Collectables Trader 98 Teaser

AUST $9.95 NZ $13.95

online@ worldaa.com

A u s t r a l a s i a ’ s l e a d i n g a n t i q u e s a n d c o l l e c t a b l e s m a g a z i n e

collectablestrader

98TH E

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HERITAGE, HISTORYAND SURVIVALCodes in quiltsCamouflage in silk Textiles will never be thesame again

COLLECTINGAUSTRALIAN ART WARE:CERAMICS TO JEWELLERYArtists to look out for from thelast century to works made today

COIN COLLECTING FORTHE VERY YOUNGHow to make it interesting and fun without breaking the bank

FROM HOLLYWOODMOVIES TO ENGLISHECCLESIASTICALTRADITIONSProfiling very different interests

16

WINconundrumenter our prize draw

See page 39

66

34

16

12

28

56

COLLECTABLES Trader 3

FEATURE ARTICLES6 Collecting Australian ceramic art

Marvin Hurnall

12 Deception and insider trading via

silver candlesticks

Roy Williams

16 Introducing children to numismatics

Peter Lane

24 Contemporary craft jewellers

- new directions

Dorothy Erickson

34 Collecting bookends – practical

plus decorative

Donna Braye

48 Rituals and life in medieval

manuscripts

56 Collecting Native American

Apache baskets

Melody Amsel-Arieli

66 A Lalique car badge

SPECIAL FEATURE: FROM THETHEATRE OF WARMargaret McNiven covers memorabilia

born from war

28 The Changi quilts

44 Memorabilia remembering Queensland’s

worst maritime disaster

52 A pilot‘s wearable World War II map

of Europe

KNOWLEDGE BASE54 Diamond jewellery in the 15th century

FOCUS: COLLECTING PERSPECTIVEVERY DIFFERENT INTERESTS -FASCINATING COLLECTIONS20 Collecting a Hollywood icon

60 A commemorative collection

in Melbourne

Margaret McNiven

67 OUT & ABOUT

REGULAR FEATURES38 Online magazines

39 Conundrum

45 Collectables fairs

69 Collectables subscription

70 Bulletin board

72 Marketplace: buy and sell

76 Recent books for collectors

79 Advertising rates

78 Advertisers’ Index

48

6

6 COLLECTABLES Trader

Marvin Hurnall

The potter and craftworker Una Deerbonwas born in Woollahrain Sydney in 1882. Her

parents Alfred and Clara Deanesent her to a convent school as aboarder, and it was there that herinterest in fashion and design wasignited via regular needleworkclasses held by the nuns. Sheattended Sydney Art School aftershe completed her schooling,studied painting under JulianAshton. In 1904, when she was 22years old, Una married English-born businessman Richard Darlow,who was also a part-time journalistand artist.

Although exact dates are notknown, we do know that between1904 and before the outbreak of

World War I she designed clothesfor the department store DavidJones, and opened the Sydney-based Madam Darlot’s DesignSchool. Una also created and soldsets of humorous postcards,signing them ‘Una Darlow.’

During the years of her firstmarriage she travelled to Londonstudying at the Slade School, andthe United States where shestudied at the Chicago School ofArt. After the collapse of hermarriage she moved to Brisbanewhere she worked as a potter. It

Una Deerbon (1882-1972)

and her cousin

Jack Castle Harris (1893-1967)

Collecting Australian art ware

1

A family affair

Until recently the focus for collectors of Australian ceramic art has been mainly on the

output of artisans including Grace Seccombe, Marguerite Mahood and William Ricketts

3

2

1 Una Deerbon, Vase, 1933, 15 x 18 cm, decorated with cascading series of gum leaves,incised signature ‘Deerbon’. Courtesy State Library of Victoria

2 Una Deerbon, postcard signed ‘Una Darlow’

3 Una Deerbon, Fruit platter, c. 1933, 4.5 x 29 cm, incised signature ‘Deerbon’


‘House pricesnever godown,’proclaimed the

young person, and indeed they hadnot in his lifetime. However, Iinvoluntarily thought ‘Aha! Youdidn’t watch television every nightin 1989 when house prices tumbledand evictions and financial ruinwere daily news.’

