Link to PDF of 2009 Convention

Transcription

OPEN SALT SEEKERS
GAZETTE SPECIAL REPORT
SEPTEMBER 2009
PUBLISHED BY OPEN SALT SEEKERS OF THE WEST
11TH NATIONAL CONVENTION
OF OPEN SALT COLLECTORS
This special report on the 11th National Convention of
Open Salt Collectors, hosted by the northern and
southern California chapters of Open Salt Seekers of
the West (OSSOTW) is being published as a
supplement to the regular September, 2009, issue of
OPEN SALT SEEKERS GAZETTE, the quarterly
publication of OSSOTW. The supplement is being
sent with the regular (considerably shortened)
September, 2009, issue of the GAZETTE to all regular
members of OSSOTW. This report is also being sent
to everyone who registered for the convention held in
Foster City, CA, June 11-14, 2009. An overview of
the convention was published in the June, 2009, issue
of the Gazette. This special report contains articles
reporting on several of the presentations given at the
convention and articles on some special events such
as the Displays, Costume Contest, and the Buy and
Sell events.
Other reports are being published in the National Newsletter of the Open Salt Collectors. If you do not
presently subscribe to that newsletter, you are missing an excellent source of information about open salt
collecting. You may subscribe through any of the open salt collecting clubs or directly with the national
organization. The web site www.opensalts.info lists all the local clubs with contact info. It has
information about future meetings and conventions, information and photos from past meetings and
conventions, a sample of the National Newsletter
Table Of Contents
and details about subscribing to it, as well as much
Introduction
1
more information about collecting open salts.
2
Several collectors offer salts for sale on the web site. The Convention Salt
Valuing Your Collection
5
Thanks to convention photographers Diane Lynch
French Soft-Paste Porcelain
9
and Jim Wrenn for use of their photos. Image
Buy & Sell
13
credits for the Russian Enamel report are listed
Open Salt Displays
16
following the report.
Costume Contest
4,8,15,18
Russian Enamel
19
PAGE 2 OF 38 2009 NATIONAL CONVENTION REPORT
OPEN SALT SEEKERS GAZETTE
STEPHEN SMYERS AND THE 2009 CONVENTION SALT
A presentation by Judy Keyes
As reported by Jim Wrenn
Shortly after graduating from high school, Stephen Smyers visited a
friend’s basement workshop where the friend made stained glass
objects. Stephen thought, “I can do that.” It was not long before he
made and sold his first glass lampshade. Stephen took a glass
blowing class in college and sold another lampshade to his landlord
for 5 months rent. In 1970, after college, he and a friend set up a
glass studio in Chico, CA. Since then his work has been included in
the collections of the Smithsonian and the Corning Museum of
Glass, and his stemware was used in several movies, including
Fig CS1
Goodfellas, Swordfish, and Six Degrees of Separation. With his
talent and recognition, it was easy to select Stephen to create a unique open salt for the 2009 National
Convention of Open Salt Collectors (Fig CS1).
Judy Keyes, representing Smyers Glass, told the convention attendees on Saturday morning something of
the history of Smyers and the making of the convention salt.
About a year after opening Northern Star Glass in Chico, Stephen moved the studio to Benicia, California.
In 1979, after recovering from a severe automobile accident, Stephen bought out his partners and renamed
the studio Smyers Glass.
It was not an easy way to make a living. In the 1970s many of the supplies and tools readily available today
were difficult or impossible to obtain, so Stephen designed and made those essential items such as crucibles
for the glass furnace. He mixed his own glass recipes and developed his own colors. He drove the fork lift
to move large bags of sand from a nearby railroad siding. (The silica in sand is one of the three main
ingredients in the soda-lime glass he made.)
While Stephen was recovering from the accident, Judy Keyes, then a porcelain designer and decorator,
moved to Benicia and opened a studio next to Stephen’s. At that time Stephen could not operate the
furnaces by himself. So he began cutting paperweights and vases that he had made before the accident into
small pieces to make jewelry. Because the painting and decorating techniques Judy was using on porcelain
could also be used on glass, they decided to work together. Once Stephen was recovered enough to resume
furnace operation and glass blowing, they began doing more stemware. Some patterns featured Judy’s
decoration on Stephen’s blown glass. They developed several lines of hand
blown stemware and became very well known for the simple elegance and
classic beauty of the designs.
The invitation to submit designs for the 2009 National Convention open salt
provided the kind of challenge Stephen loves since the salt was to be quite small
compared to their usual product lines. The blue luster design was selected by the
host clubs from several prototypes.
Each salt starts with a typical gather of molten glass on the end of a standard
blowpipe. After cooling the blowpipe a few seconds in a stream of water (Fig
CS2), Stephen rolled the molten glass in a container of #1 frit containing both
cobalt and silver nitrate (Fig CS3) and checked to be sure that the frit coverage
was adequate (Fig CS4). If it wasn’t, he went for a second dip in the frit. When
the frit was right, he put air into the pipe and sealed it with his thumb. The
trapped air was heated and tried to expand. The only place the expanding air can
Fig CS2
2009 NATIONAL CONVENTION REPORT
PAGE 3 OF 38
go is into the molten glass, expanding it like a balloon. When the blob reached the appropriate size, Stephen
used a tool called a “jack” (which looks like giant tweezers) to squeeze the blob as he rotated it, producing a
narrow neck in the glass just beyond the end of the blow pipe (Fig CS5). While still attached to the
blowpipe, the expanded blob was pressed into a mold to create the ribbing (Fig CS6).
Fig CS3
Fig CS4
Fig CS5
Fig CS6
The luster surface resulted from spraying the hot glass with a fine mist of stannous (tin) chloride (inside
drum in Fig CS7) and then reheating it in a reduction atmosphere created around the molten glass by
inserting the blowpipe back into the glory hole and immediately turning the gas valve way up. The sudden
increase in the size of the flame consumed a lot of oxygen in the air in the glory hole – thus a reduction
atmosphere. Without this step, the silver (from the silver nitrate in the frit) would leave the glass with a
much shinier finish which would subsequently tarnish. The final step of the hot phase was to remove the
glass from the blowpipe and place it in an annealing oven (Fig CS8). This was accomplished by dripping a
few drops of water on the narrow neck of the hot glass, causing a slight stress fracture. A sharp tap on the
blowpipe caused the glass to drop off and settle on a soft cushion waiting to receive it. Using tongs,
Stephen then placed the salt into the annealing oven. If the glass is allowed to cool too quickly (from the
Fig CS9
Fig CS7
Fig CS8
Fig CS10
Fig CS11
2300ºF in the glory hole) it will crack or even shatter during the cooling process. The annealing oven
controls the cooling by gradually lowering its temperature to about 100ºF overnight so that the glass can be
removed the next morning and handled for the cold work.
The cold work began with sawing off the top of the piece (the end which had been attached to the blowpipe)
using a diamond saw (nothing is cheap in a glassblowing studio) (Fig CS9). The diamond-encrusted
grinding wheel was then used to smooth the cut surface (Fig CS10). Three
grades of sanding belts further smoothed the edges before the final polishing.
Each salt was then signed (Fig CS11) and boxed. In addition to the Smyers
name, each mark includes the date 2009 above the name and the letters NOSC
inverted below the name (Fig CS12).
One hundred five salts were made for the convention. All have been sold.
Twenty salts were made in the same shape but with a gold color, resulting in a
tortoise-shell effect. They were available for purchase at the convention and
for a short time afterwards. Mary Kern, president of OSSOTW-SC, may still
have one or more available for sale on her Buy and Sell page at
www.opensalts.info.
Fig CS12
Though Judy Keyes’ background was in ceramics, she joined Smyers in 1979 and directed her design talents
toward glass. Besides her design duties, she handles most of the marketing for the studio. Judy and Stephen
were married a few years after they started working together.
OPEN SALTS COSTUME CONTEST
The Saturday night banquet included a costume contest in which contestants entered
any of several categories: Jewelry, Hats, Tops, Complete Costumes. The winner of
each category then competed in the Peoples’ Choice contest. The judging was difficult,
but winners were finally decided. Photos of several of the entrants are scattered
throughout this report.
Three contestants wore earrings in the shape of tiny open salts. They were made by our
own wood turner, Craig Tiedeman. Cathy Anderson made the pendant for her necklace
from an open salt and salt spoon. Carolyn Bugel countered with a salt pendant
necklace plus wrist and ankle bracelets with open salts.
Cathy Anderson’s jewelry
Earring example
Carolyn Bugel’s winning jewelry combination of
necklace, wrist bracelet and ankle bracelet
PAGE 5 OF 38
VALUING YOUR COLLECTION
A Presentation by Stephen G. Turner
As reported by Jim Wrenn
“Appraisers DO NOT determine value! I do not determine value. I’ve got twenty years experience, but I
still do not determine value. The market determines value. All I do is report value.”
