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This
rare 1919 dated Cecil Jones bowl remained in the estate of his
younger daughter Dora until just before her death in 1976.
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The Cis Jones signature on his studio
pottery varied little from when he signed a plate in 1889 as a nineteen
year old LINK
until his death sixty years later. |
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Cecil
Jones
immigrated from England in 1913 to work as a designer for American
Encaustic Tiling
Co in Zanesville and New Jersey. His daughter Gwendolyn also briefly
worked as a designer with
AETCo in Zanesville.
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When
the
company opened a new plant in Los Angeles in the '20s Jones
resettled with wife Margaret and young Dora there to become
plant manager. Gwen
married and remained in Ohio residing in Columbus until her death in
1986. |
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In
1930 Cecil Jones left AETCo to work for Fred H and George B Robertson
at
Claycraft for two years. He then spent a few years in Colorado
Springs with Van Briggle and Broadmoor Pottery until 1935,
before returning to Los Angeles.
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Meanwhile
Dora
married George Robertson, who with his father Fred founded
Robertson Pottery in 1934. The
Robertsons were descendants of the Massachusetts family
who founded Dedham
Pottery and developed a beautiful crackle glaze.
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Robertson
Pottery covered box with crackle glaze
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Finally
as the
close-up on our bowl shows Cecil Jones was no stranger to crackle
glazes long before he worked for the Robertsons. However following his
exposure at Claycraft, and perhaps more importantly his daughter's
marriage into the Robertson family, we find Cecil Jones' knowledge
of a
reproducible crackle glaze apparent at Broadmoor Pottery in 1934 and
La Mirada Pottery he founded the next year.
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We will
touch more on Cecil Jones' crackle glazed pottery in a future article.
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