I recalled the words of notedSpanish philosopher GeorgeSantayana – ‘Those who cannotremember the past are condemnedto repeat it,’ and the sequence ofevents that have left a trail offinancial disasters in this century –from the victims of the dot comcrash (2001) to the GFC (2007-10).

Perhaps there might have beenmore caution had there been thestudy the Tulip crash (1637), theSouth Sea Bubble (1720) theMississippi Company Crash (1720)the Crash of ’29 or the twenty or soother major financial crises since

Tulipmania. In each of these casesthe multitudes were ruined and thefew were made immensely rich.

Insider trading in the18th centuryOne of the odd but instructiveresults of the Mississippi Companywas the Paris technologicalrevolution of the 1730s. Those whocashed in their shares at the peakof the bubble amassed immensefortunes. They includedcommoners as well as nobility.

Insider trading was rampant, bythe way. This new patronage byrich commoners placed differentdemands on architects anddesigners than traditionalaristocratic requirements. This ledto vigorous competition betweenpatrons and artists for the verylatest in housing and technology,as a result of which greatdevelopments in plumbing, air conditioning and heating were accomplished.

Symbols of prestigein 18th century ParisThe Paris rich were much morelikely to have a water closet(plumbed flush toilet) in 1730 thanin 1830. Technological advancesare not always permanent. Thesame clients demanded cuttingedge design in furnishings andinterior decoration. One couldhardly be seen with last season’sfurniture in the salon.

In an age before home theatresand giant televisions, the principleprestige home ware in the 18thcentury was silver for the rich and textiles for the middle classes.A well-to-do merchant’s housewifewould ensure the maid would carry in fresh bundles ofembroidered linens to the armoirelavishly stocked with textiles if her friends were present to show wealth. Textiles wereenormously expensive beforemachine weaving arrived about 1840.

Time travel back to life in cosmopolitan

18th century Paris where, as Roy Williams

explains, some behaviours have a familiar ring

– wisdom in hindsight!

aristocratic deception and insider trading

Silvercandlesticks

1


Readers oftenwant to know thebest way theycan help their

children to start collecting coins.My suggestion is to begin with the coins in your pocket, showinghow to collect by date and value. If the children lose interest, you can put the coins back in yourpocket – that is your 100% money-back guarantee.

If the interest continues, buy a kilobag of modern coins from a coindealer, they are cheap and perfect forlittle hands. Collecting is a very tactileand enjoyable experience. Never buythings that children cannot play with.

A workshop foryoung enthusiastsRecently I was invited to conduct atwo-hour session on coins at theGifted and Talented Children ofSouth Australia’s Saturday Club forchildren aged between six to nineyears. Both flattered and daunted, Iput considerable thought intoplanning this session, whether tomake a digital presentation on thehistory of coins or just focus onAustralian coinage. As children arechildren, I knew that the best formof learning at their ages was to letthem handle many different coins.

The session was in theafternoon in a classroom and as itwas a small group, the children sat

together in the front row. Some ofthe parents decided to attend andjoin in the fun, and all learnt aboutthe hobby of collecting coins. Allthe children wanted a magnifyingglass, a must-have piece ofequipment for all ages.

Some of the children broughtalong and talked about their owncoin collections, many receivedfrom friends and relatives. Most ofthese coins were brought backfrom overseas holidays.

Step I: explain thehistory of coinsI began with the history of coinsand passed around some ancientcoins from Roman times that wereused in Egypt and England. Then Italked about African ring moneyand explained that the people inthat region did not have pocketsuntil about 100 years ago, so theircoins were a different shape andwere looped on their belts.

A head start

for budding youngnumismatistsIt is never too early to

start collecting and

Peter Lane provides

useful and practical tips

for parents and mentors


Bed coverings that became messages of hope:

The Changi quilts

Margaret D McNiven

It is ironic that thebeauty of Changiproved to be the settingfor man’s inhumanity to

man. Over 2,000 civilian women,children and men were interred inChangi Gaol on 8 March 1942 afterthe fall of Singapore. Here,hundreds of women cared forchildren in the women’s camp,segregated from their husbands,sons aged over 12 years, brothersand fathers in barracks 6 kilometresaway. Captured POWs camped

rough further away. Each group had

to make its own comforts and

organise a collective life to survive.

