Feature Articles

Pots of Orchids: the Spode Bateman Connection, by Pam Woolliscroft

 Pam writes: I have a fondness for botanical illustration and a passion for pots. It is these personal interests together with my role as Curator at the Spode museum which led to me noticing the elements of this story. It is a tale of discovery - an unexpected connection between a Staffordshire pottery and a Staffordshire plantsman. Read the article.

Spring! Time to Get Organized, by Susan Ferguson

Here’s my new database for my Brown and White transferware collection. I’m finally getting organized. I created it because my word processing program just provided me with loose sheets of paper that I would need to (four letter word) file. An Excel spreadsheet, while sortable, isn’t flexible enough. What I needed was something searchable (like Google), so I could find any dish instantly. Or find all the pieces that were made by a particular maker. Or find all the pieces that have the same border. And then, of course, I want to sort them by pattern name and version number. And I want to print out that group as a list. And export the list, complete with pictures and source prints, to a pdf file; so I can share them with someone else in the Transferware Collectors Club. Read the article.