Steve Turner, an experienced collector, appraiser, and auctioneer,
explained to the gathering of Open Salt Collectors not only what an
appraiser does and DOES NOT do, but also what are some of the
factors that determine value and how he is able to accurately report
value in his appraisals.
Representing renowned auction house Bonhams and Butterfields,
Stephen brought along a few small pieces of pottery from
Butterfields. Passing them around with no explanation, he solicited
peoples’ opinions about the pieces. “It’s pottery.” “Are those labels
original?” “Made to look old.” “This looks like barnacles.” “The
crazing. There is not enough dirt in the crazing.”
After several comments from the audience, Stephen told us that
when these pieces were made, Joan of Arc had just been burned at
the stake and Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo had not yet been
born. The pieces were made in the middle of the 15th century,
approximately 1450 A.D.
“Don’t drop them!” said someone in the audience to considerable
laughter.
The pieces are Vietnamese pottery made for export at that early
date. They were found in the 1990’s and finally salvaged in 1999
from an ocean depth of 200 feet off the coast of Vietnam, near the
port of Hoi An. They had been manufactured, loaded on a ship from
Thailand, and are believed to have sunk in a typhoon in an area
called the Dragon Sea. The ship was carrying almost a quarter
million pieces of pottery, much of it decorated in blue. Thousands,
or perhaps tens of thousands, of pieces had been broken, but over
150,000 intact pieces were recovered. After each piece was
meticulously documented by archeologists, headed by the director of
the Oxford Maritime Archeological Research and Excavation unit,
several thousand were kept by Vietnam and distributed among
museums as a record of their culture. The Malaysian salvage
company SAGA (it spent $14 million to recover the hoard) received
some of the duplicate pieces, and the remaining pieces (over
100,000) were prepared for auction, with profits to be split between
SAGA and the government-owned Vietnam Salvage Company,
From the top: 1. Stephen asks Judy’s opinion of pottery she has never
seen before. 2. This piece prompted audience comment about
barnacles. 3. Example blue on white decoration. 4. Label applied by
the archeological team.
VISAL, which had subcontracted the work to the much larger SAGA. Most pieces were decorated and in
good-to-very-good condition. The first auction was conducted by Butterfields Auction House in October of
2000 both at Butterfields’ facility and simultaneously in a live internet auction. (At that time Butterfields
was not part of Bonhams.) Not all the lots sold in that 3 day auction, so two subsequent auctions were held
shortly after. The best pieces were snapped up by museums and collectors around the world, some bringing
prices of between $30,000 and $80,000. Some of the less important pieces did not sell in spite of auction
estimates of a few hundred dollars for lots of multiple pieces in good condition. To this day, pieces are still
being sold by Butterfields as part of other auctions.
How is this relevant to open salt collectors?
Here was a sudden find of 500+ year old pottery of a type that was almost unknown in the modern world.
How do you estimate its value? Why is a 50 or 60 year old first edition book by John Steinbeck worth
$10,000 when a beautiful 500 year old bowl or bottle sells for less than $100? One of the frequent sayings
of visitors to Antiques Roadshow is that “If it’s old, it must be valuable.” That’s not the case. Simply put,
age does not equate to value.
To determine value, there must be a market -- you have to have a willing buyer and a willing seller. There
has to be interest.
The first auctions could be expected to establish values. Often they would be high due to “auction frenzy.”
Prices tend to be more emotional than “actual factual.” But “blockage” is a big unknown factor in a case
like this. Blockage is a fancy accounting word. It takes into consideration how many pieces are on the
market today and what would it look like if all of a sudden so many more pieces came on the market. So
how would the value of your open salt collection change if several large collections were suddenly placed
on the market at once?
And how is the economy affecting the market? When the economy tanked, Stephen expected people to turn
their personal property into cash, but he hasn’t seen that, and neither have his colleagues. A recent auction
of contemporary art in New York brought only 20% of the revenue the same auction yielded a year earlier.
Only part of the reduction was due to lower prices. Much of it was caused by lack of items to auction.
Stephen recommended that if you have cash right now, you buy, buy, buy, as long as you stick to your field.
Buy the best examples. Buy the rarest, because if anyone is offering you these things, they will be at a
discount.
Now as to the value of your collection, how many people have had your collection appraised? (Few hands
went up.) Why would you have your collection appraised? One reason is that it would be valuable if you
need to liquidate the collection. Another very important reason is for estate taxes and for equitable
distribution among heirs. Another is for division (e.g., a divorce). Another is for insurance purposes.
What do you need to know about getting an appraisal? Are appraisers regulated? Most people think of
appraisers appraising real estate. After the savings and loan crisis of the 1970s, the government stepped in
with regulations for real estate appraisers. But personal property appraisers – i.e., appraisers of antiques,
household contents, fine arts, etc., are not regulated. Technically, anyone can put out her shingle and call
herself an appraiser. However, the IRS is coming up with regulations that limit such self-proclaimed
expertise.
Appraisers need to be educated and to belong to an appraiser organization. They have to follow an ethics
code. The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practices (USPAP) were designed for appraising
real estate. There are three major organizations of appraisers that personal property appraisers may belong
to. The ASA (American Society of Appraisers – www.appraisers.org), the AAA (Appraisers Association of
America – www.appraiserassoc.org), and the ISA (International Society of Appraisers – www.isa-
PAGE 7 OF 38
appraisers.org) now follow USPAP. And for the most part, the IRS follows these standards, though they
still have their own rules and regulations that appraisers have to follow.
Everyone is scared about paying the estate tax. There is a plateau and over that plateau your heirs pay the
tax. The IRS starts with your biggest asset, your home. To that, they add your personal property. If the
total is over the plateau, then the tax is due. Most people way over-estimate the value of their routine
personal property (i.e., property outside your special collections.) In Stephen’s twenty years of appraising
for estate tax purposes, the average of the personal property appraisals he has conducted is between $10,000
and $12,000.
The IRS defines fair market value (FMV) as “the price that property would sell for on the open market. It is
the price that would be agreed on between a willing buyer and a willing seller, with neither being required to
act, and both having reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts. If you put a restriction on the use of
property you donate, the FMV must reflect that restriction.” (IRS Publication 561, from
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p561/ar02.html#d0e139, 09/09/21).
There are many types of “value.” The list includes market value, market cash value, replacement value
comparable, replacement value cost new, replacement value reproduction cost, forced liquidation value,
liquidation value, actual cash value, etc. If you have insurance on personal property, you need to check how
the policy is worded. If it doesn’t provide “replacement new” or “replacement comparable,” the value you
will probably collect will be far less than you expect. For example, suppose your $15,000 Rolex President
watch is lost or stolen. The insurance company can find one on an auction listing for between $4,000 and
$6,000. If the policy only pays market value, that is all you will get.
Getting back to appraisals, someone in the audience asked how appraisers handle things that might be worth
one amount in California and two or three times more (or less) on the east coast? When Stephen does an
appraisal of an item located, for example, in San Francisco, and his research shows it is more valuable in
London, he reports the value it would take to replace the item in London and clearly states that in the
appraisal. A good appraiser will state his methodologies. The appraiser does not determine value. Market
determines value. All the appraiser does is report value. He does that by taking into consideration what the
object is and where the market for the item is. He asks the questions for the client, “What would it cost him
to purchase that? Where would he purchase it?” For replacement value comparable, you wouldn’t go to an
auction. You would go to the dealer who specializes in those items.
A good appraiser researches the market to get prices. He consults with experts in the field to determine
authenticity. There are appraisers who say they have appraised everything from baby bottles to battleships.
Stay away from them. No one can be a specialist in everything. Stephen has specialties that he does and is
hired for. When asked to appraise something else, he brings in consultants. If he did open salts, he would
bring in a recognized authority as an expert consultant – perhaps someone from an auction firm or a dealer –
to talk to him about the rarities of the pieces. And in the appraisal he would list the consultants, their
expertise, what objects they were consulted about, and what they said. His appraisals typically have over a
dozen pages of “what I did and who I consulted” before listing any values.
Someone asked if it is conflict of interest to hire an expert collector to consult on the value of something that
collector might later want to buy. Stephen clarified the consultation. The consultant doesn’t place a value
on the item. He consults with Stephen. He helps Stephen understand the authenticity and rarity of the item.
Stephen then checks open markets such as auctions and other dealers to ascertain the value and report it.
Appraisers are not authenticators. If he has a question and feels uncomfortable with his knowledge of the
item, he will call an expert and say, “I have a problem with this item. I am not asking for a value estimate.
I am just asking if it is what the client says it is.” If an appraiser lists a piece as a Tiffany piece, he had
better be darn sure that it is a Tiffany piece or the entire appraisal will be worthless. After the expert
authenticates the piece, Stephen lists it all in the appraisal – who he talked to, what his background is, and
so on.