There has been a regrettable

oversight of the imprisoned civilian

women who battled brutality, daily

hunger, disease and filthy

conditions while protecting teen

girls and children. As survivor Pat

Darling states (Portrait of a Nurse:

Prisoner of War …), ‘The most

tragic victims of all in camp were

the children and their mothers. The

children’s thin, haunted little old

faces are still a troublesome

memory, even today.’

1 Girl Guides trefoil logo embroidered incentre rosette of Changi Girl Guides quilt.Courtesy Sheila Allan, Collection of British Red Cross Museum

2 Sheila Allan’s secret diary in ChangiPrison, WWII. Collection of Sheila Allan

Despite the cruelty of their situation and

the inhumanity of their captors, these

remarkable women used their

needlework skills to send coded messages

1

2

Collectables is

published bi-monthly

with each edition bringing

fresh insights and fun

collecting themes. Discover

the latest collecting craze;

explore the quirky and

traditional collectable; learn

how best to start a

collection. There are tips on

preserving and caring for

valued possessions. Read

the diary and plan a visit

to a fair.


Readers oftenwant to know thebest way theycan help their

children to start collecting coins.My suggestion is to begin with the coins in your pocket, showinghow to collect by date and value. If the children lose interest, you can put the coins back in yourpocket – that is your 100% money-back guarantee.

If the interest continues, buy a kilobag of modern coins from a coindealer, they are cheap and perfect forlittle hands. Collecting is a very tactileand enjoyable experience. Never buythings that children cannot play with.

A workshop foryoung enthusiastsRecently I was invited to conduct atwo-hour session on coins at theGifted and Talented Children ofSouth Australia’s Saturday Club forchildren aged between six to nineyears. Both flattered and daunted, Iput considerable thought intoplanning this session, whether tomake a digital presentation on thehistory of coins or just focus onAustralian coinage. As children arechildren, I knew that the best formof learning at their ages was to letthem handle many different coins.

The session was in theafternoon in a classroom and as itwas a small group, the children sat

together in the front row. Some ofthe parents decided to attend andjoin in the fun, and all learnt aboutthe hobby of collecting coins. Allthe children wanted a magnifyingglass, a must-have piece ofequipment for all ages.

Some of the children broughtalong and talked about their owncoin collections, many receivedfrom friends and relatives. Most ofthese coins were brought backfrom overseas holidays.

Step I: explain thehistory of coinsI began with the history of coinsand passed around some ancientcoins from Roman times that wereused in Egypt and England. Then Italked about African ring moneyand explained that the people inthat region did not have pocketsuntil about 100 years ago, so theircoins were a different shape andwere looped on their belts.

A head start

for budding youngnumismatistsIt is never too early to

start collecting and

Peter Lane provides

useful and practical tips

for parents and mentors

NUMISMATICS FOR THE YOUNGGive budding collectors a head start by

following the tips of Peter Lane, Secretary

of the Numismatics Association of Australia

More to read • Book reviews • Memorabilia • Trader: Buy & Sell

Step 2: Learning to sortNext, every child was given about100 modern world coins, of whichthe oldest was just over 200 yearsold. They sorted the coins by date.This proved very popular, especiallywhen they came across a coinminted in the year they were born,or else a very old one.Later the children sorted the coinsby country. The process involvedlearning about the manydifferences in designs, metals,sizes and shapes, such as squareor with holes in the centre.

Step 3: Importanceof reference booksCoin books and catalogues werebrowsed, but regretfully there wasnot enough time to read themcompletely. If children show interestin reading about coins, please visita library and borrow a book or twoon this fascinating subject.Coin books in libraries are underDewey number 737.

Step4: Looking atAustralian coinsWe then looked at some Australianpennies and all the children knewQueen Elizabeth II’s portrait.Understandably at their early age,they were not familiar with herfather, George VI and hergrandfather George V. Looking andtalking about those coins, theybegan to understand the monarchyat a family level, which the childrenfound fascinating.

