Four Digit Production Records

As I'm on holiday I was able to visit the Crown Lynn Museum on Saturday to do some research.  I headed straight to the Production Records to go through them thoroughly.  I'm not sure how good their record keeping was and they range from the 1970's to 1985.
Each shape has it's own card and quantities are added with the date, so it is easy to total them up.  Some shape numbers have no records and are blank, so I can only deduce that none of those shapes were made.  Some shape numbers don't even have a card, so I don't know what was going on there.  Here are some examples to show that this interesting exercise was worthwhile.  More to come when I have more time.

Starting with the Four Digit Swans as these figures are very interesting:

2065 Baby Swan 65
2066 Lge Swan   44
2147 Med Swan   40
1110 Maori Mug   10
1133 Rayed Mug   648
1134 Air NZ Beaker 638
1135 Roots & Leaves Coffee Pot 14
1137 Roots & Leaves Mug 67
1138 Roots & Leaves Sugar 49
1147 Round Rimmed Ashtray 20 (we don't have this yet)
1155 Drinking Vessel 23
1157 Sweet Dish Ashtray 10 (we don't have this yet)
1158 Beer Stein 9 (we don't have this yet)
1185 Air NZ Maori Ashtray 100
1191 Elf Eared Mug 6
1210 No record (so no point looking for this!)
1218 Nil
1219 Nil
1223 Inns Coffee Mug 6

Interesting stuff Ev!
Fascinating really,.. there must be more than 65 baby swans out there..
Its odd there are no products 1210, 1218 & 1219 at all?? as 1219 has a gallery description of 'Coffee mug for bottom banding'
If they only made 6 Elf eared mugs its amazing Jeremy even found 1 surviving. &
It maybe a stretch finding the shape 1223 'Inns Mug' if only 6 were made of them too.

Thanks for your hard work there, Ev. You are increasing the value of my castware mugs collection.

Hard to believe only six 1191 elf ear handle mugs were made. I guess $20 was a bargain then.

As for the 1110 Maori mugs, I have seen at least 3 of the ten as two appeared on tm the week after I paid a mint for mine. What sort of coincidence was that.

And at 67 it looks like there may just be enough 1137 Roots & Leaves Mugs for you, Ev, and I to have one each when they turn up.

But I don't fancy my chances of seeing one of the 1155 Drinking Vessels, although at least I know what they look like.

So, that leaves the 1158 Beer Stein (9) and 1223 Inns Coffee Mug (6) to look for along with the few already identified that I don't have, and those stray 14xx shapes that have yet to be identified.

Oh dear, I see we sill need some info on the following too.
1177 alphabet mug,
1298 hop beer emblem mug,
1309 cylinder and cone coffee mug,
1336 child's set mug, and
1366 treescape coffee mug.

Kat, this is the record for the 2065 Baby Swan not the 154.  
I may have only seen a couple with the 2065 on them and one would be Heathers'.
The same for the 2066 Large Swan as I could count them on one hand.
It's good to see that the Middle Swan follows the similar quantities as the other swans, but nobody wants to believe that they only made 40.
I'm not sure what to do with the shapes that have no production records.
Perhaps note this on the shape or remove it altogether?
I did find quite a few production records for shapes that we don't have in the later stages.
I will add the shape to the gallery at some stage and add how many were made.  Some had quite a few!

Jeremy, I want to let you know that there are no Luke Adams records in these Production Records. Hopefully I will come across those in the future as I still have many Archive boxes to go through.
The Honey Glazed Mugs had enormous quantities made for example the 1111 Star Medallion Coffee Mug total was 545 and some carried over to two pages.
Yes it certainly gives me a better chance of finding the Roots & Leaves Mug
I don't know if these records also include the trial runs, as I've come across a record of 2 for something and there are a few 6's, which would make sense if they were trials.
We need to look for more of the 14xx shapes that we don't have and I will probably add the shape numbers to the Gallery with the totals made, as some are substantial. It's great that it gives us a guide to these and the ones that were never made by the looks of it.
There is still a lot more interesting info to share and I'm not even a third or the way through the records yet. I will be going back on Saturday, as I'm still on holiday then.
Tomorrow is a visit to the Auckland Museum Library

I may see you Saturday then Ev.

I am supposed to be in Auckland then and Te Toi Uku is on my touring route.

