Clay Craft Casserole/Pot with Lid for Gallery

I guess this is a casserole as the rim is pronounced enough to give a good grip to pick up. Like much of their casserole ware it seems quite thin for purpose?
180 mm across and marked Clay Craft. Could be the same as the base in the gallery that doesn't have a lid?

Yes it could be the same as my lidless one.
I will measure mine when I get a chance.

Has this glaze appeared on any other CC pieces?

Yes I have a mint sauce base plate in the same glaze that is unmarked. I had put it in with my CC as it was the same base as my other sets that had the jug and was obviously CC. I have also seen but not purchased a vase and one of those round angled containers. These didn't have quite so much dark brown in the glaze.

Mike, it just pays to make sure with Clay Craft as the moulds were used by so many others after CC closed down, often with the CC marks intact.

From memory I have seen CC shapes produced by Aotea NZ, Sanderson, and Hobby Ceramics. There may be others too.

I'm pretty sure I have something like this glaze too but my Clay Craft is boxed up.

It looks good on the casserole.

(I love all your new Royal Oak shapes. You should make contact with Val for a visit if she's down your way some time.)

Thanks Jeremy I have wondered at times about some of the CC pieces I have seen...now I know why and will be a bit more careful in attributing without some other corroboration.
I've had fun picking up the Royal Oak but I'm not sure how much I like it yet. The misformed ? nature of it seems to have grown on me!!

I totally agree with you Ev. The attraction is much like the draw of a traffic accident.
I think what is so wonderful is that the range is turning out to be so huge and no matter what we may think of it now people were buying it in vast quantities back then.

Despite the crossover of staff between potteries each managed to create a unique style and run with it. They each have something to recommend. I continue to enjoy Clay Craft for the purity and simplicity of its forms, which nevertheless maintain an integrity with the company's earlier incarnations as Beach etc. I am currently working for my own enjoyment on an essay about my interpretation of Orzel, in particular how insignificant the apparent lack of quality control was to the meaning of the overall body of work. Royal Oak is an enigma: it continues to prompt that simple question "WHY??!!" and I think the simple answer is because it worked. I will continue to look in wonder at each piece as a fresh accident. I cannot avert my eyes.

I only buy it now with Val in mind because I think the documentation is important to the history of NZ commercial pottery. It would be great if we had some stories from people associated with RO to accompany it.

Mike, keep up the good work! You are making a great contribution and I look forward to seeing each your new pieces.

Is there anyone in the South Island who can tell us how pervasive it is there? I saw enough Orzel on my recent trip to think it was marketed there but Royal Oak did not register. Maybe it's  only these new shapes attract my attention now.

More like a train wreck Jeremy but.......

Here is the CC pot next to another CC in the same glaze.

Hi Mike, my lidless one is 210 x 110, so that is a lot bigger really.

Here is some more of that glaze that could be CC??
The 200 mm vase (not in gallery) is marked with Clay Craft but the angled container is not. If this glaze is not CC then whoever did it must have done a lot of it as this is the 5th or 6th piece in a CC shape I have so there must be tons of it out there.

It all looks like CC to me Mike. I recognise the glaze now, and the shapes.

I have seen one of those angled containers with a very clear Clay Craft mark on the base... who knows why most are unmarked????

The crazy thing is that some unmarked ones are clearly Clay Craft while some marked ones are third party using CC moulds!

Yes they are definitely Clay Craft Mike.
It looks like we have that vase already in the Gallery ..... but it doesn't have measurements.

I have not seen any of those containers that don't look CC - the thickens again. But I have a truly fearsome jug with CC marks on the base
I will put it on the site now. If I can find it.

Val, I think Anne has one with pumpkin orange glaze that Linda says is not CC.

Probably is the same one Jeremy has. I was fooled by the camera angle when looking at the gallery and mine in the flesh and I missed that my photo looks the same...doh as Homer would say!

There are at least three sizes in the spherical canister Mike.

Looking at Mike's original casserole, I see there was debate as to whether the glaze was Clay Craft. My notes from an interview with Ernie Cooper confirm that it is - they used a splatter technique.