Step 5: Creatingcoin designsTo close, the children drew coindesigns as ‘school money’ to useat their own school with the Queenreplaced by the principal. On theother side of the coin the childrenadded different motifs. Some wereof their school’s badge, others putlocal animals, birds and evendinosaurs! The coin designs bore adate and had a value on them.

Readers who want academic-level study on ancient coins,Macquarie University in Sydneyoffers a postgraduate course.Details at www.humaities.mq.edu.au

A starting point I hope readers will now want toshare their collecting experienceswith the next generation. Thereare several useful sites, includingthe Gifted and Talented Childrenof South Australia’s website:www.gtcasa.asn.au.If interest continues, then thebudding collector should join alocal collector’s group. TheNumismatic Association ofAustralia’s website lists all thenumismatic clubs and societiesin Australia and New Zealand onwww.naa-online.com.A bag of 200 world coins forchildren usually costs around $20 and can be purchased at coin shops.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIESThere are few employmentopportunities in Australia in this field.There are some related jobs inEurope, notably the cataloguing ofcoin hoards discovered almost everyday that must be catalogued tocomply with local treasure trove laws.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS• Walter Bloom and John McDonald,

for technical advice• Gifted and Talented Children’s

Association of SA• Grant Morton of I.S. Wright, Adelaide,

for the loan of modern coins• Participating children and parents,

including permission to print photos


1

2

1 Tetradrachm, Philip I, Alexandria mint, c. 244- 249 CE

2 Bronze, Constantius II, Rome mint, c. 305-352 CE

AUST $9.95 NZ $13.95

online@ worldaa.com

A u s t r a l a s i a ’ s l e a d i n g a n t i q u e s a n d c o l l e c t a b l e s m a g a z i n ecollectablestrader98TH

ED

ITION

MA

Y –

JU

NE

20

11

HERITAGE, HISTORY

AND SURVIVALCodes in quilts

Camouflage in silk

Textiles will never be the

same again

COLLECTINGAUSTRALIAN ART WARE:

CERAMICS TO JEWELLERY

Artists to look out for from the

last century to works made today

COIN COLLECTING FOR

THE VERY YOUNG

How to make it interesting

and fun without breaking

the bank

FROM HOLLYWOOD

MOVIES TO ENGLISH

ECCLESIASTICALTRADITIONSProfiling very different interests

TOSUBSCRIBE

NOW

CLICKHERE

WELCOME TO THE INTRIGUINGWORLD OF COLLECTING

www.worldaa.com


‘House pricesnever godown,’proclaimed the

young person, and indeed they hadnot in his lifetime. However, Iinvoluntarily thought ‘Aha! Youdidn’t watch television every nightin 1989 when house prices tumbledand evictions and financial ruinwere daily news.’

I recalled the words of notedSpanish philosopher GeorgeSantayana – ‘Those who cannotremember the past are condemnedto repeat it,’ and the sequence ofevents that have left a trail offinancial disasters in this century –from the victims of the dot comcrash (2001) to the GFC (2007-10).

Perhaps there might have beenmore caution had there been thestudy the Tulip crash (1637), theSouth Sea Bubble (1720) theMississippi Company Crash (1720)the Crash of ’29 or the twenty or soother major financial crises since

Tulipmania. In each of these casesthe multitudes were ruined and thefew were made immensely rich.

Insider trading in the18th centuryOne of the odd but instructiveresults of the Mississippi Companywas the Paris technologicalrevolution of the 1730s. Those whocashed in their shares at the peakof the bubble amassed immensefortunes. They includedcommoners as well as nobility.

Insider trading was rampant, bythe way. This new patronage byrich commoners placed differentdemands on architects anddesigners than traditionalaristocratic requirements. This ledto vigorous competition betweenpatrons and artists for the verylatest in housing and technology,as a result of which greatdevelopments in plumbing, air conditioning and heating were accomplished.

Symbols of prestigein 18th century ParisThe Paris rich were much morelikely to have a water closet(plumbed flush toilet) in 1730 thanin 1830. Technological advancesare not always permanent. Thesame clients demanded cuttingedge design in furnishings andinterior decoration. One couldhardly be seen with last season’sfurniture in the salon.

