Thankyou for visiting the Virtual Museum of Poole Pottery
Why Poole Pottery?
We not only deal in Poole Pottery but also collect and like most collectors we are passionate about it. We can think of no other factory whose production has more consistently reflected the spirit of its age; from the art deco designs of the 1920's and 1930's to the clean modernist lines of the 1950's and the experimental work of the pop art era. And yet compared with other factories whose production was greater (and sometimes mass produced) Poole Pottery is not widely collected. From a collectors point of view this is a good thing. Genuine rarities do not necessarily command high values and the enthusiastic collector can still turn up patterns and designs which have not previously been recorded. The available reference books are not comprehensive, and the work of some artists is seriously underrated. This is particularly true of Tony Morris, the Dorset based artist who is still producing ceramic art in small quantities but whose work for Poole in the early 1960's is becoming regarded as iconic. There have been no recent exhibitions of Tony's work and many pieces which have come to light in the last decade are in private collections (and likely to remain there). There are of course many more still awaiting discovery. The Museum will allow the viewing of pieces from private collections which are not otherwise accessible. We are very grateful to the collectors whose cooperation has made this possible. Many of the pieces displayed were sourced by Renaissance!
What do you think?
Constructive comments are always appreciated. We can not please all of the people all of the time, but at least the Museum is free to visit. If you have a piece which you think is worthy of inclusion, or a collection you would like to exhibit, please let us know. Our only interest is in building up the resource and we would not seek exclusive use of your images or use them for any other applications. We aim to update the Museum from time to time and have included the date of the last update at the top of each category.
Something to sell?
If you are considering selling something which is similar to the pieces shown, please contact us as we should like very much to hear from you.
Index of categories (see below)
Poole Studio Part 1 (plates)
Guy Sydenham after Poole
Delphis
Miscellaneous stuff
One more thing
As of today (February 2009) the site is still under construction. As you can see, the Museum is not yet fully up to speed with a number of descriptions and categories still to be added. This is a project that will evolve with time.