The Collectors
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Friday 23 November 2007
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Potter Clarice Cliff was born in England at the turn of the 20th century. Today her exquisite pottery is highly sought after all over the world. Here in Australia Clarice Cliff items are getting harder to find no thanks to compulsive collector George Walters from Western Australia.
George and his wife moved to Albany 15 years ago and began decorating their house. They would put different types of pottery on the Art Deco furniture they were also fond of. Eventually they honed in on Clarice Cliff’s pieces as being their favourite pottery from that period. They love the bright colours and creative shapes Clarice Cliff used in her pottery, and think it gives a happy feel about their house.
One of their favourite patterns is called Appliqué Lucerne, which features small castles like those in Lucerne, Switzerland. They own a miniature vase as well as a conical rose bowl featuring this pattern. The Sunray pattern is also another one of their favourites.
Having bought all the Clarice Cliff pottery they could find in Perth, Western Australia, their searching extended to Sydney. Still not satisfied, they started buying pieces from overseas as well. Over the years they have bought items at auctions and used the Internet to locate pieces as well. They also buy whole collections and keep the best pieces for their own collection, which is essentially how their collection has grown over time.
The record price paid for Clarice Cliff pottery at auction was over $100,000 for a piece a man apparently didn’t like the look of so he hid it away in a wardrobe for 30 years.
While some people like to have stocks and shares, George and his wife prefer to have their superannuation sitting around them on shelves to enjoy.