In an age before home theatresand giant televisions, the principleprestige home ware in the 18thcentury was silver for the rich and textiles for the middle classes.A well-to-do merchant’s housewifewould ensure the maid would carry in fresh bundles ofembroidered linens to the armoirelavishly stocked with textiles if her friends were present to show wealth. Textiles wereenormously expensive beforemachine weaving arrived about 1840.

Time travel back to life in cosmopolitan

18th century Paris where, as Roy Williams

explains, some behaviours have a familiar ring

– wisdom in hindsight!

aristocratic deception and insider trading

Silvercandlesticks 1

THE CHANGI QUILTS:CODED MESSAGES OF HOPE Records of

remarkable women outwitting

their captors. Addressing the

oversight of imprisoned civilian

women battling brutality, disease,

starvation and filthy conditions


Faking it: Aristocratic skulduggeryWhile bourgeois wealth was hard tofake, the aristocracy could resort toeffective skulduggery. The richwould have a fabulous display ofimmensely valuable silvercandlesticks, plates and ewers,cutlery and even chandeliers.Royalty would even have furnitureentirely encased is sheets of finelyworked silver. A few sets remain.However, the desire to impress isnot always equalled by the financialwherewithal, even in aristocraticcircles. Hence imitation silver wasan important way of looking richerthan you were. These days wehave electroplating, since the1840s, to make inexpensive EPNS(electro plated nickel silver).

Since electricity was not readilyavailable in the 18th century, othermethods were employed. Manycollectors will be familiar with OldSheffield Plate, invented byThomas Boulsover in 1743. Thistechnique allowed a sheet of

sterling silver to be attached to asheet of copper and an objectcould then, with great difficulty andskill, be made from the silverveneered copper sheet. Convincingimitation silver candlesticks, traysand tea services could be made,and appear to be the much moreexpensive solid silver.

Silver coating base metalsPrior to this it was possible to silvercoat brass, using the sametechnique that persisted for manyyears in the manufacturing ofsilvered brass clock dials. Anymetal rich in copper can be silveredthis way. It involves coating thearticle with a mixture that includescyanide of potassium, nitrate ofsilver, salt, and water.

This silvering was not verydurable, and very little brassremains with even a whiff oforiginal silvering. Most has longsince been worn completely awaythrough use and cleaning.

1 A pair of Charles X period Frenchcandlesticks, c.1820, in brass nowelectroplated back to their probableoriginal appearance

2 A pair of Louis XV c. 1760 French brasscandlesticks in polished and gildinglacquered, a way to imitate gold plating inthe 18th century

3 Pair of brass rococo candlesticks, Frenchc. 1770, which would once have beensilvered or possibly gold plated. This baldcondition is now how most once grandcandlesticks are found

2 3

SILVER PLATED BRASSCANDLESTICKS AND ACAUTIONARY TALE FROM 18TH CENTURY PARISFaking it is not new and was a common

practice even back in the 1700s when

imitation silver made you look richer

than you were

AUSTRALIAN CERAMIC ART WARES TO COLLECTIdentifying the work of studio potter

Una Deerbon and fresh discoveries

about the ceramics of her cousin

John (Jack) Castle-Harris

TOSUBSCRIBE

NOW

CLICKHERE


Bed coverings that became messages of hope:

The Changi quilts

Margaret D McNiven

It is ironic that thebeauty of Changiproved to be the settingfor man’s inhumanity to

man. Over 2,000 civilian women,children and men were interred inChangi Gaol on 8 March 1942 afterthe fall of Singapore. Here,hundreds of women cared forchildren in the women’s camp,segregated from their husbands,sons aged over 12 years, brothersand fathers in barracks 6 kilometresaway. Captured POWs camped

rough further away. Each group had

to make its own comforts and

organise a collective life to survive.

There has been a regrettable

oversight of the imprisoned civilian

women who battled brutality, daily

hunger, disease and filthy

conditions while protecting teen

girls and children. As survivor Pat

Darling states (Portrait of a Nurse:

Prisoner of War …), ‘The most

tragic victims of all in camp were

the children and their mothers. The

children’s thin, haunted little old

faces are still a troublesome

memory, even today.’

