4 Comments Add your own

• 1. ROGER GANNON  |  December 5th, 2011 at 10:06

  I recently bought two vases with no Herta signature but with numbers on the bases corresponding to known Herta pieces, specifically # 2640 (the item with the handle) and 2426.

  Both have a background finish (grey-green) that is commonly found on Herta pieces, especially those with a native Indian theme.

  I thought at first that ( there being no signature) they might be from late Royal Ariston molds produced during the period when Herta Gertz and her husband first took over that company. It is well known that the couple “reissued” a number of what were in effect Royal Ariston pieces with and without any “Herta” identification before going on to develop their own distinctive shapes and decoration.

  However, given the affixed flower, which “screams out Herta” I am inclined to believe they were produced by the Gertz’s BC Ceramics, though I have to confess I have not seen such a flower on any other Herta products, nor indeed a silver flower.

  Perhaps the flower does not exist in reality but is simply a figment of Herta Gertz’s designer imagination, a variation on her well-known dogwood designs?

  I hope more knowledgeable Herta enthusiasts can help me resolve this puzzle for me.

  Regards ROGER GANNON

• 2. Allan Collier  |  December 6th, 2011 at 23:19

  When the company went out of business, some of the moulds were sold to other ceramic firms and amateurs who did their own decorqtion.

• 3. roger gannon  |  December 7th, 2011 at 11:15

  Thank you very much Allan for your information. Nevertheless, it seems rather coincidental that the grey-green color of #2640 should be so prominent in other Herta /BC Ceramics items. Moreover, the flower’s centre mirrors a no of designs produced by Herta/BC Ceramics.Your reference to other ceramic firms prompts me to think that #2640 might have been produced under Herta’s guidance when she worked for Sunburst. She apparently commuted to Lethbrige (Sunburst’s headquarters) from Vancouver for a number of years. I should add however that the mould no 2640 does not appear in a Sunburst catalogue dated 1971 in my possession. Many other formerly Herta vases do appear in that catalogue bearing mould no’s formerly used by BC Ceramics.
  Incidentally, Do you know the names of the other companies you refer to apart from Sunburst?

• 4. Allan Collier  |  December 11th, 2011 at 18:11

  I am referring to firms who bought moulds from defunct companies and made them available for amateurs to make and decorate pottery, a sort of do-it-yourself craft activity. Often the mould number remained.

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