Newcomb College Pottery, ca. 1928
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GUEST:
Well, I attended Sophie Newcomb College for two years.
APPRAISER:
Uh-huh.
GUEST:
'27-'28, and '28-'29, and I was in the art school. And they offered an elective course called Decorative Pottery.
APPRAISER:
Uh-huh
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 green ware. 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've 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, and what does that stand for?
GUEST:
That stands for Mr. Hutt, who was the 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 "N.C." for Newcomb College.
GUEST:
It meant that it was good enough to be sold in the Newcomb College gift shop.
APPRAISER:
And you never actually sold any of your pieces though, you said.
GUEST:
No, I kept them.
APPRAISER:
You said 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 the history of you the artist, they might bring as much as $1,000 each. These vases would normally sell maybe in the $1,000 to $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.
GUEST:
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
I think that's really great.
GUEST:
That's amazing. This represents many wonderful memories. Those are times gone by.
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