Museums are a touchy situation. Museum personnel are told not to give you values. But they can be a good
source. Of course their time is very limited, but Stephen can sometimes get them to look at something.
Stephen knows a museum curator who is an expert in Stickley furniture. Stephen sometimes take a piece to
him and they talk about it – what is right, what is wrong, what is different about it. He usually does that
with a piece he hasn’t seen before or that is so rare he wants to show it off. But the museums do not have a
say in the value of anything he appraises.
Remember, appraisers don’t determine value. They record the value. The appraiser’s job is to take all the
information he can find and then explain it to, for instance, the IRS. This is why it is this price. Because he
has done the research, he can show them.
Even if you do not have an appraisal, you very much need a record of your collection. It is invaluable for
insurance purposes. If everything is destroyed in an earthquake and you have photographs, an appraiser can
bring in a specialist and together do a “forensic appraisal” based on your photographs and the broken pieces.
Together they can come up with a value.
If you don’t have a digital camera or the time to individually photograph each piece, then at least get or
borrow a video camera and move slowly around the collection recording each piece with the video.
Receipts are good, but they don’t indicate the present value. The picture will allow the appraiser to check
current values. So please, please make some sort of visual record of your collection and store it in a safe
deposit box apart from your collection.
Steve Turner has extensive experience in the auction business and appraisals of fine art and antiques.
Before establishing his own company, Stephen G. Turner Associates, he was a vice-president at Rabin
Worldwide auctioneers and appraisers. He had previously been an auctioneer and appraiser at Butterfields,
one of the nation’s largest and most prestigious auction houses and was a frequent speaker for the company.
He has also been associated with several other well known auction houses. For three seasons Steve
appeared regularly on the national cable television show Appraise It. He has also been a guest appraiser on
Antiques Roadshow and has written a regular column “What’s It Worth?” for the Sunday San Francisco
Chronicle.
MORE COSTUME CONTEST
In the Hats category,
Joan Wrenn’s
authentic blue and
white Chinese export
porcelain trencher
hat won out over the
Red Hatter twins,
Marjorie Silletto and
Mary Kern.
PAGE 9 OF 38
FILOLI AND FRENCH SOFT-PASTE PORCELAIN
A presentation by Tom Rogers
As reported by Joan Wrenn
Our field trip to Filoli, an early 20th century estate in the hills behind our convention hotel, was an
opportunity not only to learn about French soft-paste porcelain, but also to enjoy the beautiful house and
gardens. The fog was misting the windows as our buses turned into the Filoli driveway. Our walk to the
Visitor Center for lunch was under an overcast sky. But after lunch and a very informative, very witty talk
by Tom Rogers, Curator of Collections at Filoli, the skies were blue and sunny, reflecting the tone of the
speaker and welcoming us into the gardens.
Tom began by giving us a brief history of Filoli. It was built in 1915-1917 by William Bowers Bourn II and
his wife, Agnes Moody Bourn. The family’s wealth was primarily from ownership of the Empire Mine, a
gold mine in Grass Valley, California. The name “Filoli” comes from the first two letters of the key words
of Mr. Bourn’s credo, “Fight for a just cause; Love your fellow man; Live a good life.”
In 1937 the estate and its furnishings were purchased by William P. and Lurline Matson Roth, owners of the
Matson Navigation Company, a west coast shipping and cruise line firm. Their three children were raised in
the home, and the gardens were further developed. In the 1970s, after her husband’s death, Mrs. Roth
decided to move to a smaller home and gave the house and gardens to the National Trust for Historic
Preservation along with an endowment to support the property. The Filoli Center was established to
maintain the estate for public enjoyment.
Filoli was a lovely place, but it looked like it had been lived in and was left pretty empty. Mrs. Roth had
taken the furnishings with her when she moved. Along came Warren Beatty who, in 1977, wanted to film
the movie Heaven Can Wait at the estate. The Filoli Center agreed to the filming, and Beatty’s production
company agreed to clean up, restore, and refurbish the home. Eventually some period furnishings were
acquired, primarily through donations, and, when Mrs. Roth died, many of the original Bourn furnishings
returned to the home. Tom gave much credit to Warren Beatty for the condition of the estate today. Many
other films and TV series have been filmed at Filoli, and all have been held to the same high standards as
that first filming of Heaven Can Wait.
Among the 18th and 19th century items now at Filoli are a number of porcelain pieces. Tom, who began at
Filoli as a docent in 1978 and became Curator in 1989, has been interested in ceramics for a while. While
still a docent, he was asked to come in one day to receive 24 boxes of porcelain pieces that Filoli had just
learned were bequeathed to the estate. Expecting, of course, that many items would be in so many boxes,
Tom was surprised to find just one piece in the first box, then just one in the second, and one in the
third…and just one in each of the 24 boxes. Suddenly he and Filoli’s director realized that maybe they had
something special. Tom acknowledged that he didn’t know anything about French soft-paste porcelain at
that point. He said he “knew a little about Chinese things. But soft-paste porcelain? I didn’t know what it
was.”
The boxes had come from the estate of a San Francisco collector by the name of Gary White. They had
never heard of Gary White, but learned that he had a fairly sizable collection of Chinese porcelain that had
been sold at auction, and also this collection of French-soft-paste porcelain that he had willed to the San
Francisco De Young Museum. How did it end up at Filoli? According to Tom, “Sometime between the
time it (the will) was written and the time he passed away, he (Gary White) went in with a pen, crossed out
the San Francisco Museum, and wrote in ‘Filoli’.” Today, Tom knows almost nothing more about Gary
White, but is “awfully grateful that he gave to us his collection of soft-paste porcelain.”
Tom brought many pieces of the porcelain to show us and invited us to come up and see them more closely
at the end of his talk. He first held up a St. Cloud (factory in operation c.1690-1766) wine cooler with a
beautiful Kakiemon design pattern. Other coolers with this same design are pictured in many books. He
then showed a white wine glass cooler, one of two at Filoli, also made by the St.
Cloud factory. Tom believes that this piece is the same piece as shown in many
books picturing soft-paste porcelain because of a crack showing in the same place on
the Filoli piece as on the pictured piece. Expressing his wonder at having such an
item, Tom said, “How he (Gary White) came across it, I don’t know. But I do know
we’ve got it today.”
Several cup and saucer sets were shown. The first had a floral pattern that was a
direct copy of a Chinese porcelain pattern. Tom spoke of the European frenzy in
trying to imitate the Chinese hard-paste porcelain that was being imported into
Europe in huge numbers at the time: “The merchants in China are getting wealthy,
the sea-going ships are getting wealthy, and the governments of Europe are going
crazy because they’re sending all this money off to that place on the other side of the
world and they could be making it themselves, if they only knew how.”
The second group of cup and saucers were two sets made for Madame de Pompadour
(Ed. Note: In 1745 she became the mistress of Louis XV of France). It is thought
that there were 20 pair of these made for her, but she didn’t like them and sent them
back. “They never made any more. The ones she did like, they made thousands of
because she was using them at all the tea parties. Guess which one is more valuable
today? (The audience laughed.) And we have two!” Two French experts, the head
of the Sevres factory today and the head ceramics curator at the Louvre, have
confirmed that, indeed, these once were Madame Pompadour’s cups, if she had only
liked them.
Tom held up several pieces from Filoli’s collections, including some in silver, and
asked the group if they were open salts. At least one piece was a salt ; one might
have been a butter pat; and several could be salts or nut cups. We assured Tom that
anything a salt collector says is a salt, is a salt. He liked that.
One beautiful salt was French soft-paste porcelain, but Tom explained, “the pattern
is totally off the Kakiemon pieces from Japan.” He spoke of how the Dutch, when
the Chinese kilns were shut down because of China’s internal problems, began
trading with Japan. They brought back many pieces of Imari and Kakiemon, and the
French copied the designs in soft-paste. When Meissen in
Germany did discover the secret of making hard-paste
porcelain, they also used the Japanese designs on hard-paste
pieces. It took the French another 20 years to discover the
secret of hard-paste. Tom asked why it was so important.
What was the difference between the porcelains?
From the top: 1: St. Cloud wine cooler with lion mask handles
and Kakiemon style decoration. 2. St. Cloud wine glass cooler
with mask handles, molded flowers, and gradooned borders. 3.
Cup and saucer decorated with raised prunus blossoms, with
gilt trim, made ca.1755 for Mme Pompadour. 4. Sterling open
salts each with 3 dolphin feet. 5. Sterling nut cups. 6. French
soft-paste porcelain open salt with Kakiemon decoration.
