West German Pottery For Sale: Ruscha, Sawa, Scheurich, Schlossberg
Gin-For's Odditiques
(Cats and batteries not included.)
Plankenhammer: This petite Plankenhammer porcelain vase with bullseye decoration is an example of the quirky Pop art designs that were one of the preferred styles in West German porcelain.
Price: $50 plus shipping and insurance. Shipping will depend on location. Contact us for a quote. Size: Height is about 4". Condition: very good with a couple of minor, hard to find flakes...pictured. All sales are fully guaranteed.
Ruscha
This is the second generation shape of the classic Ruscha 313 form, designed by Kurt Tschörner and introduced in 1954, one of the most successful pottery forms of the 20th century. This glaze probably dates more to the 1970s based on coloring and the lava detailing. The glaze is dusty rose and charcoal, looking like a matte version of a raku glaze (but it's not raku). Several designers in the mid-century liked doing incised lines that gave vases the look of a restored antiquity, but this glaze takes the idea a step farther by doing a similar pattern of lines in the raised volcanic glaze.
Price: $95 plus shipping and insurance. Shipping will depend on location. Contact us for a quote. Size: Height is about 6". Condition: excellent with no damage, no repairs...fully guaranteed.
Ruscha was one of the top producers of the "engobe" style wall plates, and Hanns Welling was one of the top designers. The "Paris" design was and is one of the most popular designs, and it has an intriguing history that actually starts at Keto. Welling designed a "Paris" decor for Keto, but it's a very carefree design without the darker subtext in the Ruscha "Paris". However, Welling also designed "Monmartre" for Keto, and it's almost identical to the "Paris" he did for Ruscha. The 717 shape plates in the 7" range are fairly common. The 10" is harder to find, and the 13" significantly harder. There is also a 3" mini that typically only has the cat. Elements on the full size are the young woman, lampost, striped cat, starry sky, and buildings. Some versions include a young man. Engobe items have the matte black background, an incised outline, and then the enamel painting. While the basic pattern is given, artists were allowed some variation. That ends up being not only variation in design but sometimes in quality. Marks on the back often include the initials of the artist who did that plate, but no records have come to light to identify the various artists.
Price: $105 plus shipping and insurance. Shipping will depend on location. Contact us for a quote. Size: Diameter is about 10". Condition: Excellent with no damage and no repairs. All sales are fully guaranteed.
This Ruscha shape 417 bowl clearly shows the strong influence on the W. German items of the 1950s. The form was designed by Kurt Tschörner, while the Marokko/Morocco decor was designed by Hanns Welling. It's from the engobe line that features a black background with incised designs and enamel decoration. Shape is 417. Date is circa 1956.
Price: $65 plus shipping and insurance. Shipping will depend on location. Contact us for a quote. Size: About 6" at the widest point and about 2 3/4" tall at the highest. Condition: is very good. There is no structural damage, just a bit of flaking around the edge where the black/engobe flaked. All sales are fully guaranteed.
Ruscha was one of the rulers of the wall plate kingdom in the 1950's, and Torero is one of their fairly hard to find classics. Very mid century in style, like much work from the 50's, it also pulls from Art Deco and Cubist styles to a degree, a real "Deco Echo" item with additional style echoes. Although there were patterns for these designs for artists to work from, each one is incised by hand, and the outcome can vary, sometimes by intent, sometimes not. Items are typically initialed by the artist, but most artists names remain unknown so far.
Price: $65 plus shipping and insurance. Shipping will depend on location. Contact us for a quote. Size: Diameter is about 8 1/2". Condition: Excellent with no damage and no repairs. All sales are fully guaranteed.
Sawa
This vase is not just a great W. German pottery Klinker item but a great piece of art pottery from any category. It's not bright or fancy, but it has great lines and proportions, including the relationships between form and decoration. The "pitcher" is hand made and had decorated, which includes quite a bit of work. The mark includes a "P", which stands for "Plastic" or "Plastik", not a reference to the material but the organic design. It's still not clear why certain items qualify for this distinction, and the Roman numerals are also uncommon, as are their meaning (beyond the number they represent)
Price: $225 plus shipping and insurance. Shipping will depend on location. Contact us for a quote. Size: Height is about 12". Condition: excellent with no damage and no repairs. All sales are fully guaranteed.
This vase was probably made by Sawa Keramik and falls into the "klinker" category due to the high-fired red clay. The vase, like most Sawa, is hand made and features geometric sgraffito decoration with a black stain, very effective. Likely date is 1950s or early 60s. (A lot of new information is coming to light about "klinker" vases, including many more companies, so the attribution on this one is uncertain, but it's just as impressive no matter which company did the work.)
Price: $295 plus shipping and insurance. Shipping will depend on location. Contact us for a quote. Size: Height is about 16". Condition: excellent with no damage, no repairs...fully guaranteed.
Scheurich
This is the later generation version of shape 275 (straighter top on the handle), and to my eye the best. Usually found in an 11" size, this is a harder to find, slightly smaller version at 8" with a very hard to find decor featuring a deep cobalt glaze with raised red "webbing". This one is probably from the 1970s.
Price: $95 plus shipping and insurance. Shipping will depend on location. Contact us for a quote. Size: Height is about 8". Condition: excellent with no damage, no repairs...fully guaranteed.