1 Girl Guides trefoil logo embroidered incentre rosette of Changi Girl Guides quilt.Courtesy Sheila Allan, Collection of British Red Cross Museum

2 Sheila Allan’s secret diary in ChangiPrison, WWII. Collection of Sheila Allan

Despite the cruelty of their situation and

the inhumanity of their captors, these

remarkable women used their

needlework skills to send coded messages

1

2

Life in Changi Brave responses commenced withthe practicalities of making furniturefrom scraps, repairing shoes andmending. Mrs Ethel Mulvaney, aCanadian started a ‘Red Crosscorner’ in April 1942 for exchangesand by May, the first women’sconcert was held. Womenorganised children’s activitiesincluding schooling, later languageand handicraft classes and startinga girls’ club, the Changi Club or GirlGuides to provide meaningfulrespite from the boredom, fear andprivations of captivity. Sheila Allan,then aged 18 years, wrote a diary onscraps of paper kept precariouslyhidden in her schoolbooks. Herjournal (Diary of a Girl in Changi)recorded the refreshing immediacy ofa teen observer.

Creativity blossomed, withconcerts, pantomimes, operettas,original plays, poetry and shortstory writing and reading events, atwhich women and men would seeeach other from afar but be unableto talk. The men’s orchestra

consisted of homemade andsalvaged instruments including asmuggled piano.

Almost no contact orinformation was allowed betweenthe camps, except for occasionalfather-children meetings underguard. When men helped withwomen’s heavier work there was notalking. As Sheila Allan recalls, onChristmas Day 1943 they werefinally allowed to mix and mingle,solely between 10 am and 12 noon.

One way that the inmates wereable to achieve a slight increase incontact was through ‘ChangiUniversity’ which had malelecturers for women’s classes.

Coded quilts: hiddenmessages of hopeEighteen young girls aged eight to13years, scavenged scraps ofmaterial to sew secretly a birthdaypresent for Elizabeth Ennis, aScottish nursing sister whoorganised the Girl Guides in thecamp. This simple quilt of hexagonswas the first Changi quilt. In the centreof most rosettes is a girl’s

embroidered name. The centralrosette is the Girl Guides symbol.

Inspired by the girls’ quilt, foursignature quilts were made byhundreds of women in the first sixmonths of imprisonment (1942) as acommunication strategy to the men.Mrs Mulvaney gave interested womena six-inch square of coarse rice orflour sack fabric and asked each toembroider and to ‘put something ofherself’ onto her square, including hername. Army blankets were used toback each quilt.


3 Girl Guides quilt, early 1942, first quilt made in Changi, design:grandmother’s garden pattern.Courtesy Changi Museum Singapore

4 Sheila Allan and Betty Hall with the Girl Guides quilt, September 2006, London

In 2007 Betty Hall wrote in anarticle (Apa Khabar, January 2007)that Mrs Ennis gave the quilt toSheila Allan in 1994 after hearingof her talks on the Changi quilts.Sheila next presented the quilt on26 September 2006 – 61 yearsafter her liberation – to theImperial War Museum. As notedin a conversation with Sheila on8 April 2011, the quilt was givento the IWM as both the AustralianWar Memorial and the UK Guidesshowed no interest.

3

4


Marvin Hurnall

The potter and craftworker Una Deerbonwas born in Woollahrain Sydney in 1882. Her

parents Alfred and Clara Deanesent her to a convent school as aboarder, and it was there that herinterest in fashion and design wasignited via regular needleworkclasses held by the nuns. Sheattended Sydney Art School aftershe completed her schooling,studied painting under JulianAshton. In 1904, when she was 22years old, Una married English-born businessman Richard Darlow,who was also a part-time journalistand artist.

Although exact dates are notknown, we do know that between1904 and before the outbreak of

World War I she designed clothesfor the department store DavidJones, and opened the Sydney-based Madam Darlot’s DesignSchool. Una also created and soldsets of humorous postcards,signing them ‘Una Darlow.’

