POUNDWISE Padrayla Holdsworth answers readers’ letters May/June 01 Dear P.H. Dear D.P. In April 1999 I acquired this Yemeni I can see why you have drawn a blank Jambiya silver dagger for £280. The story with ‘Delton Ware’. The firm responsible was goes that the hilt is a resin replacement for Deans (1910) Ltd. who operated at the one in bone or rhino horn, apparently Newport Pottery, Burslem between 1910 and wagered and lost in gambling. I was told 1919. By the look of your lidded vase, they that such a large decorative piece must have must have been at the cutting edge in design been owned by a tribal leader/chieftain. I for the time. was assured that a belted jambiya of this Yours P.H. quality and weight is a rarity in Yemen, and that sans hilt would not detract from its Dear P.H. intrinsic value. I have no idea of its age. The I have a small swan shaped porcelain blade is machine made. I simply liked the flower posy stamped ‘Made in Occupied intricate, decorative silver and embroidery Japan’. Can you tell me anything about work. I would like to know if I spent my this mark please or where I could find money unwisely! Indeed, would there be a more about it? market for such an item in the U.K? Yours A.W. Gloucester. Yours T.D. Sharjah, U.A.E. Dear A.W. T.D. from the United Arab Emirates bought Dear T.D. Items with this mark were produced between this jambiya dagger for £280. Was this a I feel this dagger, scabbard and belt are 1945 and 1952 during the occupation of bargain, or not ? probably fine examples of modern local craft Japan by United States forces. There are work rather than antique pieces, and as such several recent books e.g. ‘The Collectors would be of decorative value. Any wear on Encyclopedia of Occupied Japan’ (5 the silver items need not mean they have volumes in paperback) by Gene Florence. much age, especially when you consider that c1996/8. ‘Collecting Occupied Japan with Arab silver is usually pure and softer than values’ by Lynette Parmer (pub. 1996). sterling silver. The various decorative items ‘Occupied Japan for Collectors’ and silver containers also tend to point to the Archambault c1992, Schiffer Publishing. likelihood that the jambiya is a tourist piece, Yours P.H. possibly made in the last twenty years or so. It makes perfect sense to buy such items from the area of origin, in order to have a Dear P.H. romantic reminder of your time there. I have been given a Devon Pottery inkwell Somehow it is not the same if you come to which I am told is quite old, possibly about England and buy from a specialist auction. 1920. It has impressed on the base H M However if it is age and authenticity which EXETER and possibly the number 1. The concerns you, I feel you’d have been better motto reads ‘A ye min thaim that’s away’. served spending your money in the U.K. It also has a wooden stopper. I am inter- In UK specialist sales Arab silver jambiya ested in establishing its exact age and with some age and original horn handles possible value. regularly sell for £150-£250 each. Of course Yours K.M. Newton Abbot my opinion is based on a not very clear or detailed photograph, and to be certain, you Dear K.M. should have it checked out by a specialist. H.M. stands for Hart and Moist, who in 1896 The following auction houses specialise in took over the Exeter Art Pottery premises for militaria and can advise you: Sotheby’s their Devon Art Pottery. Between 1903 and South, Summers Place, Billingshurst, West 1905, Charles Collard, who later founded Sussex RH14 9AD. Tel: 01403 833500. Honiton Pottery, worked for Hart and Moist. Wallis & Wallis, West Street Auction Mysteriously Hart and Moist’s pottery does Galleries, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2NJ. Tel: not appear in pottery mark books. Your pot 01273 480208. looks to date from the early twentieth century Yours P.H. and would have a retail value of about £15. Yours P.H. Dear P.H. I wonder if you can tell me anything Dear P.H. about ‘Delton Ware’ Burslem. I cannot I am very interested in Victorian glass D.P of Saffron Walden found the elusive mark find a mention of the factory in any of dumps. Please can you tell me how they for ‘Delton Ware’ hard to track down. our books of marks. were made? What is the French equivalent Yours D.P. Saffron Walden. of “What is the best price?” Lastly, if a Lalique piece is stamped Sometimes it refers to the town from which ‘R. Lalique France’, what dates is it likely the pattern was derived. For that reason, to fall between? many