Applied decoration - BIRDS & ANIMALS
Amongst the various forms of applied decoration, birds and animals are the rarest. They are highly prized by collectors (although not always a personal favourite of mine I must admit) and attract high prices. While not the intention of this catalogue to list prices it may be mentioned that a fine and rare pair of koala bookends sold in 2005 through Leonard Joel for over $20,000.
Designs were initially by Margaret Kerr, later joined and expanded by those of John Castle-Harris and Alan James. For a discussion of their differing styles the reader is referred to Gregory Hill's article in the 'Gumnuts and Glazes' catalogue (see
References). There was also minor post-war experimentation that included birds and animals.
Creatures include koalas, kangaroos, skinks, frill-neck dragons, mythical dragons, kookaburras and finches. Being rare, few examples are yet recorded in the image database and cataloguing is therefore far from comprehensive. The history of shape-numbering remains unclear. The earliest pieces - small low-relief koalas, sprig-moulded - are un-numbered, dating from 1933-34 prior to Early Series numbering. From 1935 (when John Castle-Harris was at Premier) three-dimensional press-moulded koalas were applied to numbered Early Series shapes with the suffix 'B'. Sprig-moulded low-relief pieces however had a small separate numbering system, with alphabetic prefixes . More elaborate pieces such as those with dragons, although produced during the Early Series period, remained un-numbered being either one-offs or in very small batches.
Sprig-moulded. Three separate groups. All rare.
- Very early un-numbered pieces, before numbering began.
- Pieces comprising what appears to be a special 'Alphabet' numbering series contemporary with the Early Series.
- Post-war animal decoration, Later Series contemporary.
Press-moulded. Most are Early Series numbered vase shapes, suffixed 'B' (koalas) or 'Z' (lizards, kookaburras).
Some larger animals in the form of figurines and bookends.
Unique studio pieces from potters at Premier.
Un-numbered, probably never offered for retail sale.
'Animal' series
A small group of pieces, all low-numbered, that are stylistically related to one another. All have 3-dimensional animals (mostly koalas) and feature a wide flaring foot becoming narrower upwards.
It is not clear whether their numbering stems from re-allocation of disused Early Series numbers, or constitutes a separate little numbering series of its own. More examples are needed. For the time being at least, they are catalogued as Early Series.
Numbers so far identified (suffixed B or Z) are;
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