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The following is intended
to help you identify real George Ohr pottery and help you distinguish it
from the reproductions. It is very difficult to distinguish a good fake from
an authentic Ohr piece solely from on-line photographs. It can be even more
difficult to distinguish reglazed Ohr pieces by looking at photographs
on-line. Although, I have seen at least sixty pieces of Ohr in person and
viewed many more in photos, I still do not consider myself to be an expert
nor am I immune from being fooled.
My concern stems from the
large number of pieces I see on eBay represented as authentic George Ohr,
which are not authentic. In addition to fakes, there are a number of "reglazed"
pieces showing up, which are not disclosed as "reglazed". The "reglazed"
pieces are
authentic Ohr pots which were originally made and intended by Ohr to be
bisque (unglazed). After Ohr pottery was discovered, many of his bisque
pieces were glazed. These have inferior glazes and like a piece of antique
furniture that has been painted, they have significantly less value than
either bisque pieces or authentic glazed pieces. Currently, there are a
number of fakes circulating marked either BILOXI (BILOXI is an unusual
mark and not seen often on authentic Ohr) or G. E. Ohr in script. The G. E.
Ohr script signature is almost always the mark on "reglazed" pieces as that
is the mark associated with Ohr's bisque pieces. Of course both marks are
common on authentic pieces as well. In the past most of the fake Ohr pieces
bore the incised block mark, Geo. Ohr, Biloxi, Miss.
Below I offer some comparisons between
authentic Ohr and Ohr reproductions (there are exceptions to the guidelines
stated here, but this information applies to the overwhelming majority of
George Ohr pottery available today):
In the first case I was fortunate to find a piece of George Ohr pottery
which is similar to the reproduction piece. Both pieces are signed. The
photo on the left shows a pot marked GEO E OHR BILOXI, MISS. The photo
on the right below shows a pot marked G. E. OHR, Biloxi, Miss. Which is the
real George E. Ohr pot? The real one is on the right. Here are the clues:
the vase on the left has a fairly clean bottom, most of George Ohr's pots
look like the one on the right, with spots, glaze, kiln pulls (to the left
of signature). Most Ohr vase bottoms are are well
defined like the one on the right. The fake piece does not look like it was
thrown on a wheel, but rather, rolled flat and draped over a cylindrical
object. The explanation for that would be, that no one except Ohr has been
able to create such thin walled vases on a potter's wheel. Most of the
available George Ohr vases have
very thin walls (like fine china) and are very light in weight, like the
first piece on the right. The piece on left, the reproduction, has very thin
walls, but the pink thing below does not.
In most cases, even though George Ohr's pots are distorted, they are
distorted in a more or less symmetrical fashion like the pieces on the
right, below. Ohr would start with a symmetrically thrown vase and then he
would use various techniques to distort the shape: twisting the vase making an
undulating pattern with the clay, flattening the opening in segments to
get a pie crust effect, pinching the rim and bending it in a bunched ribbon
effect, etc. Another clue to look for is the glaze of the piece. Most George Ohr
pottery has a shine created by the clear over-glaze. Usually his glazes are
flowing with lots of depth.
His gun metal glazes and a limited number of flat glaze pieces are the
exception. Look at
the the bases of the the Ohr pieces below. You will see the most common clay
colors that Ohr used, a light red clay and a gray/white color clay (the
other colors on the bases are from the glazes).
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(Click >
here to see more authentic Ohr
photos)
At times, as many as 25%
of the pieces represented to be Ohr
on eBay are not authentic!
I have contacted many of the sellers of these pieces,
letting them know I doubt the authenticity of their piece, giving clear
and specific reasons (most of these pieces are clearly fakes to anyone
with knowledge of Ohr). Not one eBay seller has admitted to selling a
fake, nor has one been willing to attempt to verify my opinion. They all
say their piece is authentic and are very defensive. Apparently, these sellers are either in denial or they do not care if they sell fake pottery. In either case
- buyer beware!
The best advice I can offer is, buy
your George Ohr from a reputable dealer or reputable auction house in
person or on eBay. Buying Ohr from an unknown seller on eBay is, at best a risk, until you get
really good at identifying Ohr. Even then, buying pottery on eBay is a
risk, as you do not know the true condition the pottery until after you
have paid for it and receive it.
If you do buy George Ohr pottery on eBay, be sure the
seller offers a money back guaranty and accepts a major credit card or
PayPal. All ethical pottery dealers guaranty
their ware and back the guaranty with a clearly stated refund policy.
To learn more about George Ohr get one
of these books: "The Mad Potter of Biloxi, the Art and Life of George E. Ohr, written
by Garth Clark, Robert A. Ellison and Eugene Heck. The book is full of
color photographs of Ohr's pottery. Another excellent reference is "George
Ohr, Art Potter" by Robert A. Ellison. This book has a good narrative and
lots of color photos and the best guide to dating Ohr pottery (and it is
less expensive).
Click on link below to preview and/or purchase:
The Mad Potter of Biloxi: The Art and Life of George E. Ohr
George Ohr, Art Potter: The Apostle of Individuality
More fake George Ohr >
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