Pates and Bakewell Brothers Potteries

Here are a few more pieces of Australian pottery. This time they come from the Sydney potteries of "Pates Potteries" and "Bakewell Brothers Pottery". They were all found at the last Aladdins Fair.

Two pieces of Pates pottery

Two pieces of Bakewell Brothers pottery

The first piece is a vase which I believe is from Pates Potteries. At least that is what I bought it as. 

Pates Potteries vase (18cm high)

Alfred Pates established Pates Potteries Pty Ltd in 1946. He learnt his potting skills while working for the Fowler Pottery Company in 1933. The company employed 95 staff at the height of production in the 1960s and continued operation right up until 1990.

Not sure how much I really like the colours on this vase. Not as pretty as some of the glazes used on Diana ware and some Bakewells pottery. This vase would probably date from the 1950s.

Impressed 'P' mark (Pates Potteries?)

This vase doesn't have the full Pates backstamp but does have an impressed letter 'P' on the base. The stall holder had the vase labeled as being from Pates pottery because of this mark. I haven't been able to confirm this yet so I will just accept that this is a Pates vase until someone shows me otherwise.  Another stall holder also had a piece of pottery for sale with the same mark but he didn't know who made it.

The next piece is a bowl, also from Pates Potteries. This one is fully marked.

Pates Potteries bowl (28 x 14cm)

I bought this bowl because of its lustreware glaze which is quite different to the glazes on the other pieces of Australian pottery in my collection. Lustreware is the name given to pottery that has a metallic glaze with an iridescent look to it. Similar to the rainbow effect you get when you put oil onto some water.

I believe this bowl is not as old as the vases in this post and probably dates from the 1960s or even the 1970s.

Pates Potteries backstamp

The backstamp on this bowl clearly states 'PATES POTTERIES SYDNEY AUSTRALIA'. There is also an impressed number '181' which would most likely be the mould number of the shape of the vase.

The following link sheds a little more light on the history of Pates Potteries.



The last pieces are two small vases from Bakewell Brothers Pottery.

Bakewell Pottery vases (9 and 9.5cm high)

I was first drawn to these sweet little vases by the glaze colours which are very much like that used on Diana ware. It intrigued me to see how the glaze colours were reversed on each vase. These vases are almost exactly the same except for this colour variation and a slight size and weight difference. One vase seems to be more finely potted than the other. Possibly two different potters working to the same design?

The firm Bakewell Brothers was actually founded in 1884 and began by making bricks, pipes and basic kitchen ware. Like many other Australian potteries, they produced a lot of art ware during the interwar years. Bakewells closed its doors in 1955.

Bakewell Pottery backstamp

The backstamps on these vases is for the "NEWTONE" ART WARE range from BAKEWELLS SYDNEY. This Newtone range was introduced in the early 1930s and continued into the late 1940s. These vases would date from this period.


Hopefully, the following link will shed a little more light on the history of Bakewell Brothers Pottery.

Group photo of Pates, Bakewells and Diana pottery
 (They sort of look OK together, don't you think)

If anyone has any further information about any of these pieces of pottery, please feel free to leave a comment. I would especially like to hear from anyone who knows something about the impressed 'P' mark.

Two Pieces of Australian Pottery

This first vase is another Dayboro Day Antiques & Collectables Fair find.  I was first attracted to it by the colours which looked to me very much like what you would expect to see on mid 20th century Australian pottery.  Upon examination I discovered it to be an example of Diana pottery.  I didn't know much about this pottery except that they produced many different vases as well as kitchen ware that was decorated with dots.  I liked the colours so asked the stall holder how much it was.  The price seemed reasonable so I purchased my first piece of Diana ware.

Diana trough vase measuring approximately 21cm long

This vase was made by Diana Pottery in Marrickville, NSW, probably in the 1950s.  This type of slip cast vase is known as a "trough" vase.  Diana Pottery was in business from about 1940 to 1975.  They began by making utilitarian items during the war, then more decorative items such as vases, bookends and animal figures in the 50s as well as producing a range of decorated oven and kitchen ware. Diana Pottery is considered to be the most important manufacturer of Australian pottery of the 1960s and 70s.

Diana pottery is still readily available and often turns up in antique & collectables fairs.  It makes a great introduction into collecting Australian pottery.  You may even be able to pick up some pieces for under $10 if you are lucky.  More information about Diana Pottery can be found on the Australian Pottery website by Sam Kelly.

Impressed 'Diana AUSTRALIA' mark with 'T6' (probably a pattern number)

The second vase is one that my wife gave to me as a present last Christmas.  It is a drip glazed canoe shaped trough vase made by Bennett Pottery of Adelaide.

Canoe trough vase measuring approximately 29cm long 

I had seen this actual vase for sale a number of times at different collectables fair over the past year and had even discussed buying it from the stall holder (who I knew from my Bottle and Collectables Club).  Each time I couldn't make my mind up to buy it or not.  I'm glad Karen finally decided to buy it for me.

We had seen many similar vases to this one when we lived in Melbourne.  Each antique centre seemed to have one or two somewhere on a shelf.  It almost became an ongoing joke for us as each time we saw one we would say something like "Look! There's another canoe vase."  I am not sure if any of these vases were from Bennett Pottery but I am sure that some were from Bendigo Pottery.  Wish I had bought one now although I don't remember them being as good quality as this Bennetts one.

Underside of vase showing Bennett Adelaide mark (rather indistinct)

Bennett Pottery was founded in 1887.  The Bennett family still operate the pottery on the same site today.  Take a look at the current Bennetts Magill Pottery website.  The company manufactured art pottery only for a short period of time from the 1920s up until 1940 when the pottery suffered a serious fire.  I believe this vase dates from this period.  Glaze specialist Jack Gare worked at Bennetts during this time and it is most likely one of his glazes that adorn this canoe.  Gare had previously worked for Bendigo Pottery until he was sacked for not being willing to disclose his special glaze recipes.