Looking for Hand potted Salisbury - Royal Oak Potteries info.

These references relating to Salisbury [also known as Royal Oak at the time] are from the Crown Lynn Modellers Notes 1959 to 1964.

25th Oct 1960  - Finished Model and Block Ancient Jar Vase 10" [Drawing] Salisbury's 625
27th Oct 1960  -Finished Model and Block 623 [Drawing] (Salisbury's).
31st Oct 1960  - Finished Model and Block Single Rose Vase [Drawing] Salisbury's .
9th Nov 1960   - Finished Block single rose vase Salisbury's.
11th Nov 1960 -Finished Remodel Ancient Jar Vase 9 3/4" (see 25th) Salisbury's.
31st Aug 1961 - Model and Block Bark Flower Pot 4" high 626 Salisbury's.
4th Sept 1961  - Model and Block Ledge Vase 627 [Drawing] Salisbury's
7th Sept 1961  - Modelled Trumpet Shell Vase for Salisbury [Drawing]


More to come ....

Hi Ev
These are interesting, and give the exact dates and client for whom these molded wares were made.
If you're short of time, maybe it would be enough to just scan the records for anomalies such as unnumbered entries and so on.

I should tell you the reason for my question: We have a number of vases and a lidded bowl that are hand-thrown Steenstra sponge slip-decorated, look like 1960s Crown Lynn, and indeed most people believed them to be CL, but are completely without marks. No stamps, no inscribed numbers, nary a dot on the base.

As you say, these look to have been made by CL under contract for Royal Oak because some have been found with Royal Oak stickers. They are hard to find, but not what I would call rare. So what gives? I'm just hoping you can turn up some cryptic reference in the records that might give us more of a hint about them...

It might be a long shot though, so don't spend too much time on it. Its another of those CL mysteries.

Ok, it will be fruitless looking in the Modellers notes, as they are making moulds for the slip cast ware. The only place that I can think of to look is the Deco Advices ..... this will take time as there are 70 odd pages, but I will be on the look out for Salisbury's or Royal Oak..... actually I do recall one entry that says bisque ware !

I have a few photos of the pieces you describe on my files and I find them fascinating. Jim Drummond had a couple of pieces which may be the same in his auction at Art & Object and the descriptions read like this :

Crown Lynn biscuit blank enamel painted finish by Royal Oak Potteries with colourful bands shape 3 medium size. [This sold for $190]

Crown Lynn biscuit blank enamel painted finish by Royal Oak Potteries in pastel bands. Shape 46 Medium size. [Sold for $260]

I've had a look in the Deco Advices and there are two entries for Royal Oak.

1964 - Deco No 295 - Royal Oak
1965/66 Royal Oak Pottery Deco No 295 Royal Oak

There is one other entry for Deco No 295 -
c.1973 Crown Lynn Vit Deco No 295 - Dry Press Biscuit

Don't know what to make of this info really .....?

Perhaps Stewart Salisbury would be able to help with info?
He is Owen Salisbury's son and his username is ppzaz2

That is interesting Ev. Do you know what Deco 295 stood for?

Sorry I can't work that one out ....?
Mostly the Deco No represents the Pattern Name -
Sometimes it represents the Glaze name -
Occassionally it represents a certain type of ware.
It's too enigmatic for me to come up with an answer!

I had a feeling we would get no more than a cryptic hint from the records, but perhaps this is enough.

What we know:
1. The only Crown Lynn hand-thrown pots seen with a Royal Oak sticker from the 1960s are coloured sponge slip decorated.
2. There are three entries in the records recording three different orders from Royal Oak for wares in a certain Deco No. 295. They span the years 1964, 1965/66 and 1973 (note Steenstra's very last year at Crown Lynn).
3. I have seen three different sponge slip glaze colour schemes.
4. We probably have a very good idea of Royal Oak's 1964 order, because it was immortalized in the 4-digit numbering reorganization of that year as:
7015 - 8" Rimmed Bowl Coloured
7016 - 8" Flower Pot Coloured
7017 - Stand for 7016.

