I think I’ve started a new collecting quest (which is not something I need or should do). Recently, when I was at the Golden Nugget Flea Market, in Lambertville, New Jersey, I purchased my first piece of Rookwood Pottery. What attracted me to this vase was the soft green glaze (the pictures don’t do the color justice), and the leaping gazelles and stylized flora motifs, which are typical of the Art Deco esthetic.
The Rookwood mark, the year of manufacture, 1932 and the number for the shape of the vase.
The Judith Miller Collector’s Guide to Art Deco, gives the best concise description of the background of the company, which I have excerpted below –
“The largest manufacturer of art pottery in the United States, Rookwood made its name with Arts and Crafts ware. Its Art Deco production, however, also presents interesting opportunities for the modern collector.
Maria Longworth Nichols, who grew up in a wealthy Cincinnati family, founded Rookwood in 1880. She was devoted to ceramics, Japonisme, and the Arts and Crafts ethic from an early age and employed the finest artists from Europe, the United States and Japan. By the start of World War I, Rookwood was thriving, with an extensive range of useful and ornamental ware, most made in the shiny Standard Glaze introduced in 1883.
Rookwood began to decline in both prosperity and output in the 1920’s – the firm suffered considerably during the depression years, eventually going into receuvership in 1941. As a result, Rookwood’s Art Deco was made during the company’s leanest years. Much of it is simple, economical design and manufacture. Typical examples include small slip-cast vases in pleasing shapes glazed in monochrome matt green, blue or pink, or cast bookends, paperweights and other desk accessories in similar glazes, which may be mottled by the late 1940s.”
* DK Collector’s Guides, Art Deco Judith Miller with Nicholas M. Dawes, 2005 DK and the Price Guide Company, Pg. 142.
Vase detail, stylized flora.
More vase detail.
This vase is typical of the production pieces that Rookwood was selling in the 1930’s and it is not considered “Art Pottery” by some ceramic and pottery experts and dealers, because it is not hand turned and hand painted. Even so, Rookwood’s “lesser” pieces are fine quality and were originally sold in the better department stores or specialty shops. Even though the date on this vase is 1932, this vase was in production until the mid-1940’s.
Rookwood shape 6214
The dealer had a $75.00 price tag on this vase, but he came down to $60.00, which is a really good price, as I’ve seen this vase sell on line for more than $100.00. Now I’m worried about how much Rookwood I’ll see up at Brimfield next month. I’ll keep you posted.
The Normandie arrives at Pier 88 North River for the first time. June 3, 1935
Jean Vernon bronze medallion for the maiden voyage.
Of all the famous ocean liners to sail the North Atlantic, the most elegant and the one to epitomize the 1930’s the best was the French Line’s S.S. Normandie. Built to compete with the North German-Lloyd record-breaking liners, Bremen and Europa and the unfinished Cunard-White Star superliner, Queen Mary, the Normandie was the first ocean liner to excede 1,000 feet in length. Originally the French Line envisioned the new ship as a larger version of their current flagship, the Il de France, a ship with a conservative hull and very modern interiors. During the early planning stage of the new ship, the French Line was approached by a Russian expatriate living in France since the revolution, Vladimir Yourkevitch.He had already proposed to the Cunard Line the idea of using a clipper bow and a bulbous forefoot beneath the water line for their new ship (the future Queen Mary). But the Cunard Line was too conservative and rejected these innovated ideas. The French Line embraced Yourkevitch’s designs and as a result the Normandie would be the most powerful steam turbo-electric propelled ship ever built and one of the fastest.
The hull of T-6 under construction, 1931
Hull T-6, renamed Normandie, ready to be launched.
The superstructure of the Normandie under construction.
Originally known as T6, she was constructed at the Penhoet Shipyard at St. Nazaire on a 1017 foot slipway. The first sections of the keel were laid down in May of 1931. On October 29, 1932 T6, renamed Normandie, was launched. This was the French Line’s entry to the superliner realm and her attempt to win the Blue Riband as the fastest passenger ship on the North Atlantic. As stylish and modern as the Normandie’s exterior was, her interiors were a showcase for the finest, modern, French decor.
The Grand Salon
The rear of the Grand Salon.
The Grand Salon featured a huge mural by Jean Dupas, entitled “The History of Navigation and tall illuminated glass pillars by Lalique.
Portion of Jean Dupas “The History of Navigation”
The first class dining room was capable of seating 700 at a time. Illumination came from 12 Lalique columns and wall panels, plus two very large chandeliers on either end of the room. It is easy to see why the Normandie was nick named “the ship of light”.
The First Class dining hall. 305 feet long, 46 feet wide and three decks high.
Painting of the first class dining room, from the original brochure.
One of the most popular public spaces on board was the Cafe Grill, which also served as a nightclub after hours. I love the chrome tube chairs that were in the Cafe Grill, I wish I had one of them in my collection.