During the years of her firstmarriage she travelled to Londonstudying at the Slade School, andthe United States where shestudied at the Chicago School ofArt. After the collapse of hermarriage she moved to Brisbanewhere she worked as a potter. It

Una Deerbon (1882-1972)

and her cousin

Jack Castle Harris (1893-1967)

Collecting Australian art ware

1

A family affair

Until recently the focus for collectors of Australian ceramic art has been mainly on the

output of artisans including Grace Seccombe, Marguerite Mahood and William Ricketts

3

2

1 Una Deerbon, Vase, 1933, 15 x 18 cm, decorated with cascading series of gum leaves,incised signature ‘Deerbon’. Courtesy State Library of Victoria

2 Una Deerbon, postcard signed ‘Una Darlow’

3 Una Deerbon, Fruit platter, c. 1933, 4.5 x 29 cm, incised signature ‘Deerbon’


was here that she met the Czecheconomist Karel Jellinek whom shemarried in 1922, and with whomshe two children.

She changed her working nameto ‘Deerbon.’ However, after plansto move to the United States failedto eventuate, Deerbon foundherself a single mother, and inorder to make ends meet sheopened a guesthouse. At the sametime she continued to create andsell pottery, as well as give lessons.Her cousin John Castle-Harris wasone of her students.

Although living and working in Brisbane, Deerbon wasregistered as a craft worker withthe Society of Arts and Crafts of New South Wales, whichprovided her with the opportunityto exhibit at the Society’s annual exhibition. In 1931 sheexhibited pottery and in 1932 sheshowed needlework and weaving,with just a single piece of pottery –a jug (Powerhouse Museum,Sydney). However, in June 1933she exhibited more than 200pieces of pottery in the AnthonyHordern & Sons department store gallery.

The display was favourablyreviewed in the Sydney MorningHerald (13 June 1933) stating:

‘The exhibition of pottery byMrs. Una Deerbon which isbeing held at Anthony Hordern’sart gallery contains more than

200 pieces. Whatever one maythink of Mrs. Deerbon’s manualskill, it is impossible not toadmire the fecundity andliveliness of her imagination. Thevariety both of the forms and ofthe surface decorations isremarkable. It is only to beexpected that the quality ofwork done by so adventurous acrafts woman should be uneven.Some of the pieces displayadmirable delicacy of form, andare decorated in an amusingstyle. In some pieces there hasbeen less success, particularlyin the colour schemes, but all ofthem are patently the work of anexceedingly enterprising andvigorous potter.’

5

4

6

7 8

4 Una Deerbon, Mantle vase, c. 1930, decoratedwith applied stylised flowers, 18 x 21 cm,incised signature ‘Deerbon’

5 Una Deerbon, Fruit basket, c. 1930, decoratedwith applied fruits, 19 x 24 cm, incisedsignature ‘Deerbon’

6 Una Deerbon, Water jug, c. 1930, 21 x 20 cm,incised signature ‘Deerbon’

7 Una Deerbon, Platters, c. 1930s, decorated withorganic forms, diam: 36 cm, 28 cm, 24 cm,each with incised signature ‘Deerbon’

8 Una Deerbon, Set of six soufflé dishes, c. 1930s,applied handles in the form of three-dimensional chefs, 10 x 15 cm, each incisedsignature ‘Deerbon’

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A u s t r a l a s i a ’ s l e a d i n g a n t i q u e s a n d c o l l e c t a b l e s m a g a z i n ecollectablestrader

98TH ED

ITION

MA

Y –

JU

NE

20

11

HERITAGE, HISTORY

AND SURVIVAL

Codes in quilts

Camouflage in silk

Textiles will never be the

same again

COLLECTING

AUSTRALIAN ART WARE:

CERAMICS TO JEWELLERY

Artists to look out for from the

last century to works made today

COIN COLLECTING FOR

THE VERY YOUNG

How to make it interesting

and fun without breaking

the bank

FROM HOLLYWOOD

MOVIES TO ENGLISH

ECCLESIASTICAL

TRADITIONS

Profiling very different interests

SUBSCRIBE TO THE

ONLINE EDITION& SAVE 42%

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Collectables Trader 98 Teaser

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Transcript of Collectables Trader 98 Teaser