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t Christie's in November 1998 a Conical
Sugar sifter in the ‘May Avenue’ pattern sold for over £5360. It
therefore seems appropriate to chart the popularity of one of Clarice Cliff’s
most innovate shapes. |
In 1972 an article in ‘ Art and Antiques’1
magazine was already highlighting the conical sifter as ‘ an intriguing
aspect of her work.’ Priced between £ 2 to £8 this today seems
inexpensive, but compared to other items shown in the article such as a
conical jug in Autumn at £10.00 conical sifters were never really
cheap.
Extract from Art & Antiques.
The first largest public sale of conical sifters
was a single owner collection that came up at Christie's in 1990. This
sale was a turning point for the price of sifters and a definite price
structure emerged. For the next few years prices paid were based on those
obtained at Christie's. Another interesting fact was this was the first
sale to include a May Avenue sifter which sold at the time for an extraordinary
£1980, far outstripping all other prices in the sifter section.
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From 1990 prices rose steadily. The
next major sale of conical sifters was in 1996 and again held at Christie's.
The photograph on the front cover of the catalogue showed an array of sifters
ranging from Crocus to Gardenia. It is interesting to compare prices over
this six year period and shown below is a table showing prices for a selection
of sifters from the two sales.
| Back cover of the Christie’s October 1990 auction
catalogue |
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| Pattern |
October 1990 sale |
November 1996 sale |
| Crocus |
£176.00 |
£447.00 |
| Orange Roof Cottage |
£715.00 |
£2235.00 |
| Berries |
£308.00 |
£588.00 |
| Pastel Melon |
£352.00 |
£588.00 |
| Red Roofs |
£825.00 |
£1765.00 |
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The high prices achieved by sifters has had
a benefit in as much it has brought rare and unusual examples to the market
place. Pictured is an example. The first picture is Gardenia Red. Dating
from around 1931 the style of painting and modelling leads me to believe
this was one of the first patterns to be produced on this then newly introduced
shape. You will note the sifter has orange banding which is unusual as
Gardenia Red is normally found with green banding.
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I have found that sifters do not follow the standard
rules regarding banding colours. For example I have a Poplar sifter with
orange banding that would normally be blue2. One other sifter
in the alternate colourway Orange Gardenia is known and was sold at auction
several years ago. Both examples seem to be painted in a similar style.
The next sifter is in the ‘Apples ‘design
(right). This sifter is a very rare shape and pattern combination to find
and one of my favourites. Most examples of this design seem to be painted
consistently implying it was produced for a short time span by a single
decorator. An identical example was sold at Christie's in November 1997.
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Pictured next is a sifter in the 1930’s design ‘Umbrellas’
(left). This was a variation of the Umbrellas and Rain pattern minus the
rain panel. This sifter is unusual in many respects. Firstly the pattern
was out of production by the time the conical sifter was introduced so
we can speculate this was a ‘matching’ produced for a customer who had
other ware in the same pattern. This theory is supported by the way the
sifter has been ‘carefully’ decorated. |
| Almost the entire sifter is covered
by the pattern, except for a small area on the ‘back’ of the shape. To
date this is the only example of this combination of shape and pattern
and if it were to come up at auction this would command a very high premium. |
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Next is the second know example of Pink Roof cottage
the rarer colourway of Orange Roof cottage. It has been painted identically
to the example pictured in the RDOCC including the missing yellow colour
to the gable wall. The only difference is in the banding colour which on
this example is yellow. There seems to be at least two different outliners
for this pattern. One paints very small cottages and static foliage. The
other outliner paints in a more flamboyant style. Generally, collectors
seem to prefer the second outliner's interpretation of this pattern. |
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| Finally illustrated is a conical sugar sifter in
the Summerhouse pattern. Until recently this sifter was thought to be unique
but another example has emerges. The style of painting leads me to believe
this was a very early example.
One of the interesting aspects of sifters are that
patterns that are reasonably easy to get on other shapes are quite hard
to find for example Melon is known on only three examples and Summerhouse
on two.
I always thought that once I got an apples sifter
I would stop collecting (probably because I had no hope of getting one!).
However, there are many sifters I know exist that have not found their
way into my collection. They include a Latona Tree and Orange House. Legend
also has it that there is an Appliqué Lucerne sifter in Scotland
waiting to be found. Watch this space! |
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Please do not hesitate to e–mail
me via he CCCC Web site if you have any rare or unusual sifters I look
forward to hearing from you. Gavin - Feb. 1999. |
