My heart belongs to Chiparus Dolly Sisters

THIS magnificent bronze and ivory figure by the great Romanian-born Art Deco sculptor Demetre Chiparus may not be unique – numerous editions would have been cast – but the two exotic vaudeville dancers it depicts surely were. They were the Dolly Sisters, the original dolly birds, alluringly naughty legends in their own lifetime on both sides of the Atlantic, who drove their fabulously rich suitors mad with desire.

The Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIII, and his close friend Edward “Fruity” Metcalfe were both reported to have had affairs with the identical twins. Media magnate William Randolph Hearst and entrepreneur “Diamond” Jim Brady were captivated, while Harry Selfridge, the widowed American founder of the Oxford Street store, was said to “bat the Dolly sisters back and forth like ping-pong balls” between himself and newspaper tycoon Max Beaverbook.

Selfridge’s indulgence knew no bounds, He squandered millions on the twins who were

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Car mascots – best in auto-bling, but watch for fakes

The auto traders weren’t happy. One had paid £800 for his pitch, another £1,000 for a slightly bigger area, but the dealers in the area set aside for an autojumble had laid out just £200 apiece for arguably a more prominent position.

“That’s because they’re selling old stuff, collectables and that,” said the harassed organiser lady.

Watch a slideshow of glass car mascots

“But a lot of their stuff is brand new, the same kind of things we’re selling,” countered one trader as I eavesdropped on the conflict.

“Well yes, I know, but the new stuff isn’t selling,” was the organiser’s feeble response.

It didn’t go down well!

I wanted to butt in and suggest that the so-called antiques fair, also among the “attractions” in the “huge trade mall” in the centre of the field was another area where trading standards

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The rock of ages

I’ve always fancied owning a crystal ball, not just because it would be useful in sidestepping horrible things that were about to befall me -- and let's face it we've all had enough of those thank you very much -- but also because a genuine fortune teller's crystal ball is a perfectly spherical, perfectly clear piece of natural rock crystal, not glass as is commonly thought, although it's hard to tell the difference.Read more »

Fantastic plastic

I knew a man once who collected plastic shopping bags. He had examples from some of the most famous department stores and high-class shops from all around the world. He was a security guard and got himself sacked for petty pilfering ... presumably the bags came in handy for carrying home his booty!

He came to mind to the other day as I walked around an Art Deco collectors' fair. One stall was doing a healthy trade and wrapping customers' purchases in the most stylish carrier bags I've seen in a while. The bags aren't collectors' items yet (they surely will be one day), but the 1930s plastic knickknacks being sold on the stall have certainly become so.Read more »

Clarice Cliff: doyenne of ceramic designers whose work is still fresh

by Christopher Proudlove�
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We tend not to think about it but given time, antiques collectors will look back on the first few decades of the 21st Century and marvel at how life was then, probably in much the same way that we do today about the 1920s Art Deco period. What they will be collecting is anyone's guess, and if I knew, I'd be stockpiling now.

If I was clever, I'd be trying to come up with a catchy term that best sums up the mood of the era. "Nouveau Elizabethan", perhaps, or "Deco Revival" or, God forbid, "eBayian", so-called after all the people who buy and sell "eBayiana" on the Internet.

What will be interesting, from an historical point of view, is whether or not today's collecting trends stand the test of time. Will people still be going daft about Doulton, bonkers about Beswick and crazy about Clarice Cliff?

The cynics say the price spiral cannot continue. Hard-bitten collectors have a foot in two camps: on the one hand, as supply of the best stuff continues to dwindle, they hope beyond hope that they can continue to afford to add to their respective collections. On the other hand, if prices decline, so their investments become ever less sound.

It's a brave man who makes a prediction, and I ain't. But a conversation with a local auctioneer this week added another dimension to the conundrum: the popularity of Deco antiques looks set to continue for at least as long as the fashion to make our homes unfussy, uncluttered and unique.

Adrian Byrne, of Chester fine art and antiques auctioneers Byrne's, was in the middle of cataloguing a single-owner collection of Clarice Cliff ceramics. They had been sent for sale by an owner living on the North Wales coast.

Almost 60 lots of the pottery is about to come back on to the market for the first time in years after being in the private collection of someone who spared no effort to seek out and own the best.

He said: �This is some of the best Clarice Cliff I�ve been asked to sell for as long I can remember. The collection was assembled by a local man who really did appreciate just how important a figure Clarice was in the field of 1920s ceramic design. After years of collecting, however, he has run out of space in his home to display the museum-quality pieces to their full potential, so he has decided the time is right to give other collectors the opportunity to enjoy them as much as he has."

