THE ANTIQUE
Poole Pottery vases
With Mother's Day on 19th March, a little vase for placing posies in is the season's bestPoole Pottery to distinguish them from later series such as post-war 'free-form' ceramics with their Scandi-style organic shapes. The paintresses who hand-decorated each vase added their own flourishes to Carter's designs, and names to watch out for are Ruth Pavely, Eileen Prangnell, Marian Heath, Anne Hatchard, Hilda Trim and Mary Brown. Vases come in all sorts of shapes too, from cylinders that flare out at the top or swell in the middle, to conical forms, in small, medium and large sizes. Find them from £150 at auction, but expect to pay in the high hundreds for a rare piece.
