"We have been Shawnee collectors for several decades (since1973). Attached are pictures of a set of Dutch Boy & Girl shakers that we acquired sometime back. They appear to be decorated in the "Old Time" cold paint method and the paint shows appropriate wear for the age of the shakers. There is no damage whatsoever, and other than little tiny areas where the original glaze colors are showing through, there are no noticeable flaws. These are not in any of the Shawnee ID books. We are curious whether any of the other Shawnee readers out there have ever run across any shakers done in this manner, with cold paint over the glazed finish. We are thinking that possibly this was done by "jobbers" early on to cover some obvious flaws in the original finish."
At this point I asked a number of questions.
"compared them again to the under-glaze dutch shakers to make sure. The cold painted shakers are identical in size and base color, and the colors showing through the cold paint match the color combinations of the under-glaze shaker set. We didn't mention it earlier, but the boy shaker has the identical impressed number marking on the base as the under-glaze boy shaker - USA 323 S with the capital S appearing in cursive form. The girl shaker's bottom glaze is thicker so the USA and number is harder to see on the cold painted shaker but what you can see is in the same location and order as found on the under-glaze girl shaker."
By now I was reaching some conclusions, basically - due to the heavy handedness of the paint job it was probably an "aspiring artist" at home.
Until this reply arrived - "But I do want to add a further note. While waiting on your response, I unpacked our Duck With Drum Lamp and the Elephant with Ball Lamp, which are pictured on page 242 of Pam's book. I had remembered seeing similar colors on those pieces, the blue, red and yellows. Don't know if it's just coincidence or not, but compared right next to the lamps, not only did the colors on the shakers match in shade perfectly with the lamps cold paint, but the same semi-gloss appearance was quite evident. Even the "chippy" effect is the same on the lamps cold paint as on the shakers. Now I'm puzzled even more so! You are so right about a mystery of life.
We began collecting Shawnee Pottery in 1973, and after this long focusing on this one company's product, just wish we had all the answers...know what I mean?!!!!
Yes, I'm afraid so. Anyone have any thoughts on this? to email me - Click Here
Below is, in part, an exchange I had with couple longtime Shawnee collectors. My thoughts are interjected in blue.
Keep in mind these pictures were taken with different cameras and lenses, prospective and proportion isn't exactly the same. The heavy cold paint also fills in a lot of the details as well.
To me there are some subtle differences. Makes me think they are seconds or mold test pieces that someone at Shawnee MAY have thrown a paint job on. Who knows, this kind of stuff can make people crazy.
Now to protect us buyers Ebay would like us to believe the new hidden bidder
ID's will protect us from phony second chance offers - everyone I have
talked to has received only one or two on items they actually bid on but many
on items they never bid on or book marked - a friend in Ohio wrote "I get them
all the time, and they are not always on pieces where I have bid. I received
a second chance offer on a Mercedes Benz (I am driving a 96 Blazer with
187,000 miles) so trust me, I wasn't on that bid history. But it is going to
make it hard for you and me to know if there are shills bidding on a piece we
might want to bid on. They make it sound like they are helping us, but it just
makes it more information that we aren't able to see. But as you said, when
you are the only game in town, you can do what you like." So far the
numbering system has been very sporadic - not sure if the number of actual bidders or the amount of the bid warrants the change mid auction on showing the Bidder ID to hiding it. At some point in the auction we don't know who we are bidding against!
Over the years we have found a couple of variations in the pink poppy Smiley
cookie jars - had always heard about a five flower and a seven flower cookie
jar but recently heard of one with nine decals and another with lesser
decals but a larger trimmed version of the decal - hope to receive pictures to
show next month. If any of you have different versions than show below, we'd be interested in hearing about them.
Next month we'll have some pictures of Smiley range shakers with less common decals.
Have attached a picture of a Little Red Riding Hood with the same decal
decoration - as many of you recall, Louise Bauer left Shawnee and went to Hull
where she designed the Little Red Riding Hood line. Being the same general
era some of the decals can be found on pieces by both companies.
