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Finds and Interests
Our WorthPoint Price Guide updates daily, with thousands of new items streaming in from our Industry Partners. I like to try to single out a few of my favorites to share with our followers. There’s usually a good story behind so many of these pieces, and sharing my passion for antique and vintage items is the best part of my job.
With so much new data coming in daily, I never quite know what will turn up. This week, I noticed two amazing pieces of pottery in a sale from our Industry Partner, Rago Auctions
I wasn’t expecting to see not one, but two great pieces from this Rago sale, because the sale was rather small. Comprising only twenty-two lots, it was nonetheless expertly curated, featuring pottery works by George Ohr, a potter from Biloxi, Mississippi. Ohr was an eccentric American potter who became known for his whimsical ceramic creations known as “mud babies.” Mud babies were small pots shaped without the use of molds, each one formed entirely by Ohr’s hands. No two were ever the same, and he produced over 10,000!
The two pieces in this particular sale, were not mud babies, but were finely crafted vases. And to top it off, the sale data from this sale arrived on Valentine’s Day, making the striking red vase especially timely.
The red vase, which Ohr signed on the bottom, “GE Ohr Biloxi Miss..,” was blazing in a deep raspberry shade of red, with bits of sponged on orange and indigo blue. It’s delicately framed with ribbon handles that, while not exactly heart-shaped, still evoke a romantic aesthetic. It sold for $120,650, a phenomenal price largely due to the piece’s excellent condition.
Since Valentine’s Day often involves couples, there was another equally stunning piece in this sale. Done in shades of emerald, gunmetal, gray, and raspberry “blister” glaze, it’s also signed G.E. OHR, Biloxi, Miss. It was not in the same condition as the red vase, having some small scratches near the base, so it brought a slightly lower price.