This West German pottery floor vase shape 239 is by Scheurich Keramik, and the hand painted landscape is a rather unusual decoration. It's not certain whether it was done at the factory, or if it was bought as a blank and then decorated, but I lean toward it being post-factory by a professional artist/decorator. It's artist signed, but the signature is unclear. This shape/size was introduced around 1959.
Price: $215 plus shipping and insurance. Shipping will depend on location. Contact us for a quote. Size: Height is about 16 1/2". Condition: excellent with no damage, no repairs...fully guaranteed.
This Scheurich Keramik vase is an example of how W. German pottery can be subtle and striking, elegant and bold, classic and modern all at once. The form is fairly simple with soft curves and a quiet gray glaze with subtle variation in color and texture. However, in the middle we find a distinctive cross design within a bold red and slightly volcanic white, bubbling just at the edges. That's a lot going on for a simple vase. Shape number is 537.
Price: $65 plus shipping and insurance. Shipping will depend on location. Contact us for a quote. Size: Height is about 6 1/2". Condition: very good, but there is a minor glaze flaw in the lower band....see detail photo. Of course, all sales are fully guaranteed.
Scheurich shape 484 is a simple but powerful ball shape and a perfect canvas for this stripe decor, despite the glare in my pictures. The form is part of the Ceramos series and creates a strong, large impression. With the red "heartstripe", this is similar to the Fabiola glaze, but that features dark brown rather than the mostly tan coloring seen here. The variety of items produced is one of the great joys....and great pains of West German Pottery. Estimated date is 1972.
Price: $95 plus shipping and insurance. Shipping will depend on location. Contact us for a quote. Size: Height is about 8". Condition: excellent with no damage and no repairs.
Scheurich Keramik was better at glazes than forms, but 529 28 is a shape that works, strong if not really elegant. The broad base works as a pedestal, but the opposite of the more common pedestal base that's smaller than the body of the vase. Neither the form nor glaze are especially hard to find, but it's the combination that works so very well in this case. There is a matte or semi-matte black underglaze with the red and black glaze on top. The top glaze isn't distinctly textured, but there is enough variation in the thickness to see if you hold and turn the vase. The thickness is more distinct at the bottom of the red drips, not fat lava, only a tad overweight. The visual affect isn't strong, but it's there.
Price: $85 plus shipping and insurance. Shipping will depend on location. Contact us for a quote. Size: Height is about 9 1/2" and diameter about 4 3/4". Condition: excellent with no damage and no repairs.
This Scheurich floor vase is a joy, mixing a semi-matte drip glaze similar to early 20th century work on the top and a definitive dark brown drip over a volcanic metallic copper glaze on the body. The form is not uncommon in smaller sizes and can be found moderately easily in this size with certain glazes. However, this size with this glaze is at the very least uncommon, and the glaze turned out quite well, which doesn't always happen with the metallic glazes. Shape number is 481 with a date circa 1974.
Price: $375 plus shipping and insurance. Shipping will depend on location. Contact us for a quote. Size: Height is about 19 1/2". Width: about 6 1/4". Depth: about 4 1/4". Condition: Excellent with no damage and no repairs. All sales are fully guaranteed.
Schlossberg: Several W. German companies made crackle glazes in the 1950s, including Ruscha, Silberdistel, and Karlsruhe. This example, however, is attributed to Schlossberg. Like the glaze, the pitcher form is typical of German work from the mid to late 1950s. It's a simple but elegant look. Shape number is 261.
Price: $65 plus shipping and insurance. Shipping will depend on location. Contact us for a quote. Size: Height is about 8 1/4" with a maximum diameter of about 3 5/8". Condition: excellent with no damage and no repairs.
Buying, Paying, and Such Things
You may notice that we don't have a checkout where you can just click for your goodies without so much as saying hello. Well, we want people to say hello, ask questions, even hope for a better deal. Long ago, I told stories for 7 hours (free refills on coffee), so "impersonal" just isn't my style. Click on one of those "E-mail" buttons. I can't handle as much coffee as I used to, so the stories will be fewer.
These days, Paypal is about the easiest payment method around, but we still take checks, even cash. No Monopoly money, nothing printed up in your basement, no chickens, etc., but otherwise we're fairly flexible. If we can put it in the bank without anyone getting in a tizzy, we'll probably take it.
Please take time to stroll through the site. Sorry we can't offer you a cup of coffee or tea while you're looking, but maybe you can take care of that yourself. Just don't spill it on the keyboard. And if you run into any questions along the way, there should be an e-mail link on every page, so just click and ask.
Hope you'll enjoy our "sing the body eclectic" approach (with apologies to Walt Whitman). As always, proceeds go to support our creditors, my spouse, our cats, my auction addiction, and the plumbing project that never ends.
Bay, Carstens, Ceramano, and Others Dümler & Breiden, ES Keramik, Others Gramann (Töpferei Römhild), Others Ilkra, Jasba, Jopeko, Karlsruhe, Marzi & Remy, and Others Otto Keramik Ruscha, Sawa, Scheurich and Others Schlossburg, Silberdistel, Steuler, and OthersWhat's "Gin-For"? Strictly medicinal purposes.