So who was Clarice Cliff?
She was born on January 20, 1899, in Tunstall, one the five towns of Arnold Bennett's Potteries. Father was an iron moulder, and she was one of seven children who, like most youngsters in the Potteries in those days, started work as an apprentice at the age of 13 in the local pot bank, Lingard, Webster and Co.
She had shown an aptitude for drawing while at elementary school, so it was a natural progression to learn freehand painting on pottery without the aid of printed or drawn outlines to follow.
After the customary three-year apprenticeship as an enameller, she left to learn lithography with Hollinshead and Kirkham and at the same time enrolled on a study course at Tunstall School of Art. On her 17th birthday she again changed her job, joining A.J. Wilkinson and Co. as a lithographer.
Her career with Wilkinson's Royal Staffordshire Pottery at Burslem was to last a lifetime and its managing director, Colley Shorter, was later to become her husband.
Clarice�s artistic ability was first noticed by Shorter's brother-in-law, Jack Walker, who was decorating manager at the Wilkinson pot bank. By chance he saw one of her drawings of a butterfly on a piece of lustreware and from then on, she was allowed to experiment.
In 1927, she was accepted by the Royal College of of Art in London to study sculpture, but she returned to Burslem after only a few months away and set up a studio in the Newport Pottery showrooms which had been acquired by Wilkinson.
Within a few months she had added original and extravagant decoration to the firm's traditional wares which were so popular that new lines had to be hidden away for fear industrial spies would steal them and sell them to rival companies.
With a handful of girls working for her, she hand-painted 60 dozen pieces of existing stock and sent them out for market testing in 1928. Clarice called this early ware "Bizarre" and after a cautious reception from the trade, the market testing was an enormous success, selling out instantly. A year later, in 1929, the entire Newport factory was given over to producing Bizarre pottery.
Output between 1929 and 1935 was prodigious and the ware was being shown at most of the big exhibitions. For the big occasions, Clarice would take a group of her Bizarre Girls, as she called them, to bedeck the display and promote sales.
They would be dressed in smocks, large neck bows and artists' berets, accompanied by a "pantomime" horse called Bizooka, from which hung examples of the ware.
In 1940, Colley Shorter's first wife died after a long illness and he and Clarice married that same year at Staffordshire Register Office.
By 1941, however, the Bizarre shop was forced to close when output from the Newport factory was given over war work for the Ministry of Supply. After the war, a combination of diminished appeal, dearer raw materials and shortage of trained labour led to the demise of the ware.

He would say that wouldn't he. But it was another remark that made me stop and think. Adrian added: �Clarice Cliff pottery is an investment which is always going to give a good return. Its perennial appeal is based on its timelessness in terms of design and aesthetics. For a home with modern interiors or based on an Art Deco theme, it�s the perfect accompaniment."

And there you have it. Could this be the answer? And could this be the reason why Clarice Cliff will only ever get more expensive? Who knows, in 2105 all the best stuff might well be in museums.

The answer then might well be to buy now while stocks last. They're not everyone's cup of tea, of course, but Clarice's crocks were always expensive and were aimed at the Harrods market, not Woolworth�s.

But they were good fun. What makes them so appropriate today is their angular designs and bright, gay, hand-painted decoration. There's something very cool and chic about laminate floors, plate glass and chrome furniture and leather chairs. Light, neutral colours are demanded by interior designers, but it's easy to fall into the trap of characterless uniformity.

Introduce half a dozen examples of Clarice Cliff into an interior and no one could accuse you of being characterless.

Go back 30 years and the world had forgotten Clarice Cliff. Her weird, brightly coloured pottery was consigned to the top shelves of junk shops and if anyone was mad enough to want to buy it, it was theirs for a few shillings. Today, all that has changed. In these minimalist times when d�cor is pruned back to bare essentials and sleek, clean lines are de rigueur, Clarice�s so-called Bizarre pottery is totally at home.

Clarice�s gaudy Bizarre pottery was once derided by the purists. Then in 1972 the directors of Brighton Museum and Art Gallery organised the first Clarice Cliff exhibition.

Clarice provided notes for the accompanying catalogue and also donated some pieces from her own collection, but she never attended and shied away from the publicity. The exhibition wowed visitors who were intrigued to learn this doyenne of Staffordshire's Pottery Ladies was still alive. Her death the same year served only to heighten their interest

In the following year, the London gallery, L'Odeon, staged a major exhibition of Clarice Cliff which was attended by many of the Bizarre Girls. They were an intensely proud and loyal band of paintresses who were considered among the elite of their day in the Potteries.

