Bjorn Again

The lovely Bjorn Wiinblad plate below was one of several lots of Wiinblad available at an auction a few weeks ago. It came with the adorable little beaker also pictured, called "Garden Party"- full of wonderful characters and humour in the typical Wiinblad style.

The wall plate is the largest one I have had at about 30cm, and a lighter shade blue than I have seen previously.  Both pieces from the Nymolle factory. The beaker may have come with a saucer originally, as I have a red one the same size with saucer entitled "Opera". Easy to see why Wiinblad's work is so much admired looking at these 2 designs.

Taroline Poland

I found this stunning looking retro coffee set from Poland last week in an auction. The colours and motif grabbed me straight away - such an intense red and orange - set off by the bright white porcelain and gold trim. Very elegant shapes too. It would have to be 1960s or 1970s with these colours and the style of motif.

It is stamped with the maker "Taroline" Poland, but I haven't been able to find anything documented about this maker anywhere. All I could find was 1 cup and saucer for sale on an online site....so If anyone is familiar with this maker I would love to know.

Auction Watch 66

At first I couldn't see much of interest this week, but as per usual - on a second or third look through the catalogues and in person there are some real gems to be had.  May not be purchasing much though, as I have been spending way too much lately I think - need to sell a bit more first :)



The decoration on this quite old Gustaveberg vase is superb,
and a lot more blue in reality. Unfortunately it has a few
hairline cracks - but If I was looking for a floor vase for
home this would be high on my list simply because of
its superb design

A very "Brutalist" looking lamp base, which appears to be
Australia made - quite a feature piece in the right place.

2 lovely Soholm Lamps

...And a Soholm tile or plaque

I love the graphics of this old herb/spice canister.

There are 3-4 lots of superb and very early 20th Century
Nippon vases from Japan - always drawn to the quality and
design of these pieces.
 

This one though, is my favourite of the 3 Nippon pieces shown here.  

A nice little collection of Holmegaard dishes.

....and still more Soholm. Their production must have been
prolific.

A great group of Danish Teak

...and for your listening pleasure tonight........

I know nothing about Bicycles - but apparently this
is one of the must haves or "holy grails" for lovers of
all things bicycle related. I was just drawn to the amazing
detail and craftsmanship of the piece.

"1950's "Hetchins" Curly Track Racing Bike Airlite Magistroni Inch Pitch"

....and there are a number of them in one auction, along with a huge number of parts.

A Beth Breyen Dish

I found this lovely dish by Beth Breyen a few weeks ago. It has a pattern of hers which I haven't seen previously. A lovely flower motif which actually uses the same shapes as the "feathers" on many of her bird designs. Obviously part of the Tenera range from the 1960s - and this one stamped with the Royal Copenhagen logo and her cypher.

There is some quite lovely detailing of tiny yellow dots - as the tips of stamens in the flower I guess. An expressive and confident design like all of Beth's designs were. I like the thin wash of blue glaze on this one which goes to lift the design I think.

This pattern is number is 115, and is on shape 2042 - the medium size of several forms in this series.

Look at some of Beth Breyen's other designs HERE

4 x Arabia Finland Finds

There were quite a few small lots of Arabia Finland pieces at auctions this week, and these are some of the more interesting ones I got hold of apart from run-of-the-mill "replacement stock"

The first is a very large fruit or salad bowl, hand painted with a simple butterscotch coloured design, but despite looking through over 1,000 Arabia pattern names I cant locate this one anywhere - has anyone seen it before?

Then a lovely blueberry jam jar, any of this series are just so lovely.

 

And a rarer design - A Pudas Arctica lidded bowl - not sure if it is a jam jar or sugar bowl, but a lovely looking piece regardless.

And finally a lovely sauce boat in the Paratisi (Paradise) Design. I prefer this design in the coloured version, but this one certainly makes for very striking graphics.

Scheurich Red Lava

Just look at the glaze on this superb piece of West German Pottery!! - Scheurich, which I picked up on Monday. One of the loveliest looking pieces of West German Pottery I have had in a while, and a lovely size too.

Its amazing how much difference colour can make to a form - the red and dark brown colours on this form, combined with the texture of the lava makes it all sing. This form 428-26 is from the 1970s I believe, and is one of the more popular shapes now - but strong colours like this are always more highly sought after