Desvres pieces have only ‘Rouen’ on Yours P.T. Newcastle the bottom. Perhaps it was for sale in the Netherlands, Dear P.T. perhaps it was destined for Emmanuel in Green glass dumps are thought to originate London. But the faïence (i.e. tin glazed from Wakefield, with the larger ones serving earthenware) bearing that name was made as door stops and the smaller as paper- only in Desvres and, occasionally, neigh- weights. bouring Boulogne.” A variety of different methods were used to Ivor Hughes can be contacted at: Mayfair Mosanic faience candleholder 4” high. U.K. produce the intriguing enclosed decoration. Antiques, 26 Cross Green, Otley LS21 1HD. value of £40-£60 not affected by mark being The earliest technique involved piercing the Tel: 01943 463380. ‘Mosanic’ and not ‘Desvres’. hot glass core with a metal rod creating air email: [email protected] spaces. The later manufacturers chalked a Yours P.H. design on a metal table known as a marver, and then rolled hot glass on top of the design. Dear P.H. Then another layer of glass was cased over it, Are there any books on the subject of either which caused the chalk to oxidise and form Edwardian oak furniture or indeed oak bubbles. Dumps produced recently are furniture of the early part of the last distinguishable from nineteenth century ones century, say 1900-1930/40? by their brighter tone of green. Yours S.C. St. Albans French antique dealers are as likely to be prepared to negotiate as are English ones. Dear S.C. Phrases to remember are ‘Combien?’ (How The following contains Edwardian examples: much?) and ‘Le dernier prix?’ (The best ‘Victorian And Edwardian Furniture: Price price?). Guide And Reasons For Values’ by John Glass marked ‘R.Lalique France’ should Andrews, published by Antique Collectors’ date between c1927 and 1945. After Rene’s Club (1993). Mark on base of candleholder. Photographs death in 1945 his son’s products were marked The following may be of help but will prove courtesy of Ivor Hughes. ‘Lalique France’. Sometimes unscrupulous difficult to track down. Try ordering through people have added an ‘R’ to these later pieces. your local library. Yours P.H. ‘Modern English Furniture’ by J. C. Rogers, published by Country Life (1930). Dear P.H. Yours P.H. I would like information about ‘Mosanic’ ceramics as produced by north French Dear P.H. fainceries e.g. Desvres. I have a bronze bust of a Roman senator on Is this related to the firm of Emmanuel marble. It stands around 10” tall and is based in London between 1900 and 1914? signed P. Motmile, (or the ‘t’ could be an ‘r’ Yours A.M. Tonbridge. or ‘y’). Would you have any info please? Yours P.B. Isleworth. Dear A.M. There is more than one pottery using the Dear P.B. A clear frosted and blue stained vase name Mosanic. One was a porcelain Your bronze appears to be the work of with semi-circular applied handles decorated manufactury in Mitterteich, Bavaria, owned Gaetano Mormile. He and his brother with circular leaf motifs. Wheel carved R. by Max Emmanuel, a leading London Salvatrone originally came from Naples and Lalique France signature. 14.5cm high. importer of continental ceramics in the late were both painters and sculptors. Gaetano’s Photograph courtesy of eBay. nineteenth and early twentieth century. This signature is quite difficult to read, and the enterprise, employing 400 people, was funded continental way in which he forms a ‘G’ with the help of British money. The French could easily be mistaken for a ‘P’. His work faience bearing the name Mosanic is unlikely is first recorded in Naples in 1839 and he to be connected. died in 1890. An exhibition including work Ivor Hughes, a specialist on French faience, of his went on show in Milan, then travelling tells me: “World Desvres authority, François on to Turin. He is known for carrying out Piton (Belgium), attributes Mosanic to the restoration work in Italian churches. Netherlands, but only for the reason that Your Roman senator is most likely to have there is a Dutch town of the same name. initially been exhibited in marble in one of In my view it is unquestionably Desvres. The the Paris salons, where the original will have glaze, lettering and colours, particularly the been sold along with the rights to reproduce pea green, cannot be anything else. Dating it to a foundry, probably in the Paris area. from around 1900, it is impossible to say In the late 1870s the foundries obtained the which of the Desvres faïenceries were technology to accurately reduce the images, responsible.