Shawnee Tales
Oct 2020
Doug's Corner
Three things this month - We actually got a response on the Worm.
"I had a set of three of those inchworms, a Mom, Pop and baby. As I recall - only one of the adults was marked. It took me awhile to find verifying info. They were made by Hagen Renaker."
#2 -
"Hi, I came across your Shawnee site today and noticed that you've invited people to send you links to other pottery-related sites. My main collecting realm is Blue Ridge Pottery and a friend of mine has a very nice site that gives info on history, marks, auction results, pattern names and numbers, gallery of photos, pottery show information and more. Here is the link to it:
Thanks, also, for helping to connect collectors of different types of pottery. It’s always interesting to see what else is out there - and learn something!"
by Lin Romberg
Fall is here but the weather is still summer in Arizona.
I love hearing from collectors who actually use their pottery!
I had a Shawnee corn lunch. FIRST time actually serving, eating and drinking from the Shawnee. And you guessed it..we ate corn on the cob, fresh from a local farm stand! (see note in Doug's Corner)
I had friends who used to serve their Thanksgiving dinner on cornware. What a spread that must have been as they had a complete service for more than 12 place settings.
Years ago when I was at a yard sale the lady hosting it was actually eating cereal out one of the corn popcorn bowls. I am sure she had no clue it was even collectable!
Friends contacted me with a great shaker they found - the Great Northern Dutch Boy - hard to find piece - very few pairs out there - seems the collectors who have these have only half the pair! I don't have any of the Dutch but if I were going to it would be the Great Northern set - stunning pair. He is now with a collector who hopes to find the matching girl!
Note: My first experience with eating from a piece of Cornware was at Renninger's Kutztown many years ago. It wasn't me doing the eating, it was the dealer just finishing her lunch of spaghetti from a small CK covered casserole. First small casserole I had ever seen. Yes - she wiped it out before wrapping in newspaper.
#3 - Goodwill store discovery.
I got an email from a longtime Shawnee collector and Newsletter contributor a couple days ago. He has a good eye for the "different drummer" pottery pieces and likes to make me commit myself. Glazed objects can be a slippery slope, so sometimes I play turtle and don't stick my neck out too far.
The first question was "Do you know anything about French pottery?" This vase is obviously not Shawnee, but raises questions that pertain to pottery and porcelain. I should have answered the first question with one word - NO. Then "nice to hear from you" and "oh No, my computer just crashed", "talk to you next month."
More questions - "Think this was painted domestically?". Has a slight iridescent glaze. Flowers and gold are fired on, but not under glaze. French Hallmark is under glaze, but Xmas notation is not."
The question isn't about the maker, I discovered it was in French and couldn't read it anyway after asking him for a sharper picture. The question is about cottage industry. "I was really trying to see if anyone recognized the Hallmark even though it's like partial ink stamp, the other is I'm wondering if it is some home decorated porcelain painted object ( domestic decoration on imported blank) except that it appears the decoration is fired on and I'm not sure if the home decorated porcelain craze was before this vase 1930"s? or not and whether these Home Decorating items were fired or not." Caused me to turn turtle! So if any of you have knowledge or an opinion on this matter, please weigh in - Email
This could have ended at this point, but no, I strayed off and started looking into the word "Xmas". I'm 73 and grew up thinking this term was used to denigrate Christmas. This is what I found -
"Why Is “Christmas” Abbreviated As “Xmas”?
Do you find the word Xmas, as an abbreviation for Christmas, offensive? Many people do, but the origin of this controversial term might change your mind!
You won’t find Xmas in church songbooks or even on many greeting cards. Some people
associate Xmas with the holiday as a commercial, secular occasion instead of as a particular Χριστός (Chrīstos). And what does Χριστός mean? “(Jesus) Christ.” X has been an acceptable
representation of the word Christ for hundreds of years. (And why would people need to abbreviate Christ? Well, the word is very widely written.)
Other abbreviations for Christ include Xt and Xp, the P here representing the Greek letter rho,
source of our letter R. A stylized version of the Greek chi (X) and rho (P) is ☧, a symbol of Christ
called a Christogram. In the same vein, the dignified terms Xpian and Xtian have been used in place of the word Christian.
Where does the –mas in Christmas come from? The –mas in Xmas comes from the Old English word for mass, as in a church service, especially one in the Roman Catholic Church including a celebration of the Eucharist. That word, mæsse, is believed to have been derived from Church Latin missa, ultimately from Latin mittere which means “to send (away).” It was perhaps derived from the concluding formula in the Latin mass, Ite, missa
est, meaning “Go, it is the dismissal!” That is, the service is over."
I still haven't discovered the meaning "of Life", but I really like finding this bit of meaning.
Please send Lin your pottery pictures for next month's Newsletter. I don't think I or you can handle anymore of my research.