PAGE 11 OF 38
The difference relates to the “fact that we are going crazy in the western world, drinking tea … we suddenly
have discovered this incredible beverage coming from Asia, and it’s given credit for curing every ailment; it
can practically bring the dead to life; it is so important and so wonderful. And so people get so hooked on
it, they have to have teapots, tea cups, tea-various holders…They often have their big trays in silver.
They’ve got all the equipment in silver. Everything gets done right. If you pour boiling water into a softpaste porcelain piece, it is very likely to crack. So it goes against everything these people have been trying
to do. Consequently, when Meissen figures out the secret of hard-paste then everybody has got to have
hard-paste porcelain. That is why there is the big to-do about it.”
But back to Filoli’s soft-paste, Tom told a wonderful story of discovery. Two years ago, there was a
meeting of the San Francisco Ceramics Circle and Jeffrey Munger, the head curator of ceramics at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, came to speak on French porcelain. Also in attendance was Malcolm Gutter
who is acknowledged to be one of America’s best and biggest collectors. Later there was a separate
meeting with just about ten people “who were invited to bring French things and have the two experts look
at them. I got a phone call that night from the president of the organization asking if there was a possibility
that I would bring some pieces from Filoli because ‘We are afraid we
don’t have enough pieces coming in. We need more stuff.’ So I said
sure. I gathered up things that were small. We got to the meeting and
set everything out on the table, which wasn’t as big as one of these
(the lunch tables he pointed at were round and less than 6 feet across.)
As they began looking at the pieces, … there were all kinds of pieces,
suddenly Jeff picked this one up. And there was dead silence. Whoa!
What’s going on? And then I glanced over and Malcolm Gutter, the
collector, was sitting there just staring. And then suddenly the two of
them together said, ‘It’s A.P!’ Then they didn’t talk to us anymore.
They talked between themselves. And I’m going, ‘What is this thing,
A.P.?’ Well, it seems that the St. Cloud factory, which has always
been listed, for 150, 200 years, as being made by St. Cloud, wasn’t.
The A.P. open salt that caused the
And they have just found out. And they found out that there was an
dead silence.
earlier company by the name of Antoine Pavie who was the maker
and the initials on it, A.P. who had made this type of soft-paste porcelain for about 9 years before the
Chicaneau family made theirs at St. Cloud.”
Tom continued, explaining that during a recent search of legal documents from the 1700’s, someone found a
legal suit by Antoine Pavie suing the Chicaneau family (the St. Cloud factory) “for having stolen his secret
and making things and ignoring him.” This discovery changed the known history of many items as A.P.
pieces could be recognized by a “certain granular look.” The salt Tom was showing us had tiny pinholes in
the glaze on the underside. Most St. Cloud pieces do not have this imperfection. It is likely that the earlier
A.P. did not have the same quality control. Harder to explain is the reason why A.P. pieces are better
painted. For a long time, the A.P. on a marked piece was attributed to other makers. But the discovery of
the lawsuit blew the lid off the previously accepted attributions.
All this was new and totally unexpected to Tom. As he tells it, “What I’m most impressed with is the fact
that this salt and those two people happened to be there that day. Jeff Munger at the Metropolitan – the
Metropolitan has the best and biggest piece of A.P. in the world. Guess who has the second best piece –
Malcolm Gutter. And consequently, the two people who would be most likely to recognize, out of looking
at a whole table of things that were good, bad, indifferent, would pick out the A.P. piece, it was those two.
It was just incredible that they happened to be there.”
The word spread quickly. The following spring Tom was in England at a big ceramics show and introduced
himself to a very busy dealer “who was in on some of this discovery of A.P.” by shouting “I’m Tom from
Filoli, with the new A.P.” The dealer replied that “That is absolutely A.P. you’ve got. Yep, that’s what it
is. I’ve even got pictures of it already.”
Tom summed up the story by saying as he held up the salt “Well, this little piece suddenly changed from
about $900 to $30,000. That’s a pretty good change.” With that, he invited us all up to see the beautiful
porcelain more closely.
There was a question about one of the pieces – was it a spittoon?
“Yes,” said Tom, from Chantilly. He went on to comment on the
beautiful Kakiemon dragon design on it and on the evolution of
ceramics as time went on. The earliest ceramics had beautiful
shapes – and we still look for beautiful shapes. But then
decoration began to take precedence over shape; then glazes
came to the front; then colors and designs with many colors;
“And you have lost both the shape and the beautiful single colors
that so many early, early porcelains” had. Tom thinks that
happened to this spittoon because a good designer would be very
tempted to cover the whole thing with design.
Chantilly Spitton
When asked how to tell the difference between hard- and softpaste porcelain, Tom replied, “Well, you could pour hot water in them!” When the laughter died down, he
said that it’s hard to tell the difference. “You’re going to be looking for texture. You’re looking for a color.
There’s a depth of color. Anybody who gets really excited about soft-paste is going to declare that softpaste porcelain is absolutely by far more beautiful than the hard-paste porcelain because you can almost see
into the pattern. You are not just looking at the surface. You are looking into it.” But he emphasized that it
takes a lot of looking and learning to see it. “Otherwise, find yourself an expert somewhere.”
Tom closed by distributing copies of an excerpt from the book King of the Confessors by Thomas Hoving,
former head of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hoving wrote of how to become a connoisseur of the
items we collect and shared the principles by which he judged pieces that would sell for millions of dollars.
Tom expressed confidence that we, as connoisseurs of salts, follow the same principles, but “He has…better
words for it in many cases.”
We were so fortunate to have been able to hear Tom Rogers speak of his joy as he first received, and then
learned more about, Filoli’s French soft-past porcelain, especially about the totally unexpected “A.P.” round
trencher. He was informative and fascinating and opened a world that few of us knew before. But he gave
us much more than that. In a very witty and down-to-earth manner, he radiated the wonder and the fun that
we all share as we learn about open salts.
To show Tom how much we appreciated his presentation, Linda Drew presented him a copy of The Open
Salt Compendium. Now he can learn more about salts also.
Tom Rogers has been Curator of Collections at Filoli since 1989, having first come to Filoli in 1978 as a
volunteer decent. He became interested in the study of ceramics and furniture and their role in the
interpretation of historic properties. Upon retirement from a career teaching English, he again became a
student, for two years at the Center for Museum Studies at John F. Kennedy University. He continued his
training at several other institutions including Winterthur Winter Institute and the English Country House at
The Attingham Summer School. Tom has represented Filoli on two television programs: "America's Castles
- The Garden Estates", and "Bob Villa's Historic Houses of America - The West."
PAGE 13 OF 38
BUY AND SELL
There is nothing like the presence of more than a thousand open salts for sale to whet the interest of a group
of open salt collectors. The large number of first time attendees had never seen such a gathering of open
salts in one room. There were plenty of every type to interest the buyers, from the simplest glass and
earthenware to the fanciest of boxed presentation sets.
Ed Bowman shows salt to 1st time
attendee Gary Nelson while 1st timers
Makayla and Tamara Bailey look on.
John Atzbach (left) chats with Gerald Don Rabourn and Betty Dean share a
Grube while Pat Grillos looks on.
Buy & Sell table.
Wilfred Cohen brought enough to fill 2 tables
Elaine Cooper’s table included
autographed copies of her new
book, Doulton Open Salts
LeeAnne Kornbau showed some
contemporary salts by Robert
Coleman of Ohio
One of Wilfred’s Salts
Linda Drew’s table included silver
salts and a lovely condiment set
Betty Dean brought lacys
The Diamond’s brought new Crider
salts and other salts.
Maris Jende had some Heisey’s
Venetian Glass from Robert Rogers
Cathy Anderson also mixed old salts
with new ones from David Smith
And of course Smyers Glass salts are
contemporary
Many of the salts shown in John Atzbach’s keynote address were available for viewing, handling, and buying
Nola Jende offered a Smith Book
alongside her salts
Mary Kern brought some intaglios
No sign of mercury salts on Sarah
Kawakami’s table
Lisa and Craig Tiedeman offered hand Two boxed sets from John Atzbach’s
made wooden salts and earrings of
presentation were available for close
tiny open salts.
inspection
PAGE 15 OF 38
Pat Christensen had wide variety of
salts on her table
MORE COSTUME CONTESTANTS – FULL COSTUME CATEGORY
Diane and Candace Lynch as a bear double salt
Linda Drew as an Asian double
salt
Charlotte Brownfield as an
intaglio salt with a sailboat
design
As contest organizer, Sarah Kawakami declared
herself ineligible
This spectacular Toby salt was
really a real live Linda Witt
Nobody could figure out who
the Salem Witch was.
The Full Costume category and also the Peoples Choice winner was the Salem Witch salt, Diane Wittik,
with Linda Witt a close second.