The Stylish Cafe Grill
Cafe grill on the S.S. Normandie
The Normandie was the first ship to feature a full-sized theatre for shows and movies. Before this, movies were shown in the lounge and from this point on, all the major liners had theatres. With plush seats and indirect lighting, the Normandie’s theatre was almost the size of a legitimate theatre in a large city.
The Normandie’s Theatre
The theatre in the Normandie
Here is a gallery of some of the other interior spaces –
The Ship’s Chapel
Vestibule outside the chapel
Elevator Lobby
One of the many lounges
Swimming Pool
And some of the Normandie’s staterooms –
First class stateroom
Alecon Suite
Suite
The Normandie left it’s home port of Le Harve on May 29th, beginning her maiden voyage. After a brief stop in South Hampton, she began sailing across the Atlantic on May 31st. The Normandie won the Blue Riband, as the fastest ship on the North Atlantic, making the crossing from Bishop Rock, off the Cornish coast (the eastern most point of the North Atlantic shipping lanes) to Ambrose Light (the western most point and the entrance to lower New York Bay) in 4 days, 3 hours and 2 minutes. The Normandie took the Blue Riband away from the Rexof the Italian Line and arrived in Manhattan on June 3, 1935. 30,000 people were waiting at Battery Park, with another 5,000 on Bedloe’s Island, to greet her.
The Normandie approaching Manhattan (not on the maiden voyage)
The Normandie just past the Statue of Liberty, on it’s maiden voyage.
The Normandie in the North River on June 3, 1935. Image courtesy of Moving Image Department-George Eastman House
As great a ship as the Normandie was, her class intimidated all but the most confident of travlers and as a result she often sailed below passenger capacity. In 1936 she was joined on the North Atlantic by Cunard-White Star’s, Queen Mary. The two great ships would trade the Blue Riband between them for the next several years as the fastest ships in the world. During the summer of 1939 as Europe prepared for the next war, the Normandie sailed from its home port of Le Harve on August 25th. She arrived in New York on August 28th and planned to sail back to France two days later. With Germany set to invade Poland at any moment, the French Line cancelled the August 30th sailing. Passengers waiting to sail on the Normandie were transferred to Cunard-White Star’s Aquitania. What no one knew at the time was that the Normandie would never sail again. With the outbreak of war in early September the French Line felt it safer to keep the ship in New York with a skeleton crew, rather than risk having her torpedoed.
The Normandie stuck in New York.
After the fall of France in June of 1940, the Treasury Department detailed 150 Coast Guard men on her and Pier 88 to protect her against potential sabotage. The week after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Coast Guard took possession of the ship and on December 20, 1941 control of the ship passed to the Navy. Conversion to a troop ship began a week later and on January 1, 1942 she was renamed U.S.S. Lafayette. On February 9th during the retrofit, a spark from a workman’s welding torch set some life jackets on fire. The flames spread fast and by the middle of the afternoon the ship was ablaze. Trying to extinguish the fire so much water was poured into the ship that it began to list badly to port. Early the next morning the tugs holding the Normandie upright were ordered away and at 2:45 A.M. she capsized into the Hudson.
The capsized Normandie.
Salvage operations began in June and once the superstructure was removed the hull of the Normandie was raised. Floated to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in September of 1943, she was declared a total loss. Decommissioned after the war, she was sold for scrap in 1946 and was completely gone by 1947.
The salvage operation to right the U.S.S. Lafayette.
Leaving the Normandie as a capsized, burned hull, lying on her side at her Manhattan pier, is not the way that she should be remembered. Below is part of a French documentary about a 1938 voyage of the great ship. It features the best color film footage I’ve ever seen of the Normandie, including the magnificent interiors. Enjoy and imagine you are passenger sailing to New York like a 1930’s movie star.
Here are some videos of the Deco items that we found while out “Freakin’ Tiquen” on May 23rd & 24th.
Starting on Saturday morning, the first group of items were purchased at The Golden Nugget Flea Market in Lambertville, New Jersey. The American Stationery Company of Peru, Indiana, founded in 1919, is still in business today. In the 1930’s they offered this bakelite box when buying engraved letter head. It really is nicely made.
We also picked up a few 1930’s magazines. I like Esquire Magazine, the articles are good, the cartoons are usually very funny and the advertisements are great. I only have a few Esquires, but I hope to get more. We also found a couple of Vogue magazines. For some reason, vintage Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines are nearly impossible to find. The two that we picked up are in pretty bad shape, but the price was low and they are also really well produced.
About 40 minutes northeast of The Golden Nugget is the town of Somerville, NJ where we bought a couple of New York World’s Fair items. I am very happy about getting the American Potter’s Exhibit’s bowl for spring. Now I’m on the hunt for the other three seasons.
