Housecalls | Michael Good

That special person at the top of your holiday list would probably be perfectly happy with a hand-held electronic device starting with the letter “i.” But if you’re looking for something more personal for the bungalow dweller in your life, you might consider a popular gift item from the last century: art pottery. Although most art pottery was intended to just look pretty, in today’s informal households, a low bowl might serve a more utilitarian purpose, like a place to put your keys (or new iPhone).

At the turn of the last century, potteries were popping up all over the country to serve the burgeoning bungalow suburbs: not with flowerpots and spittoons, but with art for the mantel, bookshelf, plate rail and china cabinet. Potteries tended to spring up around a good supply of clay, coal and rail lines. Some of the best clay in the country was in centrally located Ohio, where Rookwood, Roseville, Weller, Peters, and Reed and Zanesville were based. At the height of production, Zanesville was filling eight railcars with vases a day.

In San Diego, Anna and Albert Valentien opened a pottery at the corner of Texas Street and University Avenue in 1910. The Valentiens had been decorators for Rookwood (Albert was the design director), but they were in San Diego because Albert had a commission from Ellen Browning Scripps to produce a book of California wildflowers. The couple is celebrated today with a restaurant named in their honor at the Torrey Pines Inn, with their pots and paintings are on display.

From the beginning, art pottery was made by and for women. Many of the decorators were women, and one pottery group, Saturday Evening Girls, was created to provide single women with a source of income. SEG was also managed by women, as were Van Briggle and Roseville. Roseville, which began producing art pottery in 1900, the same year Stickley introduced his Mission line of furniture, was particularly adept at turning housewives into collectors. Roseville created new lines every year. One, Pinecone, was so popular it stayed in production for 15 years, from 1935 to 1950, helping Roseville weather the Depression.

After closing in 1954, Roseville and its many competitors found a second life with a new generation of collectors. In San Diego, buying art pottery used to be a pretty simple affair. You just drove up and down Adams Avenue, stopping at every antique store. The Internet put an end to that. It’s much easier, if not necessarily as interesting, to buy all 75 varieties of Pinecone online.

“People aren’t collecting art pottery the way they once did,” said Jim Fjerkenstad, who, together with his partner Brian Jones, has been buying and selling pottery and antiques for decades. “We’re not seeing pottery at estate sales the way we used to.”

Many Baby Boomers are done collecting, and they’re not letting go of their stuff, either. So, while supply is down, so are prices. “A $70 vase on eBay from a few years ago might now bring only $20,” Fjerkenstad said.

Heather Sullivan of Fuchsia Design Studio, who until recently had a shop at 30th and Juniper streets selling Bauer pottery and Spanish Revival collectibles from the ’30s and ’40s, said the new generation of buyers are different. They are more into the impulse buys and kitschy items, not high-value antiques.

“I had a few pieces of key pottery in my shop,” she said, “but they were only there while I researched them, sold them online and packed them up for shipping.” Sullivan also said Etsy.com is now the place to shop online. “It’s for someone who doesn’t want to get caught up in a bidding war.”

And what other advice does Sullivan have for the pottery neophyte?

“Do your research,” she said. “You don’t have to go to the library or buy a price guide. You can compare sold prices on line.”

Fjerkenstad said to “just buy what you like. Don’t expect it to generate any return value.”

But what if you don’t know what you like? In my experience, handcrafted items need to be handled to be appreciated. You won’t get a feel for art pottery looking at pictures on your computer screen. You’re also likely to miss defects – scuffs, scratches, dents, cracks and crazing – when shopping online. And it’s hard to get a sense of proportion.

If you want to see your pots in person, start in Ocean Beach, on Newport Avenue. At Fjerkenstad and Jones’ shop, What Mama Had located at 4828 Newport Ave., you’ll find a mid-sized Roseville Rozane basket for $95, a McCoy vase for $45, a nice yellow Weller vase that would fit in any Craftsman interior for $45, and a piece of Rookwood that was never meant to hold a flower – a Madonna bust – for $250. And there are a handful of other antique shops and malls along Newport to peruse.

Adams Avenue was once home to more than a dozen antique shops; now there’s only a few, including Zac’s Attic at 2922 Adams Ave., where you’ll find half a dozen pots, including two matching blue Roseville Teasel vases.

But the largest selection of art pottery is at Clay Associates, 3667 Adams Ave. An artist cooperative, Clay Associates is holding their Winter Ceramics sale through Dec. 23.

Making pottery has always been a communal activity, because traditional kilns required some space, some expense and more than one person to operate. On Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 8 and 9, 10 different San Diego studios are opening their doors to showcase the work of 25 potters. For the complete map, visit sdpotterytour.com.

Then again, you might have some luck at an estate sale. Sullivan recently found a promising pot at an estate sale, agonized over the $12 price, then laid down her cash and carried her find home. “I still had a flip phone, so I couldn’t research the piece online,” she said, although she was pretty sure she recognized the mark on the bottom of the vase. “I went through a lot of angst. If I’d had an iPhone, I wouldn’t have questioned myself for a minute.”

She sold the Italian mid-century vase a few weeks later at auction for $4,250.

—Michael Good is a contractor and freelance writer. His business, Craftsman Wood Refinishing, restores architectural millwork in historic houses in San Diego. He is a fourth-generation San Diegan and lives in North Park. You can reach him at [email protected].