Valerie Ringer Monk has previously written of the New Zealand manufacturer, and here has listed more than 300 products of the company. They read as a kind of social history as well as being a handy guide for collectors. The company dates from 1925, diversifying from bricks and pipes into domestic ware.
In the 1940s, the US Army ordered thousands of bowls and mugs for use in the Pacific war. English staff were recruited after the war and whiteware developed. Potters Ernest Shufflebotham, Daniel Steenstra and Mirek Smisek were employed, along with decorator Frank Carpay.
After production peaked in the 1970s, the 1980s economic downturn and the lifting of import restrictions spelt the end for the local product and Crown Lynn folded. Down but not broken.
Commemorative ware, chamber pots, lamp bases, refrigerator jugs and whare ashtrays, electric jugs and hot-water bottles, salt pigs and gravy boats, it's a roll call of domestic history.
But it's the ubiquitous cups, saucers and plates we use still: Calypso, Candy, Capri, Carnaby, such evocative design titles. Roydon (for Roy and Don McKenzie, supplied exclusively to the McKenzie chain stores) South Pacific acid and detergent-resistant colours.
Glazing techniques are explained, backstamps, marks and numbering systems, and availability and desirability for collectors. Actually, the cups, on reappraisal, are truly elegant and varied in lovely shades, the stoneware plates often richly coloured. Buy New Zealand.
- Peter Goodwin is an ODT subeditor.