OPEN SALT DISPLAYS
Fifteen attendees at the 2009 National Convention bundled up treasured salts, spent hours designing display
backgrounds, and set up a show to impress even the most experienced convention goers. The 15 entries
were divided into three categories: California Theme, Original, and Beautiful. The latter category attracted
the most entrants, but the other two were not to be out done. The Display Number of each entry is listed at
the beginning of the display’s description and also with its photo.
The first four displays greeting the viewer were in the California Theme category.
1. San Francisco Bay Regatta included boats and ships sailing on a simulated San Francisco Bay with a
large photo of the Golden Gate Bridge serving as the backdrop.
2. California, Here We Come! used a large, hand-drawn and annotated map of California as a platform for
various theme salts appropriately placed upon the map: figural salts featuring grapes in Napa County, a
clam along Pismo Beach, a gold miner in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and others too numerous to mention.
3. The Colors of Laurel Burch, a well known California jewelry designer, were brought to life in a dazzling
display of brightly colored salts. Several pieces of Laurel’s cloissoné jewelry were among the salts.
4. The California Gold Rush Days diorama included mine tunnels penetrating the mountains with
numerous mine car salts and donkey cart salts loaded with gold encrusted rocks and even a fleet of boats
carrying the gold-bearing ore down the nearby river.
The next seven displays challenged the judges in the Beautiful category.
5. Eureka, I’ve Found It! referencing the beginning of the great California Gold Rush in 1848, featured a
display of gold salts of the familiar Steuben Aurene, Tiffany Favrile, and similar materials.
6. Treasures for the Table, The Glamour of Open Salts is the title on a sign announcing a display of open
salts at the Edward-Dean Museum in Cherry Valley, CA, in the spring of 2004. The convention display
featured a small, gold-framed version of that sign behind the three actual salts pictured on the sign.
7. Got Spoon? contained a single Doulton Lambeth open salt in front of a fancy picture frame with a large
collection of salt spoons artfully arranged in a pair of oval openings in a dark red mat.
8. Salt Treasures of Imperial Russia offered a nice follow up to the previous night’s convention keynote
address on Russian Enamel. This display included Russian enamel, silver, gilt, plique-a-jour, porcelain
salts, enameled salt spoons, and Russian postage stamps featuring images of open salts.
9. Early Transferware on Pedestal Salts and Mochaware provided two displays in one. One group of
pedestal salts illustrated a wide variety of mostly blue on white transfer patterns. A second group of pedestal
salts provided examples of the Mochaware process described on a sign.
10. The Evolution of Design in Salts by (Mostly) the Hennell Family included examples of several major
developments in the evolution of salt design by one of the most famous silver maker families in England
during the 18th and 19th centuries. They ranged from trencher salts (1st part, 18th century), through a basket
salt (mid-19th century). The display also showed the lineage of the 5 generations of Hennell silversmiths.
11. Murano Gold featured a tall wood and glass cabinet filled with Venetian glass of different colors
painted with mostly floral designs.
The final four displays were in the Original category.
12. The Torquay Pottery Factory display included several salts from the so-called motto-ware style. The
Aller Vale pottery developed these wares with various pithy sayings scratched through the slip so that the
lettering showed in a contrasting color when the piece was finished.
13. Gone Fishing! featured a fishing boat plowing the waters teeming with more than a dozen fish salts,
some of which were in the boat.
14. Here lies the Cohen Family Fortune was, as you might expect, constructed on a graveyard theme, with
the headstones inscribed with the names and dates of the manufacturers: Steuben, Tiffany, Emile Gallé,
Daum France, Webb, Stevens and Williams, L. Walter, Martin Bros., William Moorcroft, and Modern Pâte
de Verre. Each headstone, in turn, identified one or more salts by the named manufacturer.
PAGE 17 OF 38
15. Nature’s Beauty featured a beautiful wooden block cut from a wildly grained piece of hardwood. On
one side, the rough surface of the natural grain caught the eye while on the top and on the table around the
block were a large collection of handmade, turned wooden salts in many colors and grain patterns.
Display 1; San Francisco Bay Regatta; Display 2; California, Here We Come!; Display 3; The Colors of Laurel Burch;
Sarah Kawakami; Theme entry
Eleanor Sheehe; Theme 2nd place
Claragene Rainey; Theme 3rd place
Display 4; California Gold Rush Days; Display 5; Eureka, I’ve Found It; Mary
Diane Lynch; Theme 1st place
Kern, Beautiful 3rd place
Display 6; Treasures for the Table;
Helen Saults; Beautiful entry
Display 7; Got Spoon?; Elaine Cooper; Display 8; Salt Treasures of Imperial
Beautiful entry
Russia; Gerald Grube, Beautiful 2nd
place
Display 9; Early Transferware on
Pedestal Salts & Mochaware; Robin
Grube; Beautiful entry
Display 10; Evolution of Design by
Hennell Family; Joan Wrenn; Beautiful
entry
Display 11; Murano Gold, Robert
Rogers, Beautiful 1st Place
Display 12; Torquay Pottery Factory;
Don Rabourn; Original entry
Display 13; Gone Fishing!; Elaine
Cooper; Original 3rd place
Display 14; Here Lies the Cohen
Family Fortune; Dolli Cohen; Original
1st place
Display 15; Nature’s Beauty; Lisa
Tiedeman; Original 2nd place
MORE COSTUME CONTESTANTS – TOPS CATEGORY
Elva Juchtzer
Ed Bowman
Winner Stacey Cunningham’s vest was decorated with salt packets
PAGE 19 OF 38
RUSSIAN ENAMEL
Keynote Address by John Atzbach
As reported by Joan Wrenn
Very few, if any, open salt collectors would deny that Russian enamel open salts are among the most
beautiful ever made. Their beauty is linked with their history, created at a time when the wealthiest class in
Russia had the money and the desire to spend lavishly for beautiful objects for themselves or to give as gifts.
The time was short, though, as the Russian Revolution of 1917 brought that wealthy class to its knees.
John Atzbach, the Keynote Speaker at the 11th National Convention, shared his wealth of knowledge of
Russian enamels with convention attendees on Friday night. His talk, illustrated by many beautiful slides,
began with a little of the history and use of salt in Russia starting in the 16th century. He mostly spoke about
how Russian Enamel developed, about how styles changed, especially in salts, and about the techniques for
making enameled pieces.
Salt began to be produced in Russia in 1515 and was mostly controlled by the Stroganoff family through the
19th century. While the working classes were not familiar with salt, it was a highly valued commodity used
by the wealthy class especially for entertaining guests. For the wealthy, salt not only flavored food--it was a
status symbol and impressed guests in much the same way as a big house or castle and fancy porcelain
services would impress. Dinners might have up to 10 courses, and with each course a new porcelain service
was set out. Salt cellars were an enhancement to the porcelain services. Many different kinds of salt cellars
were made. They ranged from basic, unadorned, silver salts to enameled, gem-encrusted, solid gold salts,
and everything in between.
Note: Many of John’s slides had multiple images. Each image used in this report is identified by John’s slide number
followed by a letter. There are gaps in both the number and letter sequences and some images are out of order. Since
the images are described in the article, not in captions, each slide number in the text is highlighted in a colored, bold
font so that you can more easily find the description for each image.
SILVER, GOLD, AND SILVER-GILT SALTS
John’s first slide of a salt (Slide 2A) showed a typical 18th century Russian
silver salt, from 1730-1780, with a round shape, three ball feet and engraved
pattern similar in style and decoration to German salts of the same period.
The Russians were well known at this time for copying others’ designs, not
only German, but also French and English. He showed a round, three-footed
Moscow salt of 1770 that looked very much like the English salts of a
slightly earlier period (Slides 3C, 3D).
Slide 2A
Slide 3C
Slide 3D
Slide 4C
Russian silversmiths also developed their own ideas. The style of trompe l’oeil (French, for “to fool the
eye”) was popular in Russia at the time. An oval silver salt made to look like a wooden basket was an
example (Slide 4C). Whimsy and fun were often incorporated into objects.
John then showed a series of fabulous, elaborate salts and sets of salts made for royalty and the uppermost
classes in the 18th century. An imperial presentation piece of four salts and spoons on a stand and under a
pagoda-type structure with a crown on top was made for Catherine the Great in 1769 (Slide 5A). It is now
in the Hermitage. Also in the museum is a porcelain salt cellar from the personal service of Empress
Elizabeth, made about 1760-62 (small oval, Slide 6A).
John has seen a few pieces from this service outside the Hermitage, but
they are exceedingly rare, one of the rarest services ever made by the
Imperial Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg. In fact, 18th century
Russian porcelain salts are exceedingly rare. In all his years of selling,
John has seen perhaps only six of them. Nineteenth century Russian
porcelain salts are more available, although there not many around.