Blockbusting London sales of her ceramics followed, the first at Christie�s in June 1983, which put Clarice�s name back on the lips of collectors worldwide, particularly among the younger generation looking to invest in antiques.

Today she is lauded as one of the most influential ceramic artists of the 20th Century.

Pictures show, top: Clarice�s crocks, left to right: a Wilkinson Meiping vase, in the Melon pattern, circa 1930-32, (Estimate �700-1,000); a Newport Meiping vase, decorated in the Whisper pattern (�1,500-2000); a Newport conical sugar sifter, in the Blue Autumn pattern, circa 1931, (�800-1,200); a Newport vase in the Sunray pattern, circa 1929-30 (�600-900)

Below, left to right:
Plate glass, chrome and black ash furniture makes the perfect backdrop for Clarice�s crocks. Left to right, top: a Newport Lotus jug, decorated with the Sliced Fruit pattern, circa 1930, (estimate �700-1,000); a Newport Meiping vase, decorated in the Whisper pattern (estimate �1,500-2,000). Middle a Newport biscuit barrel decorated in the football pattern, circa 1929-30, (�1,000-1,500); a Newport Coronet jug, in the Orange Picasso Flower pattern, circa 1930, (�500-800). Bottom: a Wilkinson vase in the Melons pattern, circa 1930-32 (�800-1,000).

Centuries collide: left, Clarice�s Newport Meiping vase, decorated in the Whisper pattern (estimate �1,500-2,000); right, a Wilkinson vase in the Melons pattern, circa 1930-32, (�800-1,000),

Prices are going up for investors with ultra modern homes. From bottom: a Newport Lotus jug, decorated with the Sliced Fruit pattern, circa 1930, (Estimate �700-1,000); a Newport Meiping vase, decorated in the Whisper pattern (�15,00-2,000); a Wilkinson vase in the Melons pattern, circa 1930-32, (�800-1,000). Furniture from Chattels The Furnishers, 42 City Road, Chester

Chiparus and Preiss - doyens among Art Deco sculptors

by Christopher Proudlove©
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The new house is causing a problem: it's just not conducive to anything older than antiques dating from the Twenties.

This means that our old oak looks somewhat out of place and I dread to think what is going to happen to our Victorian knickknacks.

Of course, the answer is simple: sell it all and replace it with Art Deco. Easy, so long as funds permit, which is where the main problem lies. Worryingly, I suspect that with trends being as they are, the cash raised from selling the Victoriana wouldn't stretch far enough to make the project a proposition.

If funds were not an issue, I'd buy bronze and ivory figures like the examples pictured here.

I think it's a safe bet to say that they'll never be any less affordable than they are now but sadly they are already the preserve of only those collectors with deep pockets.

Two names stand above all others in this fascinating field of Art Deco: Demetre Chiparus (1888-1947) and Ferdinand Preiss (1882-1943) their products coming at a pivotal moment in the early 20th century between two world wars.

By then, the sinuous flower girls of the Art Nouveau era had withered and died, to be replaced by the athletic, erotic and futuristic subjects that are today so evocative of the period.

Ironically, however, when they were first seen, the more serious-minded art critics were dismissive of the figures, some of them suggesting they considered them to be in bad taste.

This is particularly the case with the Rumanian-born Chiparus who barely figures in contemporary articles on the decorative arts, with the result that today's collectors have scant information about his life. Indeed, some publications claim his dates of birth and death are unknown.

Chiparus was schooled in Italy and then Paris just before the outbreak of the First World War where he was a pupil of the sculptors Anonin Mercier and Jean Boucher.

His first exhibition was at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1914. He showed a number of small sculptures in bronze and received an honourable mention, an accolade that was much coveted among the artistic fraternity.

Another recipient of the award was Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Chiparus subsequently went on to experiment with the process of combining painted bronze with ivory, a technique known as chryselephantine.

The use of ivory for faces, hands and bare flesh gave the figures more natural, lifelike and tactile and adds greatly to their exotic appeal.

Chiparus became a naturalised Frenchman, married and had several children, some of whom feature in his figures.

However, he was fascinated by the dancers in Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, who entertained the cafe society in Paris, Leon Bakst’s stage designs and subsequently the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922 which heavily influenced his designs and subject matter.

Some Chiparus figures were made in spelter cold-painted to represent bronze and ivorene, an early plastic, which was cast and also painted in bright colours.

Other examples of his work can be seen in the bronze figures commissioned by the firm of Arthur Goldscheider which were also reproduced in pottery.

Authentic examples of Chiparus brionzes (although by no means all) are each etched with this signature in the marble base and some show the name of the foundry where they were cast. However, there are many fakes.

