A mystery Crown Lynn deco vase in more ways than one!

Wonderful deco shaped vase, and also rather peculiar

Each side is different

It almost looks lop-sided sometimes

The handles look like someone adapted tea cup handles


Another oddity with this vase is the size of the stamp! Here compared to a hand potted, the tiki takes up half the vase. So, where does this fit in? Is it a number we don't know yet, or is it a prototype? It is definitely slipcast.

Hi sunny, is there any way you can clean the base so that the backstamp shows up better? That is extremely unusual .... even the huge backstamp! I wonder if the Portage site has any big tiki stamps? I will look when I get a chance.

I have already tried several products on it (you should have seen it before!), perhaps an overnight soak will help. I can see under the tiki with the naked eye - Crown Lynn and under, New Zealand.

It might be made by the night shift LOL

I saw the listing and too agree very usual - how tall is it?

I checked out the tiki stamps on the Portage site and no joy. Looked at my lot and the biggest is on the Rhodes ashtray, which isn't a lot bigger than the usual stamp.
Can you look at some of your sunshine?

I don't recall ever seeing a large stamp like this, and have had a quick scout through, but come up with nothing.

I have soaked this for days now in steradent, and this is the result. Not all the crazing is gone, but the tiki and words are still no clearer. All I can make out is the N from Crown, and the Ly from Lynn. I thought I could see part of Zealand Ze, but not really sure.
Sorry to Janice for late reply, it is 205mm high.

This one is certainly an interesting one. The possibilities are:

1. It dates to the time just before the big and long-running matt white range was introduced (late 1940s), and the factory were testing out shapes and stamps. In this case you could call it a test piece. It is a shape that reminds me of a Sylvac, Radford or Beswick vase from late 1930s England.

The base ring looks bigger than a normal CL one in the photo, and the clay looks quite white for late 1940s CL. Of course, they used lots of different clays in these early days, so we can't necessarily call it into question on those grounds, but it should raise a question.

The crazing and discolouration, which you have managed to get out quite well Anne, certainly give the appearance of age.
But the second option to consider is:

2. It is someone's attempt to create a spurious Crown Lynn shape and stamp to confuse people or make money. This is worth considering because there are stories of attempts to forge CL - it is said by the late Roland Grupp among others.

Were you able to ask where the seller got the vase and from whom? Any scrap of provenance could help us work it out.

Another one in green has been listed. No mention of a back stamp.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=860453347

Yes, I saw that last time it was listed. It is in bad shape too, just like my one.

That's an interesting glaze. Does anyone have any eggcups or Kienhua ginger jars in that opaque lime green to compare?

This dish is the nearest I can find to that lime green ..

https://www.newzealandpottery.net/gallery/Crown-Lynn-Shapes-01-881/100-to-199/150-pic_2809.htm

I don't know if this C/L vase is similar enough.

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/9482547

I checked my egg cups, ginger jars, old colour glaze vases and the glaze is different to the vase on Trade Me.

Wow the pot on that link is just divine
It is so hard to compare colours on the net and I find digital cameras act strange when it comes to some colours too.

Whether this is Crown Lynn or not here is its model - and its Beswick! So the unmarked green one we saw a few weeks ago may be a Beswick example.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/antiques-collectables/art-deco-retro/home-d%C3%A9cor/vases-jugs/auction-879447249.htm