Russian goldsmiths were good at making extremely elaborate, expensive
pieces. The next three slides were of solid gold salts of great beauty,
although you won’t find a lot of solid gold salts. The first was a pair of
square double salts made in St. Petersburg about 1770, each on 4 legs
with 2 lids that hinged in the middle (Slide 7A). John assumes that they
were made for the imperial family. The second, a pedestal salt with a
pair of Russian eagles as “handles,” has the crown monogram for
Alexander the First and was probably made close to 1801 when
Alexander became czar (Slide 8A).
Slide 5A
Slide 6A
Slide 7A
Slide 8A
The third slide was of an 18th century lidded double gold salt enameled
in deep blue that was made for Catherine the Great. Her crown imperial
monogram is on one lid and the imperial eagle is on the other (Slide 9A).
John has never seen a piece like this in person. They exist but are
exceptionally rare.
Although Russian gold- and silversmiths were advanced in the 18th
century, they did lag behind the production of French gold- and
silversmiths of the period. In the last quarter of the 18th century many
Parisian goldsmiths immigrated to St. Petersburg and became leading
goldsmiths there. They trained many apprentices who, in turn, became
some of the best goldsmiths and silversmiths in the world.
Slide 9A
PAGE 21 OF 38
Moving into the 1800s, John showed a pair of silver-gilt salts mounted on the backs of birds and made in
Moscow, 1810-13, (Slide 10A) that he had brought with him to the convention. He welcomed us to handle
them and strongly recommended that, if we have an interest in a salt, we pick it up and handle it to feel it, its
texture, and its weight. That is the best way to learn. Another animal-themed set of salts (Moscow, 181015) had what John called mice creeping over the rim to get what’s inside (Slides 11D, 11E). (Reporter’s
note: They look more like bird heads with big ears to me.)
Slide 10A
Slide11D
Slide 11E
Another set made for nobility was a pair of double salts that were part of the dowry service made for Grand
Duchess Mariya Alexandrovna, Alexander II’s daughter, by the Imperial Court Silversmith Samuel Arndt
for her marriage (Slide 13C). They are very heavy, very solid, exceptionally well made, and almost
identical to the salts in the dowry services made for her aunts.
For the wealthier merchant classes, a number of salts were made, but they were much simpler. While nicely
designed, a typical
Russian silver salt
made in 1840-50 was
very lightweight. The
pedestal salt shown
has a figured base and
bowl with a highly
decorated rim (Slide
12A).
Slide 13C
Slide12A
John showed another
more traditional and
commercial salt
made in St.
Petersburg around
1887 and used it to
begin teaching us
about Russian
hallmarks (Slide
14C). Most Russian
Slide 14C
Slide 14D
silver is marked 84
(Slide 14D) or 88 standard, with a purity scale based on 96 rather than on 100 or 1000 as is most European
and American silver. Silver of 84 fineness converts to about 875 on the 1000 scale, and 88 converts to
about 916. Approximately 90% of silver made during the imperial period in Russia is of the 84 grade.
Fineness of 88 is reserved for better quality items made by better silversmiths. Since both 84 and 88
fineness grades fell short of the 925 standard required to be called “silver” in England (and would be called
“white metal” instead), Russian silversmiths developed a grade of 91 to be used mostly for export to the UK
or the US. Only 1%-4% of Russian silver is 91. Faberge and the other best silversmiths used it
occasionally.
The demonstration salt also showed an assay mark of an “A” with what looks like an asterisk followed by
the Cyrillic letter for “F.” (Slide 14D) The “asterisk” mark is actually crossed anchors and a hammer, the
city mark for St. Petersburg, which, along with Moscow, was one of the main centers of silver production in
the country. Other, smaller cities produced small quantities of silver. Each silver-manufacturing city had
perhaps 30-40 different but similar city marks over a period of many years. St. Petersburg’s anchors-andhammer mark lasted until it was replaced by the “kokoshnik” mark in 1899. The “A cyrllic F” mark is the
mark of the assay master, the government official in St. Petersburg who checked the quality of the silver.
The “1887” is the year of the assay. The year mark was not required, but was struck on many items before
1899 in St. Petersburg and before 1896 in Moscow.
The partially struck mark to the right is an unidentified makers mark (Slide 14D). John has seen this mark
many times, but it is not identified in books. While the best book on Russian hallmarks identifies about
6500 marks, John’s friends working in Russian archives say that only about 20% of the marks on file appear
in the book. Consequently, you will find a lot that are not identified. And it’s not easy to find information.
Most of the best books are in Cyrillic, and most of the English books are incomplete and/or inaccurate
although they were based on the best information available at the time they were written.
John then showed three
box sets of silver and
silver-gilt plain,
simple, circular salts.
The first two were sets
of six salts by Timothy
Hesketh, with an 84
mark, the crossed
anchors for St.
Slide 15A
Slide 15B
Petersburg, and
probably made 1880-90 based on their style and simplicity. The other marks (Slide 15B) on the first set
(Slide 15A) are European import marks.
The salts of the second Hesketh
set (Slides 16A, 17C, 17D), of
the same period, have several
different Russian inscriptions
among them that John has not yet
translated. The third set was of
12 salts and spoons (Slides 18C,
18D). Boxed sets are unusual in
Russian salts, and they are
mostly of silver. Enameled box
sets are rare, but when found are
almost always of six salts. It is
extremely unusual to find a set of
12 enamel salts.
Several more silver salts were
shown. The first was another
example of the Russian use of
Slide 16A
Slides 17C, 17D
PAGE 23 OF 38
whimsy, especially in silver. The circular salt bowl has a coin set in the base (Slides 19A, 19B). If the salt
is flipped, the reverse side of the coin is seen. The second was a very heavy, very solid, ornate salt by
Grachev (Slide 20C), probably one of the top 10% of Russian silversmiths in the last part of the 19th
century in St. Petersburg. Above the name in the mark is the eagle mark of the Imperial Warrant (Slide
20D), the sign that the firm was authorized to produce goods for the imperial court. The mark could be
struck on all their wares to show their “bragging rights,” the sign that the firm is so good that they produce
for the czar. Several different firms, including Faberge, were given the Imperial Warrant.
Slide 18C
Slide 19A
Slide 20C
Slide 18D
Slide 19B
Slide 20D
The third was a pair of niello salts (Slide 21D), a decorative technique sometimes confused with enamel, but
the decoration is achieved with a black substance fired at a lower temperature than true enamel. After the
silversmith formed the body of the object, the engraver carved and tapped the pattern for the black into the
silver. After all the voids were
filled with the black paste, the salt
was fired in the kiln, cooled, and
polished down to make the black
flat with the silver surface (Slide
22F). Niello work has a very high
lead content and is not suitable for
regular use. It is also easily
Slide 21D
Slide 22F
damaged in cleaning.
John then spoke of two silver salt thrones (Slides 23A, 24A), figural pieces typically used in formal
presentations to welcome guests to your home. Many sizes and styles were made, mostly in Moscow,
starting about 1860-65. He has had thrones from 1” tall to about 10” tall, but most are in the range of about
2 ¼” to 5”. The second, more ornate, of the two thrones was made by the Sazikov firm that also had the
Imperial Warrant. It is an example of Russian trompe l’oeil (Slides 24A, 25C, 25D), made to look like a
wooden chair.
Another way to welcome important guests was with a bread and salt presentation plate. A round loaf of
bread was placed on a circular plate, and a salt cellar was placed on top of the bread. John’s slide showed a
carved wooden plate and a beautifully carved, wooden, lidded salt with an imperial eagle on it (Slide 26B).
Although he has had a number of bread and salt plates over the years, John has not actually seen a wooden
salt of this style in person. The plates tended to survive better than the salts did. The wealthier class, of
course, had silver or silver-enamel presentation bread plates and salts made. The Hillwood Museum in
Washington D.C. has several presentation plates that are amazing.
Slide 23A
Slide 24A
Slides 25C, 25D
John also showed a pair of miniature (4”-5”) models of the bread and salt plates, complete with napkins
(Slides 27C, 27D), and a symbolized bread and salt presentation plate with a woman standing behind the
bread, offering the gifts to her guests (Slide 29A). The lid of the bread lifts, and it is probable that the lid of
the salt also lifts. Pieces like this don’t come up very often.
Slide 26B
Slides 27C, 27D
Slide 29A
Bread and salt presentation plates were also represented by a beautiful drawing (Slide 28A), signed by
Faberge, from one of his workshops. The first step in creating an item was having a designer draw a
PAGE 25 OF 38
rendition of what the item would look like. The drawing would go to Faberge for his approval as indicated
by his signature, then be sent to production where the silversmith, gem cutter, and enamelist would
Slide 28A
cooperate to create the item.
