Because the values of so many Shenandoah pottery items have risen to lofty heights, much fakery and reproduction has become wide spread throughout the collecting community. Some people suffer integrity impairment and are hell bent to take advantage of the innocent and unenlightened; especially the newcomer. Many sad and unfortunate stories concerning fakeries have reached most of us. If it looks like a duck, is colored like a duck and has duck marked on it, it is not necessarily a duck; at least in the pottery world. There are two definitive factors, among others, that ruin the faker's objectives. One, and practically impossible to overcome, is getting the maker's mark correct, when one is used. Without the original potter's stamp 99.8 percent of the factitious maker's marks reveal just what is there; a fake. Without the same clay, as that used by the potter, in 99 percent of the cases, shrinkage of the mark dimensions will differ even if the original stamp could have been used. A portion of a millimeter can count when considering the consistency of various clay shrinkages. Many marks were carved from wood sources and many were constructed from atypical printer's type. Some were cast in lead or brass. Some were mass produced and sold in the general stores. All of the aforementioned processes would be quite difficult to duplicate. Some original consistencies and idiosyncrasies can be absent or detectable through magnification. Even so, fakers are in too much of a hurry and suffer effort impairment; therefore unbelievable marks are foolishly, hopefully, and optimistically used.
The other primary reason fakers are not successful in producing 'antique look-a-likes' is that the patina or coloration of the new item will not match those from one hundred years ago, no matter what shades of coloration are used. Those of you who have never placed a pottery item into the kiln and then taken it out only to find that the next day its hue has changed, may think that once ceramic items reach their final temperature and then cool, their colors never change. This is certainly not so. Pottery like a fine walnut tall clock case will assume a noticeable patina according to its production period. This effect occurs to both the glazed and unglazed clay. Use-stains and wear will also cause an effect on patina. The use of artificially applied wear, chips, and staining, to mimic and confuse as an antiquity, is in practically all cases futile.
The surface appearance as it relates to patina or coloration of some well protected and/or protracted storage, away from light and air flow, of period pottery items can be very confusing. Many such items are called mint or as made condition. The trained eye can see the effects of age produced patina on such items.
Many fakers feel that they can enhance the certainty of their offers by distressing the product. This can be by adding paint, by producing fractures or breaking away portions, by adding dirt or false dust, or many other creative intrusions to the finished surface of the fake. These methods may fool the novice and some advanced collectors but are only laughable to those with a well experienced eye.
Fear not, there is good news. First allow a rhetorical question. “Why do fakers never offer their factitious products to the expert?” The answer: Experts know the difference in 99.9 percent of these situations. Experts realize what you have read here so far. There are many other faults that an expert can point out. Do you know an expert? If not, surely one lives very close to you. Most are quite happy to help.
The reproduction is a different story all together. If it has been produced by an artist who cares, it will show the maker's identification. If someone makes what they portray as a reproduction and the only producer's mark identifies another maker, they have broken local, state, and federal laws once it has been offered for sale or even given away. Reproductions, in order to stay within the good graces of our laws and collector's acceptance, should be properly marked with the maker's identity. Reproductions can be delightful, useful, helpful, collectable and valuable.
This site will make a serious effort to keep the user apprised of any believable factitious product that can be identified and photographed. This site will also endeavor to show items of foreign makers that fit into the pattern of Shenandoah pottery.
Perhaps you have been “taken” through one or more of your acquired pottery items. Your best answer is to require the seller, be it an auction or individual, to do the ethical thing and reclaim it; most will. Perhaps it is too late or for some reason that approach will not work. Threaten or open a law suit. You can on the other hand donate the item(s) to a museum. Most museums today have a “fakes and reproductions” collection. These collections are often used for the education of students and collectors.
This answer will allow you to possibly retrieve some of your investment costs through the federal income tax system. Perhaps you know for sure that the object(s) is a fake. You should bring the problem to the attention of the local police in the area of purchase. If these approaches fail and you have the stomach for it, use the hammer treatment. This latter technique has worked for others. Divide the resultant sherds into two equal portions, placing each separate part into two different trash disposals. You are only a curator whose term is uncertain. Protect your present and future fellow collectors. Most of them have or will experience similar circumstances.
But after all is said and done, believe it or not, EXPERIENCE is a very good teacher. It is also required if you wish to be a serious collector, investor, or both.
The photograph above exhibits two recent factitious products. The Ewe and Lamb group in its period form is very rare. All originals that have been identified thus far have been five in number and all have been painted, not glazed. None is marked by its maker. They were originally made by the Bells of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania and Winchester, and Strasburg, Virginia. The original form was copied from a well known, early chalk-ware prototype.
The one shown here has been molded, without doubt, from an antique chalk-ware form. It has been glazed with matt finish slips. It is marked with a fake stamp producing an incised, John Bell. The inside surface has been coated with a varnish like substance producing a hopeful but failing appearance.
The sugar bowl shown in the above photograph is also stamped with the same mechanism which produced the previously stated maker's mark. The glaze is unlike any known to have been used by John Bell. The twisted rope-like handles were neither constructed in the manner nor the sophistication of John Bell's shop. The raw clay bottom exhibits the item's recent construction.
The Shenandoah Whippet (Greyhound) is a rare and desirable addition to any American pottery collection. There are approximately 20 known. Surely others are in existence. This period product was first molded from a chalk-ware prototype by John Bell. His brothers also made them in Winchester, and Strasburg, Virginia. Only two known Whippets are glazed, the others painted at the pottery shop or later.
This shown example lacks groves, furrows and extensions of an original due to inexperience in molding techniques. Its finish is in no way reminiscent of a period painted or glazed surface. The second photograph shows an unfamiliar earthen clay and a new surface, both impossible to confuse with a period item. Its prototype was obviously provided by a well known chalk-ware form. This example is one among multiples made from the same recent counterfeit mold.
There are other factitious “Bell” whippets, some perhaps dating from the 1950's, possibly even prior to that time. Since the publication of the Rice and Stoudt's Shenandoah Pottery in 1929, the Bell whippet has become a desire of collectors and far beyond supply.
The photo above exhibits a form with no known Shenandoah prototype. Shown here is the incomplete molded product. Others have been made and may contain a spurious John Bell or other fake recognizable mark. It has been decorated with incuse circles and ovals similar to those found on Shenandoah ware. The metallic content of this glaze, manganese dioxide, is probably the most easily confused in relation to authenticating period products.
The two molds here are of recent make and produce an American eagle form that has been, in the past, used as a convincing enhancement in the sale of fake John Bell items. Its form, application, and size are humorous when it is associated with a fabricated imposter of a period Bell product.
This view shows construction for the portrayal of an Eberly Strasburg, Virginia, pig form. The set up shows a wooden carved pig form used as the molding prototype. It is a successful rendition in form. Products from this molding process that have been successfully glazed can be troublesome. None of these existing products would be expected to show a maker's identification, since any such marks have not been noted on period Eberly pig bottles. The other form shown is a portion of a molded product which has been slip covered and made as a bank. It appears to have become an unsuccessful product of the bisque kiln.
Eberly account books show that such items were produced in half-pint, pint, and quart sizes. One, one gallon size is known. These authentic pig bottle forms are quite rare.
Additionally you can find information about fakes in the following article:
Fake Shenandoah Valley Pottery Stings Buyers in Eastern States