Treasure hunt

DEAR HELAINE AND JOE: I recently inherited a set of two vases. I believe they belonged to my great-grandparents, which would date them to the very late 1800s or early 1900s. Both are in reasonably good condition but have a small chip or two at the bottom. I have found some information on the maker but nothing on these vases specifically.

— J.F.

DEAR J.F.: We wish we knew the size of the vases. Without that information we cannot offer a good estimation of their monetary value.

We think it is interesting that the writer is from Staten Island, and the vases he inherited were manufactured just a few miles away in the eastern district of Brooklyn. The community is called Greenpoint, and it was there in 1880 that the Faience Manufacturing Company was founded.

Greenpoint was a center for early American ceramic production with such companies as Greenpoint Porcelain Works and the Union Porcelain Works among others working there. In 1884, English potter and china decorator Edward Lycett came to Faience Manufacturing and served as both the director and as a decorator.

Lycett introduced a new porcelaneous body, but his focus was on decoration. And on some occasions, his decorations could be quite elaborate and very fine. Some people consider Lycett to be the father of American china painting, and during his tenure at Faience Manufacturing the company’s products achieved a high degree of excellence.

Many of the better pieces were signed with an “R” in concentric circles surmounted with a crown. These are often referred to as “Royal Crown” pieces, but the “FM Co” mark on the vases in today’s question suggests they were probably

made during the company’s earlier period.

The three-dimensional molded flowers that decorate the pair of vases are in a style often associated with the Haviland factory in Limoges, France. They are fairly typical of the early work done by the Faience Manufacturing Company. The word “faience,” incidentally, generally refers to an earthenware buff color body that is covered with an opaque glaze containing tin oxide.

Common usage has made for some leeway in this definition, but in J.F.’s vases the light colored earthenware body can be seen peaking through the dark (probably brownish) glaze on the base. J.F. mentions a “small chip or two at the bottom.” This might not be a problem if they are not unsightly, but we think we see a slightly bigger problem in the photographs.

We think we see that half of one of the five large pedals on the central rose has been lost. This is unsightly and presents a problem for the monetary value. Lycett’s more elaborate

work at Faience Manufacturing can retail in the low thousands, but the earlier flower encrusted examples sell for much less. If these pieces were near perfect and 8 to 10 inches tall, the pair would probably retail in the $600 to $800 range. But the damage on the rose could reduce that price by as much as half.

Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson have written a number of books on antiques. Do you have an item you’d like to know more about? Contact them at Joe Rosson, 2504 Seymour Ave., Knoxville, TN 37917, or email them at treasures knology.

This vase is old, relatively uncommon and American in origin, but is it valuable?