For Sale is a wonderful and early form made by The Hampshire Pottery of Keene, New Hampshire. The form is call an "Artichoke" Vase and it is in the very desirable Matte Cucumber Green Glaze. The Vase stands 2 3/4" tall and is 4 3/4" in diameter.

The Embossed Exterior of Vase displays a very realistic appearance of an "Artichoke". It has an outstanding matte Cucumber Green Glaze that resembles real Cucumber skin. The Leaves look Hand Carved with wonderful Veining running throught this nice vase. The Form is crisp and very well detailed. Some refer to this as a Cabbage Shape but it is really an Artichoke.

The Vase is considered to be in excellent condition free of nicks, chips, dings and hairlines. When looking directly into the Vase it is not perfectly symetrically and really has that hand and mold made look. The piece is signed with "Mount Vernon" written in block letters with the same green glaze as the vase. There is the Start of the letter "H" in Hampshire above this but the rest has been blocked out. The raised mold number 24 can clearly be seen and this is the shape number in the Hampshire Catalog pages. The Vase has that nicely ground bottom along with Hampshire Pottery's white clay bottom. You folks who collect and deal in Matte Green Art Pottery know exactly what you are looking at.

It is my belief that Hampshire Pottery made this for "Mount Vernon" and I suspect it is the gift shop at George Washington, our First President 's estate. I would have to do further research to confirm this. I have owned at least 20 of these through the years and seen another 20-30 for sale. I have never had any of them signed in this manner and would consider this quite rare. I guess this would be considered an advertising piece as well.

Hampshire Pottery started producing Matte Glazes in 1891. This was 7 years earlier than their main Competitor "Grueby Faience" of Boston, Mass. Hampshire Pottery resembles the style of Grueby but were much more affordable as they were mold made pieces as opposed to hand thrown. It is my assumption that this is an earlier piece of Hampshire. The M in a circle mark was used from 1904-1914. I would guess this piece was made, Circa 1898-1903.

This will make a wonderful addition to any matte Pottery collection of Art Pottery and would look great on that Stickley Mission Arts and Crafts Bookcase.

Antique Porcelain & Pottery
Antique Vases