Another distinguishing feature is the long slender fingers of the subjects. Look carefully and the detail of each fingernail is also carved delicately in the original, a feature the faker overlooks.


Johann Philipp Ferdinand Preiss was born in Erbach in Germany and clearly inherited his mother's skills as her family was engaged in the local cottage industry of ivory-carving.

His father was a hotelier but died when Preiss was 15, whereupon the boy was apprenticed to a master ivory carver whose family took him in.

By 1905, Preiss had emerged as a gifted carver in his own right and after a period studying in Milan, he joined a number of carvers working in a factory run by Carl Haebler in Baden-Baden.

Among them was Arthur Kassler and the two became friends and subsequently business partners in a workshop in Berlin where they produced turned and carved ivory for the local furniture and decorative trade.

The first figures combining bronze and ivory were introduced in 1910, by which time the company was trading as PK.

By the time of the First World War, the firm employed six people, including a bronze caster but was forced to close in 1914 on the outbreak.

Popular throughour Europe

Preiss and Kassler reopened the business in 1920, concentrating on producing a wide variety of exquisite figures designed by Preiss mounted on plinths of onyz or marble which were popular throughout Europe, particularly Britain, and the US.

In addition to nude studies, bathers, dancers, couples, children and historical figures, Priess also produced a series of Olympic-inspired figures showing men and women engaged in such sports as swimming, tennis and golf. They pre-date any connection with Hitler and the master race.

Preiss suffered a brain tumour and died in 1943 and the firm PK firm died with him. The company's workshop and its stock of samples was destroyed by fire in a ombing raid on Berlin in 1945.

As with all other bronze and ivory figures, those by Preiss have been faked mercilessly.

Advice to prospective buyers is to learn as much as you can first before parting with your hard-earned cash. Visit auction sales and expert dealers and handle what's on offer to get the feel of the real thing.

Ivory that has turned yellow with age should be avoided since it lowers value, as does age-cracked or damaged ivory, particularly on the faces of figures.

And finally, ask for written proof of authenticity should you buy from a dealer. If he declines to guarantee a figure is what he says it is, chances are both it and he are wrong 'uns. You, in turn, are safer keeping your cash in the building society.

Pictures show, top:

The Flame Leaper, a well known Preiss figure of a young woman leaping over flames holding flaming torches in each hand. She’s worth £12,000-15,000

Below, left to right:

Cabaret Girl, a Preiss figure wearing a bathing suit and cap. She’s worth £6,000-8,000

Perfect Preiss: Left to right, Golfer, Hoop Girl, Sonny Boy and Bather with parasol. Preiss was a master at capturing the natural expressions of his models. Each is worth £4,000-6,000

Miss Kita, a dancing girl with beaded top and headdress and stylish frilled skirt. She’s worth £8,000-10,000

Bottom, left to right:

The Chiparus bronze Kneeling Dancer, the figure wearing a hooded cat suitand standing n a brown marble base. It dates from the 1920s and is worth £12,000-15,000

This Chiparus dancing girl has an outfit cold-painted in gold and silver stands on brown mottled marble base and is worth £8,000-10,000

Almeria, a Chiparus dancing girls worth £10,000-12,000

Collect Clarice Cliff wall masks - if you can afford them

by Christopher Proudlove©
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We shouldn't have grumbled here last week about spiralling prices for examples of Clarice Cliff's Bizarre pottery, having done so we seem to be surrounded by the stuff.

First, we watched as one "lucky" buyer handed over a 100 notes at a North Wales car boot sale for one of Clarice's large geometric patterned jugs that he was convinced was worth five times the amount.

He might have been right, although we had a sneaky suspicion it could have been a fake.

Then, on a trip into town, we saw the banners festooned from the front of Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery promoting their latest exhibition.

Aptly, since it is all about the Art Deco and the Age of Jazz, the banners are decorated with Clarice's flat angular figure groups by the same name showing a dance band and dancers in action.

The exhibition runs until October 30, giving us plenty of time to go back and appreciate what we're told is one of the best exhibitions to have been mounted at the Walker this year.

Finally, North Wales auctioneer David Rogers Jones contacted us to tell us about a single-owner collection of Clarice's crocks that had been consigned for one of his sales. The results are an interesting barometer of how prices are faring currently. Surely it can only be a matter of time ...

Interestingly, the collection for sale at Rogers Jones included an example of one of the handful of face masks modelled by Clarice - wall medallions as the Newport Pottery factory called them - introduced in 1933.

Marlene, modelled after film star Marlene Dietrich, has an ornate headdress decorated in red, yellow and brown, while the others include Flora, who has an Oriental face and hair garlanded with flowers; Marilyn wears a beret; Chahar is the name given to another with an elaborate Egyptian headdress and a pair of baby masks called Jack and Jill wear only smiles beneath their small tufts of hair.

