Portage Ceramic Trust Museum Breaking News !!!

It will be opening on the 2nd May 2015, which is 10 years since the collection was first obtained.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/67558862/Crown-Lynn-pottery-museum-set-to-open

My word this is exciting to say the least !!!!!!!

Hmmm I'm not sure that Crown Lynn exported to Hong Kong? They exported to a long list of other countries though .....

Wonderful.... Congratulations to all involved in this huge and important project. And Ev yes not sure re Hong Kong.

I was at the Portage Museum recently and took some photos of the outside of the building and the fantastic old Ambrico kiln, which is now in the middle of a high rise apartment complex .....?

So I have to eat my hat, as Crown Lynn exported to Hong Kong and Japan in 1967. Trial orders at least and Tres Bon was one of the patterns involved.
There are always surprises when it comes to Crown Lynn huh?

I just want to share your wonderful 1011 find with the Portage Ceramic Trust haselnuss, because without their help it would be an impossibility ... yes they do visit the site.

https://www.newzealandpottery.net/t6266-crown-lynn-long-lampstand-1011-for-gallery#24557

No worries, I am delighted for you to can share any of my photos with them past, present and future.

Te Toi Uku Clayworks on TV3 about the Museum Opening ...

http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/crown-lynn-pottery-lives-on-in-memory-2015050110#axzz3YvLPWIRO

The Official opening for the Portage Ceramics Museum was a huge success with around 70 people attending.  Lady Clark cut the ribbon and the Museum was declared open at last.  Portage Ceramic Trust members were thanked for all of their hard work and dedication.  I believe that Lorraine Wilson said that so far the Museum has cost the Trust around $600,000.00.  
It was great to catch up with Janice, Jeremy and Val Monk and also to meet many that I've been in contact with online and now can put faces to their names.
Here are some of the exhibits .....

Crockery ...


Handpotted ...


Bricks and Tiles and Pipes

Lady Clark

Did I hear correctly that someone said that there were 60,000 items in the collection?

That's what I heard Ev.
There were only about 5000 on the NZMuseums search.
Maybe if you count each shard separately they add up.


Later ...
Ev, Sandra did tell me on the day that the shards seen via nzmuseums are only a representative sample chosen because of easily recognisable shapes and colours, citing as an example the ginger jars.

Re the museum which was opened on Saturday, as described in this thread by Ev and Jeremy.

Almost all the items are currently in storage, so there are limited examples out on display. BUT it is wonderful to have this magnificent collection all in one place, catalogued and securely housed.  As well as examples of the product, we see the machinery they used (eg Ernie Shufflebotham's potters wheel!!) and also moulds and other treasures.  The museum contacts are on the website (links below). it is open only by arrangement at present.

This is a link to the museum's website

And here is a link to the collections- just click on each category and there are all the photos and descriptions. (correct me if I'm wrong but i think this is the same info that's available through the NZ Museums website as previously noted by Ev)  

It was lovely to see Lady Patricia Clark and several other members of the Clark family at the opening.  Thanks for that photo Jeremy!  As the years go by we need to remember  what a huge role Tom Clark (later Sir Tom) played in creating and driving the Crown Lynn enterprise.  He was truly a pioneer and an extremely gifted and charismatic man.

I checked with Lorraine Wilson today when I was at the Museum to see if I had heard correctly the number of items in the collection and she told me that there are 6,000 items. Not sure if that includes the massive amount of archives or not as that is enormous and has it's own room. One of the biggest treasures in the archives are three log books from 1971 to 1984 with day to day entries by Modeller Tam Mitchell !!
Sandra proudly showed me these and I noticed four digit shape numbers, but no drawings.

An article about the Museum in today's issue of The Fringe with a photo of Jenny Quinn, Sandra Ward and David Wright. I am hoping that this link actually works ..

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A3ov1r/TheFringeformerlyTit/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http://free.yudu.com/item/details/3240272/The-Fringe--formerly-Titirangi-Tatler---June-2015

Almost there!!! To see the said article click onto the bottom right hand corner of the paper and go to page 15.

A piece from TV1 news last night about the Museum.

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/crown-lynn-ceramics-making-comeback-video-6332926

Ev, Thank you for posting the link. I missed watching it on TV One when it was screened first.

I missed it too, but found it on TV on demand. Ps the Museum isn't on the old Crown Lynn site as such, but is nearby.