Oh wow that's great news and Hannah is looking after things brilliantly on Saturdays

Couldn't go to the Auck Museum today as dog had to have a split nail removed, so here are some more figures:

1254, 1255, 1256 Strange Kiwi S & P and Mustard only 3 of each were made.
1267 Sm Bobbles Dish Lid 11
1297 Grape Emblem Carafe 11
1298 Hop Emblem Beer Mug - No record
1301 Pomander 373 (I saw somewhere that Morlynn made these)
1307 and Lid Anniversary Bowl 252
1309 Cylinder Cone coffee mug - no record
1312 Parthenon Mug 156
1313 Nile Coffee Mug 188
1331 Ashtray 21
1336 Gravy Boat for Greece 381
1351 Drops Water Jug 21
1352 Bells Water Jug 58
1358 Classique Coffee Pot 276
1360 Classique Lidded Sugar 658
1366/1367/1368/1369/1373 No records
13791380 8 sided Flower Pots 7
1381 Lge 8 sided Flower Pot 5
1382 Sq Recess T Roll Holder 93
1384 Lge 12 sided Flower Pot 6
1385 Tall Classique Coffee Mug 94
1386 Tall Pen Pot Classique 12
1388/1389 Planters 20
1390 Lge Planter 22
1394 Flower Pot 24
1396 Photo Frame 11
1397 Beer Stein 172
1398 Trinket Pot 6

These low figures astound me, as they look like a Studio Potter's Production records.
Hopefully the Flatware and cups will keep the factory going!!

More to come .... one day

The 1397 Beer Stein is the limited edition Tom Clark one. That accounts for 160 of 172. Currently there are three for sale in two auctions on tm dressed as Ford Sierra. If Ford Sierra accounts for the remaining 12 then it is an even more limited edition.

First auction is for one mug at $45 and gives measurements and number:

https://www.trademe.co.nz/pottery-glass/porcelain-pottery/crown-lynn/other/auction-1556857994.htm?rsqid=cdb36656c7a44fea9aecd5fc5bdad069

Second auction is for two, and although number and size are not given they look the same as the first in side-by-side photos:

https://www.trademe.co.nz/antiques-collectables/automotive-transport/cars/auction-1556395793.htm?rsqid=cdb36656c7a44fea9aecd5fc5bdad069

Ev I agree that these numbers do not make sense. Maybe this card system was trialled then discontinued. Or test runs were recorded on these cards.  More likely.

CL was a mass production factory. Eg they would surely have made more than 12 Ford Sierra steins!  Let us assume that a stein was given to each purchaser of a new car for a certain period. A week?  Unlikely. Or that they were given to dealers at a conference.  12?  And there are lots more baby swans around than this record suggests. Surely more with 4 digits.

I think more will be revealed the further I get into these records Val.
I'm only highlighting some of the things that interest me, or things that we are looking for.  

This record of a 1111 Star Medallion Mug is recorded from 1979 ti 1983 and it shows that 545 mugs were made during that time. As this mug was first made in 1971 there may be more records to come ....
Photo courtesy of Te Toi Uku's records.

While CL, in Auckland, may have only made six 1191 elf ear handle coffee mugs we may see some more in time (sure, a long time) because it appears that this shape was first made at Luke Adams in Christchurch.

https://www.newzealandpottery.net/t1355-crown-lynn-shapes-made-at-luke-adams-in-christchurch#3561

Should the shape be crossed off that list or not as every other piece we know of is in one of their unique glazes, Lucow and Basalt?

Oh to see one in Lucow!

Jeremy and I made a lot of progress on Saturday and I enjoyed his astute abilities when it comes to shapes and numbers!

I finished processing the first book of Production Records and started on the 1971 Stocktake records.

Jeremy delved into the second book of Production Records and came up with all sorts of information.  I'm really keen to get stuck into this book as the Index shows it must be the Crown Lynn, New Lynn records as it covers Castware, Flatware, Cups, Basins, Jugs etc.  The first book only had Castware and Vases.  I'm keen to check out the swans to see if any were made in New Lynn as well as Takanini with four digits, which I never thought to look at on Saturday.

There are quite a few numbers that we have no description that were made in the latter part of the 1980's, so there are still plenty of shapes to find.  It's all ever so interesting !!

Jeremy had a good look around in the Archives room and found all sorts of amazing things.   While I was showing Jeremy around in there I noticed a pile of folders marked Patterns that I've never noticed before and I can't wait to see what they contain !!  Jeremy found that about 10 of the File Boxes that I haven't touched yet all contain rubber stamps for patterns.

A new Director for the Museum will be starting in April, so I will have to wait until then to do any more research, as I'm back to work tomorrow.

So, Ev, are you happy with your comclusion that one book will be New Lynn and the other Takani? If so then that is a good result. Just need to find one for Luke Adams now!

I was interested to see that castware was being made at both factories. There are conclusions to be drawn from that. Dividing the shape mumbers into where they were made can be done from a single photo of each page, rather than one of each card.

We have been told that Titian continued to single fire so, assuming New Lynn continued with separate bisque snd glaze firings, the glazes from each factory could be distinct in the same way the Adams ones are.

I would like to do mre digging but that culd be difficult with me dwelling in the provinces. It was fun.

Well done.

I had heard that the Takanini factory just made mugs (honeyglaze) and vases, but of course they made a lot more than that.
I have processed all of the photos I took and labelled them by shape number and this gives me a clear idea of what was made where.
I will take pics of the whole index on every full page for reference, even though there are blank cards for shapes that were made at the other site, it's a good idea thanks Jeremy.
I am busting my britches to get back to the Museum .....