No less frivolous than her Bizarre pottery, these wall masks were popular when they were first made and Marlene and Flora remained in production until well into the late 1930s.

Flora was the most popular of all and two sizes were produced painted in either strong or soft colours to suit the customer's decor and taste.

The masks are becoming scarcer today, but interestingly, another example of Marlene turned up in the Kent auction house a fortnight ago with an estimate of £300 to 400. She failed to sell. The Rogers Jones example went for £220, presumably because of a more reasonable reserve.

Clearly the collector who was liquidating at Rogers Jones was also a lover of ceramic wall masks because the consignment also included a charming group by lesser potters that will sell for a fraction of the prices Clarice commands.

The pictures illustrated here showed just a few. My favourites are the pair of miniature face masks by John Beswick and a Czechoslovakian mask whose subject has orange hair!

Face masks have a long history in art and they make a rich source for the collector. Among the most accessible are probably those brought back from Africa when the continent was opened up by missionaries in the 19th century.

Intrepid tourists followed quickly after and it is rare to find a country house contents sale that does not include a section devoted to the weird and wonderful souvenirs shipped home by the trunk load from some safari in a far-off land.

It should be no surprise to learn that such tribal artefacts were major influence on the design elements that make up Art Deco and nowhere is this better realised that in the ceramic face masks of the Twenties and Thirties.

Interestingly, Clarice Cliff was involved in the production of a truly grotesque face mask unlike anything being made in the Staffordshire Potteries when it appeared in 1929.

Traditional "Clarice Cliff Bizarre" backstamp

It was designed by Ron Birks, Clarice's apprentice at the Newport Pottery, and some examples - now exceedingly rare - are marked with his 'RB' monogram. Others have the traditional "Clarice Cliff Bizarre" backstamp, although Birks was paid a small royalty for each one sold.

Susie Cooper, another of the celebrated Pottery Ladies, also designed face masks, notably one modelled as a judge complete with wig and another of a Chinaman.

A particularly prolific mask maker was Myott Son & Co. whose Alexander Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent was founded in the early 1800s.

After previously concentrating on a range of traditional tableware, the firm was quick to climb on to the Art Deco bandwagon and introduced a large range of hand-painted ware including vases, jugs and wall pockets.

A further turning point in their fortunes came in the 1940s following a trading agreement with the Austrian company Goldscheider which had an extensive and highly successful range of stylish ceramic figures and face masks.

Interestingly, it was Myott who were commissioned to produce the white, minimalist tableware the Cunard Line, examples of which are marked 'Cunard Myott Staffordshire England'.

A similar but less well documented route was taken by the company J.H. Cope and Co, China manufacturer at the Wellington Works in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent.

Originally in partnership with another manufacturer nearby, Cope produced so-called Wellington China until it went out of business in 1946.

Before then, however, the decorative department made a small number of mass-produced yet stylish and cheerful face masks which continue to be popular today.

Like those from Myott, they change hands for little money when compared to Cliff and Cooper.

What to watch for

As with all "modern" ceramics, fakes, forgeries and (honest) reproductions can be a major issue for collectors, particularly if you lack the knowledge to tell the difference between old and new.

In recent years there was a revival in interest in ceramic face masks and high street shops were full of them, particularly a range modelled as harlequins.

Best advice is to buy from reputable sources, where a guarantee is freely given and replacement offered if there's a problem.

See a must-have mask and yearn to add it to your collection at your peril. Treat all examples as questionable, particularly if they appear to be too good to be true.

Make the piece prove its age to you. Is its condition too good for its apparent years?

Look at the unglazed rim at the rear of the piece. Is it too white, indicating that it's fresh from the maker?

Check out the glazing - expect to see some crazing, but too much of it in a uniform pattern is doubtful.

Look carefully at the colours. Are they strong and uniform, or streaky and thin? The latter in either case should ring alarm bells.

Best of all, try to put a good old piece alongside a dud - learning to spot the difference is a lesson you'll never forget.

Pictures show, top: A Clarice Cliff Newport Pottery Marlene face mask. Sold for £220 Lot 169 - A Beswick (?) pottery lady face mask, green hat and green spotted yellow cravat, no 449 to the base, 13 ins long. Sold for £145 Lot 162 A pair of Beswick pottery miniature face masks and two miniature Cope & Co face masks. Sold for £180 Lot 168 - A large Beswick Art Deco lady face mask with ringlets, flowers and a necklace, 12 ins high. Sold for £160