John doesn’t know if this
particular bread and salt
presentation plate was ever
finished, but many items can be
matched to existing workshop
drawings. A number of Faberge
drawings were found about thirty
years ago and were sold at
auction in 1990. John was able
to buy 20 or 30 of them and finds
it fascinating (Wouldn’t we all?)
to have the original design with
the finished product.
Slides 30C, 31A
Slides 32D, 32E
Slides 33B, 33C
Another figural salt was a model
of the home of Peter the Great in silver (Slides 30C, 31A), with the roof as a lid that lifts up to show the gilt
bowl inside. Again, this is a fun, unusual, figural salt.
The next seven slides were of silver and silver-gilt salts by Karl Faberge, the world’s most well known
goldsmith/silversmith. At his peak of production, Faberge employed about 500 people in numerous
workshops, each with its own specialty, e.g., silver or silver-gold enameled objects, and with its own
workmaster. In addition, Faberge was a businessman and a merchant. As an example, he bought objects
from Tiffany, placed his own mark on them, and sold them for a profit, just as Tiffany continues to buy
from others today. He would also modify and embellish others’ objects, e.g., by making silver mounts for
Tiffany glass vases and then selling them.
Faberge made all sorts of salts, from simple, generic silver salts that would sell for $20 if not for Faberge’s
name on them, to remarkable pieces of carved stone, gold, gemstones, and multicolored enamels. These
extremely ornate pieces were generally not made to be utilized, but were intended as elaborate gifts or as
objects of admiration.
The first Faberge salt shown was a simple, circular example struck with the Faberge maker’s mark and
Imperial Warrant (Slides 32D, 32E). The “SW” mark was for the silversmith Stephan Wakewa who made
the salt. The piece was marked for St. Petersburg, with the 84 standard, and with the kokoshnik (a woman
wearing a fancy headpiece from the 16th-17th century) mark facing left which was used in St. Petersburg
beginning in 1899 and beginning in Moscow in 1896. In 1908 the mark was changed so that the woman
faced right. The piece also had a number scratched into the base, the original scratched inventory number.
Many Faberge pieces show such a number. For items made in St. Petersburg, having an inventory number
allows you to go back into stock records and sales records to find information such as the date of finishing
the piece, the day of sale, the price, and who bought it, thus establishing a provenance and value for
important pieces. Unfortunately, no such records have been found for the Moscow workshop. John has had
some pieces with inventory numbers that he has been able to research. One was a beautiful, carved stone
snuff box, gold-mounted and diamond-set. He was able to learn that the piece had been purchased by Czar
Alexander III and his wife, half with his money and half with hers.
Other silver or silver-gilt salts with Faberge marks were (1) a fluted oval with handles (Slides 33B, 33C);
(2) a classic Moscow piece (Slides 34C, 34D) with the “hammer” mark and a separate kokoshnik mark with
the head alone (no one knows why there are sometimes two assay marks like these on a piece this size); (3)
a rococo pair with spoons and marked with St. George slaying the dragon, the city mark for Moscow before
1896 (Slides 35D, 35F, 35G); (4) a Russian Pan-Slavic style kovsh (Pan-Slavic refers to the Russian art
Slides 34C, 34D
Slides 35D, 35F, 35G
Slides 36D, 36F
Slide 37E
Slide 37H
PAGE 27 OF 38
Slide 38A
nouveau style that is exclusively Russian) (Slides 36D, 36F); (5) another kovsh with a coin from the
Catherine the Great period set in the bottom and a carved emerald in the handle (Slides 37E, 37H), and (6) a
duck with a feathered spoon (Slide 38A). John warned us about finding Faberge-marked pieces in the
marketplace. Many reproductions have been made for over 50 years. In fact that is true of all Russian
items. We are welcomed to ask John if we have a question about any Russian piece, but we must be
prepared to be okay with his answer.
COLORED ENAMEL SALTS
Colored enamels began to appear in
Russia about 1865-70, with not a lot on
the market until about 1880. The first
were predominantly champlevé enamel,
made with much the same technique as
niello ware (two salts were shown)
(Slides 39C, 39E; Slides 39F, 39H).
Cloisonné or filigree enamel followed,
with two examples of turquoise enamel
flooding the surface of the salts that
were decorated with gold filigree wire
in a swirling pattern (Slides 40C, 40D,
40G; Slides 41A, 41D). The second of
those salts had its own trompe l’oeil napkin
(Slide 41A) beneath it.
The traditional Russian cloisonné enamel
salts (Slides 42C, 42D, 42F; Slides 42K,
42H, 42J) were almost all made in Moscow
from about 1880-1905, with shaded enamel
coming on the scene around 1890. After the
silver body of the salt was formed, its
enameling was begun by soldering thin,
twisted wire to the body in the desired
pattern. Each design element was done
individually to create cells, e.g., if the
design was floral, each petal of each flower
was soldered separately. After the filigree
was done, the salt was gilded if
Slides 39C, 39E
Slides 40C, 40D, 40G
Slides 39F, 39H
Slides 41A, 41D
desired. Then the enameling process began. Since each enamel color fires at a different temperature, the
enamelist began by placing the color paste that fires at the highest temperature in the desired wire cells, then
Slides 42C, 42D
Slides 42F, 42K
Slides 42H, 42J
fired it. The salt was removed from the heat after firing, cooled very slowly to room temperature, then
colored with the enamel that fires at the next highest temperature. This was repeated for each color with
great care to avoid a cooling mistake that might cause previous work to pop, thus requiring that all the
enamel be knocked out and the process begun all over again. That meant a lot of work for the simplest
pieces. Several such salts
were shown.
An important step in the
development of shaded
enamel was taken by the firm
of Ovchinnikov, holder of the
Imperial Warrant and the most
important firm after Faberge.
He began to shade cloisonné
enameling by adding enamel
dots of a different color on top
of the base color of the cell so
that more than one color of
enamel was in a single cell.
Several Ovchinnikov salts
were shown along with their
markings (Slides 43E, 43D,
43F; Slides 43J, 43H, 43K;
Slides 44A, 44B, 44D).
Slides 43E, 43D, 43F
Slides 43J, 43H, 43K
Slides 44A, 44B, 44D
John showed some enameled kovshi (Slides 46D, 46F; Slides 47E, 47F; Slides 47H, 47K). The kovsh is a
traditional Russian form that started as a ladle in the 14th century. Its shape has been used for all sorts of
objects, including salts that are often boxed with spoons, drinking cups, ladles, punch bowls, and more. He
also showed slides of five enameled salt thrones (Slides 48D, 48E, 48G; Slides 48H, 48J, 48M; Slides
48N, 48R, 48S; Slides 49C, 49F; Slides 50C, 50D, 50G), similar to the silver ones seen previously, but far
PAGE 29 OF 38
more elaborate, requiring far more work. Because they required so much effort and skill, fewer were made
during the period than have been sold since. Clearly, many reproductions are out there
Slides 46D, 46F
Slides 47E, 47F
Slides 47H, 47K
.
Slides 48D, 48E, 48G
Slides 48H, 48J, 48M
Slides 48N, 48R, 48S
Early shaded enamel was represented by a salt by Saltykov in Moscow, 1890-95 (Slides 51B, 51C). It was
a traditional cloisonné shape but with rays of red enamel on the pink flowers and darker green and blue rays
on the green and blue cells. Even more elaborate was a shaded enamel kovsh with a white enamel
background (Slides 52B, 52E).
A set of two kovshi with matching spoons sold by Tiffany were made by Maria Semenova in Moscow
(Slides 53A, 53H, 53E, 53F). She took over her father’s shop in 1895 and became one of the most prolific
and most respected enamelists in Russia. She generally worked in floral patterns with soft colors, pastels
such as pinks, yellows, and soft blues, all with beautiful shading.
Later shaded cloisonné, what most people think of as shaded enamel, is much more elaborate and much
more developed. Two salts by Yacov Borisov (Slides 54C, 54K; Slides 54H, 54L), well known for shaded
enamel in Moscow, were shown. Both were beautifully shaded enamels with enamel backgrounds.
Slides 49C, 49F
Slides 50C, 50D, 50G
Slides 51B, 51C, 52B, 52E
Slides 53A, 53H
Slides 54H, 54L
Slides 53E, 53F
Slides 55C, 55D, 55L
PAGE 31 OF 38
Slides 54C, 54K
Slides 55J, 55H, 55M
More shaded enamel salts (Slides 55C, 55D, 55L; Slides 55J, 55H, 55M; Slide 56A; Slide 57B; Slides
58C, 58D, 58F; Slides 58G, 58J, 58K), including two of tulip-form (Slide 56A; Slide 57B), were shown,
the later ones moving toward the Pan-Slavic design (Slides 58C, 58D, 58F; Slides 58G, 58J, 58K) that was
popular in the period of 1908-17, with the best pieces after 1912. As it became more highly desirable, only
the best enamelists did it.