My theories:
1. Deco No. 295 stands for coloured sponge slip decorated. It could have been a proprietary Deco reserved for Royal Oak.
2. The three different periods of production all resulted in a different combination of slip colours, allowing us to accurately date these pots to one of the three production periods based on glaze characteristics.
3. Only the 1964 order was marked "Crown Lynn", as seen by the stamp on the image of the flower pot base. The other two were branded and marketed exclusively as Royal Oak.
4. The 1973 order could have been the last hand throwing work Steenstra ever did for CL, (and possibly the last hurrah for all hand throwing at CL?)
5.The photo below may show the glaze for the 1965-66 order:



6. The next one may show the glaze for the 1973 order.



Thanks so much to you Ev for the information which enabled this little bit of deduction.

I'd like to hear any thoughts anyone has. I'm always ready to be corrected on any of it but this makes sense to me. The inconsistency is that "Dry press biscuit" sounds like it refers to press-moulded wares, yet the pots in the photos are definitely hand-thrown.

Incidentally, all of the vases fall within the 5"-7" range for being classed as 7012 vases in the four digit numbering system. Not sure about the lidded bowl though.

I've been surfing around and found a pot plant and saucer in the same style as these and the saucer had Royal Oak Potteries stamped on the bottom .... ? Definitely looked like Crown Lynn. Found a few vases on the net, but nothing like the photo I have on my files from a gawjusfings auction, a lidded pot I gather that is missing it's lid. Photo courtesy of gawjusfings -

I'm not keen on the 'Dry press biscuit' entry representing these wares teaandcoffee.
The rest seems to all fall into place perfectly.

I was wondering if the vase I posted as a number 46 handpotted http://newzealandpottery.forumotion.net/t3573-number-46-hand-potted#11660 , is the 46 Crown Lynn biscuit blank enamel painted finish in pastel bands medium size referred to in your 29 April post Ev [sold for 260] ? 

It is the same shape, but has different colours.  Not sure if this will work, but I found the Jim Drummond one on google ....
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=shape+46%2Bcrown+Lynn&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47883778,d.aGc&biw=1366&bih=673&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=71e-UdqkBo6ViQeH9ICYBw#facrc=_&imgrc=vKnpG41QyXAQkM%3A%3BUtTY4RVj-UBnFM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fi64.servimg.com%252Fu%252Ff64%252F12%252F04%252F61%252F90%252F20810.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.collectiques.co.nz%252Fforum%252Fviewtopic.php%253Ff%253D16%2526t%253D796%2526start%253D10%3B320%3B444

http://newzealandpottery.forumotion.net/t3055-beach-artware#9600

ppzaz2 wrote:Dan also worked for Stewart Pottery for about 1 year, but was not comfortable making slip ware. I think he came to me after Peter Beach passed away and beachware closed. I am sure Norm Parker took over their premises.
Dan was a great guy with a funny sense of humor. He had a terrible time during the war in Europe, and he had many stories to tell. He also knew my father very well.
Cheers Stewart

Stewart Salisbury: "[Daniel Steenstra] knew [Owen Salisbury] very well."
Maybe Steenstra and Salisbury had there own arrangement.

Jeremy Ashford wrote:
Stewart Salisbury: "[Daniel Steenstra] knew [Owen Salisbury] very well."
Maybe Steenstra and Salisbury had there own arrangement.

As Owen Salisbury had a long association with Crown Lynn, something around 30 years, he probably got to know many people who worked there.  My personal thought is that Crown Lynn stamped Royal Oak Potteries on wares made for Owen Salisbury.
I found two plant pots at the Antique Fair made by Steenstra and they were the same size, but with different colourings.  One had the Crown Lynn stamp and the other had the Royal Oak Potteries stamp, which the trader tried to tell me was one of Crown Lynn's brand names!  Oh C'mon .... I spluttered and walked away ~_~

A Steenstra Royal oak stamped pot plant base and I will also post a Crown Lynn stamped one soon.