Getting an early start on Sunday, the 24th, we headed off to Adamstown, Pennsylvania. Adamstown is about an hour and half from where Chris lives in New Jersey. Chris and I try to get to Adamstown a few times a year. For those of you who have never been there, all I can say is go – it is a town of Antique Malls. We arrived at 10:00 A.M. and were finally done shopping just after 7:00 P.M. Our first stop in Adamstown was The Pinehill Anitque Mall, we picked up several things, but my favorite was the Manning-Bowman Twin-O-Matic waffle iron. I had seen this waffle iron in several books about design in the 1930’s, but this was the first time I had ever come across one and it was very reasonably priced (I’ve seen one on-line selling for over $300.00).
At our next stop, we had the best buy of the weekend – a vintage 10 inch cobalt blue Fiestaware vase. The vintage vases were produced between 1936 and 1942. They are also part of the Fiestaware line currently made and the sellers of this vase thought it was a sapphire blue one. Sapphire was a limited edition color sold exclusively by Bloomingdales for six months in 1997, which makes it rare, but not as rare the vases from the original line. This was a case of “seller beware”.
Old Fiestaware price guide brochures are very collectible and useful. Published anytime a change to the line was made, such as a piece being discontinued or new colors introduced. They offer historic information to a collector. The older ones are quite rare, so I was happy to come across one from 1937 and almost as happy to find the brochure from late 1985 or early 1986 announcing new line of Fiestaware, with pictures of trial pieces that never went into production.
Also from the same place, The Lancaster County Antique Mall of Adamstown, which is the store that stays open the latest, 9:00 on Saturdays and 7:30 on Sundays, is where our friend Nancy picked up these Art Deco penguin bookends. They seem to be from the 1930’s; if any one has information about them please let us know.
But by far the most Art Deco piece bought this weekend, was the Degue glass wall sconce that our friend Amanda bought at Antiques at the Carriage Barn in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania on the 25th. We stopped there on our way down to New Jersey on the Friday of the holiday weekend. Amanda fell in love with the sconce (and if you like Deco, who can blame her) but decided to hold off getting it, just in case something better came along. Well, nothing better did come along and on our way home, we made a stop back at the Carriage Barn and Amanda became the proud owner of a very beautiful piece of French art glass.
Chris and I use these “Freakin’, Tiquen’ Weekend” trips as training for our big summer “Freakin’, Tiquen'” vacation. And we will need to be in good shape when we hit the Brimfield Flea Market this coming July.
Whether you collect Art Deco or just want to add a touch of deco to your home, a picture frame is one way to go. Practical and with a wide variety of materials, designs and sizes, one would fit into almost any decor. The price for vintage deco frames can vary from extremely reasonable to extremely high-end. Just a word of advice before you buy any vintage frame, be sure the support stand on the back is in good to excellent condition.
Fairly easy to find are mirrored glass, partial reverse painted with foiled back accents, complete reverse glass painted, and cardboard. More difficult, and more expensive are carved wood (I’ve never seen one in person), tooled leather, natural stone, Lucite and Bakelite frames. The designs range from traditionally feminine floral patterns in pinks and purples, to traditionally masculine angular designs in browns and hunter greens. A majority of the ones I have seen and purchased fall somewhere in-between in style and price.
My favorite are the complete reverse glass ones and the variety of designs available is endless.
Waiting for the perfect picture.
Two reverse painted and Cobalt mirror frames
Marbleized background with gold metallic accents
If you find a frame that you love but the picture you want to use is too small, center the photo and let the inside show through around the picture. Another idea would be to add fabric behind the picture to create a frame within the frame. If you decide to use decorative paper as a liner, please be sure it is acid free! And if displaying vintage picture, DON’T cut your photos. Find a proper size frame (or larger) or copy (resize) your vintage photos.
The picture in the back is free floating in the frame.
An example of a vintage picture in a vintage frame.
Another picture floating in the frame.
As I mentioned before, frames came in a variety of sizes from compact size, suitable for a lady to easily carry in her hand bag, to oversized, suitable for displaying on your grand piano. (after all, who doesn’t have one of those?)
The largest and smallest in my collection
The reverse side is a mirror suitable for Mi’lady to check her face
Here is a foiled back frame next to a reverse painted frame.
Marble and brass support twin panes of glass to hold the picture
Another one waiting for the perfect picture
Need several frames that are identical for a wall grouping? As mentioned in an earlier post (Deco-rating my bedroom), you can color-copy a frame (resizing to your need) to create matting within a larger frame. Or, use this color-copy method to add detail around a picture mounted inside an inexpensive Lucite frame.
Color copies of original fashion prints can be used when you need / want multiples for a cohesive look.
Cardboard frames are fairly easy to find and are very often the least expensive. The reason for the low price is that the picture is often glued inside and the frame itself may be sealed, If you are lucky enough to find one where the picture can be easily removed, I recommend that you snap it up. Below is a beautiful example of how exuberant cardboard deco can be. Next to it is another grouping – take note of the leather frame with applied gold accents.
Who knew cardboard could look so good?
Reverse painted and leather bi-fold frame.
You know you’re going to display pictures in your home so, why not do it in style!
Freakin’ ‘Tiquen’ guys on vacation
Chris and Anthony.
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