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 One of the most
valuable pieces of pottery that tends to lay about, value unknown, is
Victorian Majolica. To most this brightly coloured earthenware often
appears too gaudy to possibly be antique or even worth anything, and
since a great deal of it has no makers mark it is often overlooked.
Majolica's history begins in 1851 when it was exhibited at London's
Crystal Palace by Herbert Minton of Minton & Co. The demand was so
great other European manufacturers soon began production of their own
lines of majolica. For the next 45 years no home's decor was
complete without a variety of majolica centre pieces, fish servers,
platters or
umbrella stands. The market for majolica lasted until the end of the
Victorian age and died out in the early years of the 20th Century.
Majolica became popular again in the 1970s with the revival of public
interest in the Victorian floral designs and chintz patterns.
Pieces that had gathered dust for the better part of a Century were
brought out of attic trunks and dusted off and a whole new group of
collectors were born. By the late 1980's
values for this gaudy tin glazed earthenware began to appreciate at a
great rate. At first just the pieces by
Minton's and other early makers were the collector's darlings, but by
the 1990's these pieces were
well beyond the reach of the average collector and even the unmarked
pieces began to sell for several
hundred dollars. Just how valuable can majolica be? well the piece
pictured at the top of today's
column is a not a record maker, but this George Jones majolica pedestal
& jardinière, circa 1870
sold earlier this year for $20,000.00. The record is held by one
rare Minton Majolica Peacock which
sold for over $230,000 at a Sotheby's auction last year.
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