. Does anyone have one of these so that we can check out the base please?
Crown Lynn was working for Salisbury in the early 1960's, as the Modellers notes show this from 1960 to 1964 - they were making all manner of things for them.

Ev - do you think you could put those modellers' notes for Salisbury work up some time? Do they mention shapes and sizes and so on?

teaandcoffee wrote:Ev - do you think you could put those modellers' notes for Salisbury work up some time? Do they mention shapes and sizes and so on?

Yes I will put them on the site when time permits. Yes there are descriptions and numbers and sizes. Also little drawings which I won't be able to portray. The modellers notes are around 20+ pages from 1959 to 1964 and are available at the Auckland Museum Library to anyone interested.

Just wondering if the Pot Plant saucer has been slip cast or hand thrown ?  
It's hard to tell from here ....

Edits to add that the Flower Pots and Trays were machine made.
Crum also machine made theirs too.

Ev, I would say hand thrown. There are no press moulding marks but there are small rings around the curve of the outside that look like evidence of something turned on a wheel.

I have a new un-numbered handpotted vase. It is exactly 5" tall and is a very pale lilac colour. A 7011 or 7012

This wee pet is very similar to the burgundy one of Ev's in the second post, except it is brown.

the base looks similar

and I know this one is Crown Lynn

A cute wee thing!

I purchased a beautiful yellow handpotted pot from Dan Steensta's son and asked him about his father's work.  He sent me some of his Dad's drawings and this one really stands out to me as the shape reminds me of a couple of mumof1's hand potted pieces, one in white earthenware and one in the brick/pipe clay.
The style of these three shapes say to me that the same person made them.
The soft rounded belly, the finish on the foot, also the 'waist'.

I see what you mean, not quite the same shape but the same style.