1927-1929 Newcomb College Pottery

Appraised on: July 11, 1998

Appraised in: Louisville, Kentucky

Appraised by: David Lackey

Category: Pottery & Porcelain

Episode Info: Roadshow Remembers (#1017)

Originally Aired: November 6, 2006

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: (2:44)

APPRAISER: We were talking earlier and I understand you grew up in Laurel, Mississippi and then you went to school in New Orleans.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: And that's where you acquired these vases. Tell me about that.

GUEST: Well, I attended Sophie Newcomb College for two years-- '27, '28, '28 and '29-- and I was in the arts school. And they offered an elective course called "Decorative Pottery."

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And you may have heard of Newcomb pottery.

APPRAISER: Absolutely, I'm a big fan of it.

GUEST: So we had the pottery right there on the campus. So we were allowed to select our own greenware. And then we had to draw the designs.

APPRAISER: Uh-huh.

GUEST: We selected something that was indigenous to the Newcomb campus.

APPRAISER: Right. You brought your college annual from 1928 here, and we even got your picture here, when you attended Sophie Newcomb College. I've been a big fan of Newcomb College pottery for a long time and I've never had the pleasure of actually meeting one of the artists. How many pieces of pottery did you make while you were there?

GUEST: I would say five or six altogether.

APPRAISER: Well, you've got these two coasters here that you made. And then we can turn it on the back, and there's some marks here. There's a "J-H." What does that stand for?

GUEST: That stands for "Mr. Hunt," who was a potter at that time.

APPRAISER: And then we've got initials here, and those are your initials? These vases here are also marked. This one says "NC" for Newcomb College. How was the Newcomb College mark applied?

GUEST: It meant that, uh, it was good enough to be sold in the Newcomb College gift shop.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm. And you never actually sold any of your pieces, though, you said.

GUEST: No, I kept them.

APPRAISER: You said earlier when we were talking that these were your $5,000 vases, is that right? Because that's how much your college education cost, was $5,000.

GUEST: That's correct. Yes.

APPRAISER: Well, normally coasters like this would sell for between $500 and $700 each, but with the provenance that you made them and history of you the artist, they might bring as much as $1,000 each. These vases would normally sell, maybe in the $1,000, $1,200 range, but again, with the provenance they may be worth as much as $1,500 each. So really here, we're looking at about $4,000 or $5,000 worth of Newcomb pottery and you're getting all your money back from your education. I think that's really great.

GUEST: That's amazing. Really amazing.

APPRAISER: Thanks for coming in.

GUEST: I surely do appreciate it.

APPRAISER: This was really exciting for me to meet an actual Newcomb College artist.

GUEST: Well, it was exciting to be a part of all this and, uh, this represents many wonderful memories.

APPRAISER: Oh, I'm sure it does.

GUEST: Those are times gone by.