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.

Australian Pokerwork

Found a few interesting items at the Dayboro Day Antiques & Collectables Fair on the weekend.  At least I think they are interesting.  I managed to pick up these three pieces of pokerwork from the one stall.  These are the first pieces of pokerwork that I have ever owned so I was very happy with the purchase.  I was only going to buy the vase but the stall holder kept bringing the prices down until the asking price for all three pieces was too good to pass up.

The waratah vase measures 15.5cm high and 10cm in diameter

The vase is a real piece of Australiana with its nicely worked waratah flower design.  I have seen a number of different Australian designs on this exact same shape and size vase.  Very happy to have this as my first item in my Australian Pokerwork collection.

Uh Oh!  Does this mean I have started a new collection?  Maybe I'll be satisfied with just three pieces (and pigs might fly as well!).  At least Karen likes these pieces as well.

Love the rich colour

The comport (or at least that was what the dealer said it was) doesn't have a specific Australian design on it but does have a lovely deep brown colour (actually a lot deeper than shown in the photos).  Also, the decoration is not as high a standard as that on the vase but still very pleasing in a naive sort of folk art way.

The comport measures 24.5cm across and 13cm high. 

Looks like a crack in the edge but is only a part of deep engraving 

I like the line decoration on the edge

The cutting board has an even more naive design but lovely rich colours.  It must have taken someone quite some time to do all the stippled decoration around the bunches of cherries (if that's what they are).

The cutting board measures 25cm across

I like the way the centre of the board comes out for cleaning and also to protect the decorative work

Alan Carter has an interesting article about pokerwork on his ABC Treasure Hunt website.