Feodor Ruckert was the best enamelist to ever work in Russia. A number of his salts were shown,
beginning with his earlier designs (Slides 59G, 59H, 59J; Slides 59K, 59L, 59P), many of which were
copied by his competitors. A particularly wonderful, whimsical salt had two ducks on a lake with the sun
setting over the mountains behind them (Slides 60C, 60D, 60G, 60H).
His Pan-Slavic designs, on the other hand, were very different (Slides 61A, 61E). The color palette of the
salts changed, becoming darker and more muted. Shapes became more geometric, and he developed a new
cross-hatching technique that was copied by others (Slides 62C, 62D, 62K; Slides 62H, 62L).
Slide 56A
Slide 57B
Slides 58C, 58D, 58F
Slides 58G, 58J, 58K
Slides 59G, 59H, 59J
Slides 59K, 59L, 59P
Slides 60C, 60D, 60G, 60H
Slides 62H, 62L
Slides 61A, 61E
Slides 63A, 63B, 63E
PAGE 33 OF 38
Slides 62C, 62D, 62K
Slides 64A, 64C, 64E
These highly stylized, art
nouveau designs are very
desirable, especially to collectors
in Russia. Ruckert made all sorts
of objects, including kovshi, tea
sets, and punch bowls, producing
90% of the cloisonné enamel that
was sold by Faberge. John
showed a kovsh salt cellar in dark
enamel colors that had a Faberge
inventory number scratched in
the base and a Faberge mark
overstriking the Ruckert mark
(Slides 63A, 63B, 63E).
The next slide showed a shaded
enamel salt with panels of pliquea-jour (French, meaning “light of
day”) around the top rim (Slides
64A, 64C, 64E). The panels look
like miniature stained windows
Slides 65D, 65E, 65K
Slides 65H, 65L
Slides 66L, 66N
Mark for 67H, J, and K
Slides 66E, 66D, 66H, 66G
Slide 67M
Slides 67H, 67J, 67K
Slides 67C, 67E, 67F
PAGE 35 OF 38
when backlit. Plique-a-jour is filigree work, filled with transparent enamel and made in a way similar to
cloisonné work, but you can see through it when it is lit from the back. There are several different ways to
produce plique, but it is one of the most difficult techniques for an enamelist to master, especially free-form
plique. This is done with open work wires with no backing. Enamel paste is put into each cell, then fired
just enough to melt and adhere to the edges, but not long enough to have the enamel pull itself apart and
leave a gaping hole in the center. The process must be repeated with each enamel color. As John said,
“Good luck!” Other plique work is done with wires and a copper backing. After the enamel is in place,
acid is used to take the copper away. Two free-form plique salts (Slides 65D, 65E, 65K; Slides 65H, 65L)
and two kovshi (Slides 66E, 66D, 66H, 66G; Slides 66L, 66N) were shown.
Another technique, very rarely used in Russia, especially in salt cellars, is painted enamel. The two
examples shown by John are small bowls (Slides 67M, 67H, 67J, 67K; Slides 67C, 67E, 67F) because he
couldn’t find any pictures of painted enamel salts. The enamel colors are painted on with no wire between
the colors.
Another enamel process is guilloche enamel. The silver salt body goes through an engine-turning machine
to engrave (like a lathe) a pattern in the silver, then the body is enameled with a variety of different colors.
Faberge was the best with a color palette of 144 different colors while most of his competitors used 10, 20,
or 30 colors. At times 4-6 layers of enamel were used to produce more depth in the enameling. Varying the
colors can also produce an opalescent effect or a look totally different from the first enameling. John
showed two salts by other makers (Slides 68C, 68D, 68L; Slides 68J, 68H, 68N) and an apple green salt by
Faberge (Slides 69A, 69B, 69D) who was known for his use of unusual colors, although these colors are
very rare in salts.
Slides 68C, 68D, 68L
Slides 68J, 68H, 68N
Slides 69A, 69B, 69D
Slide 70A
Slide 72B
Slides 71C, 71E, 71L
Slides 71G, 71J, 71M
Another Faberge piece, highly unusual, was made of carved nephrite (Siberian jade) mounted with 14K gold
that is chased and hand-cut in a moiré pattern (Slide 70A). The gold handles are finished with a strawberryred translucent enamel. John is sure that it is strictly an exhibition piece, not made for use.
After the Revolution in 1917, most silver production ceased and Faberge went out of business in 1918.
There were several reasons. Many workers were killed in the fighting of World War I, and the new Soviet
government did not support silver production. Very importantly, formerly wealthy customers could no
longer buy needless baubles. After a while, simple, common silver items began to be produced again,
mostly for the tourist and export trade, with the height of this production in the 1930s and 1940s. The
complexity of the pieces is very different, however, as illustrated by two salts (Slides 71C, 71E, 71L; Slides
71G, 71J, 71M). A third, very familiar looking Russian salt (Slide 72B) was made from the 1970s until
now.
To further illustrate the plique-a-jour technique John showed two Norwegian salts, one unmarked (Slides
73C, 73E), but probably by Joseph Tostrup, and one marked by Marius Hammer (Slides 73G, 73H, 73K)
and. Both are bowls on 3 legs with plique around their upper edges. The best plique-a-jour work was done
in Norway, mostly between 1890-1910. He also showed a pair of English plique salts with cobalt blue
enamel in the bowls (Slides 74E, 74F). The only English plique salts he has seen are these—they must be
extremely rare. Also extremely rare is the larger salt he showed, an unmarked shaded plique probably by
David Anderson of Norway (Slides 75A, 75C). In this five-lobed salt, individual cells contain multiple
colors of enamel. Only the best enamelists could do this, and David Anderson did it on several of his
pieces.
Slides 73C, 73E
Slides 73G, 73H, 73K
PAGE 37 OF 38
Slides 74E, 74F, 75A, 75C
Finally, there were three plique Viking boat salts, all marked by Marius Hammer. The first was a silver-gilt
boat with a plique-a-jour border all around (Slides 76A, 76D). The others were more complex salts with all
but the bottoms composed of plique and the inner side of each bottom enameled on a solid base (Slides
77M, 77C, 77E; Slides 77G, 77J, 77K).
Slides 76A, 76D
Slide 77M, Mark on 77C, 77E
Slides 77C, 77E
Slides 77G, 77J, 77K
Answering a question about cleaning enameled salts, John said that there is no one answer—it all depends.
Sometimes a baking soda paste is good, rinsed over and over with soap and water, but even it can destroy an
object if used incorrectly. He wouldn’t recommend it on a delicate item. If you don’t know for sure how to
clean it, don’t clean it.
He was also asked if the quality of enameling is the best way to tell an old piece.. Unfortunately, John’s
answer was “No.” The people doing reproductions today are highly skilled and can make near perfect
pieces. Twenty years ago you could tell that something was not right with a reproduction. Now you must
know which artist worked in what style with what color palette during which years in which city. It can be
risky to buy from a dealer who is not entirely knowledgeable about Russian enamels.
John’s presentation ended with a long round of enthusiastic and grateful applause. We had been treated to a
glorious display of beautiful salts while John shared his knowledge of them. He gave us a new appreciation
of the history and development of Russian salts, especially of the enameled pieces. We were armed with the
keys to identify a maker, a town, and a year or span of years in which a salt was made. Now when we see a
wonderful Russian silver or enamel salt, we can appreciate it not only for its beauty, but also for the
incredible skill that was required to create it.
Thank you, John Atzbach!
The following images were all taken from the website of the Hermitage Museum, www.hermitagemuseum.org: 5A,
6A, 7A, 8A, 9A, 26B, 28A, 29A.
The following image came from an ebay listing: 72B
The rest of the images are from John Atzbach’s web site, www.atzbach.com. John’s inventory changes over time, but
many of the salts shown above as well as others may be viewed on his website.
John Atzbach is the author of the “Russian and Plique-à-Jour” section in The Open Salt Compendium. He is
a collector and dealer specializing in Imperial Russian antiques and art. His collection includes enamels and
works by Faberge, as well as porcelain from factories such as the Imperial Porcelain Factory, Gardner,
Popov, and Batenin. He is frequently mentioned on the Open Salt Chat Page of www.opensalts.info one of
the most trustworthy dealers in Russian art. John Atzbach Antiques is in Redmond, WA, and his web site is
at www.atzbach.com.
Thank You!
The 11th National Convention was a rousing success because of the dedication of all who attended and all
who helped to put it on. Thanks to all the main speakers, the workshop speakers, the contest participants,
donors of door prizes and other goods, and all who served on the convention committee. Thanks also to the
several non-members who donated their time and talents. Special thanks to Linda Drew and Mary Kern, cochairwomen who fashioned it all in such grand style.

Link to PDF of 2009 Convention

Transcription

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