Valuing Native American Indian Pottery

>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=LtdxdPCwJ1M

Dr. Mark Sublette, owner of Medicine Man Gallery, explains how to value Native American pottery. Tips on how to avoid common pitfalls and mistakes when valuing or purchasing handmade versus painted ( greenware ) Indian pots. Important video for antique Native American pottery dealers and collectors. • Website: https://www.medicinemangallery.com • Facebook: / medicinemangallery • Instagram: / medicinemangallery • Valuing Native American Indian Pottery • So, people bring me pottery all the time and a lot of times they go, “Well, how do you know a) what it is and b) what it’s worth?” Well, what it is is (that) I want to know if it's made by hand – a pinch and coil method, or if it's greenware. This makes a huge difference from value because greenware is basically a molded pot. They molded the pot, and it can be Native American made in the sense that a Native American or Indian might have painted it or sanded it, but it's really not what I consider to be handmade. Handmade, to me, means that they've actually got the clay; they cleaned the clay; they pinch and coil method to make the Native American pot, and they hand polish and hand polish, and paint the pot. In the old[en] times it would always be done in an outdoor kiln, but now really a lot of the artists are using a fire kiln because when they have this, then the pots don't break. If you're outside and using a kiln that is in the environment, it becomes a more difficult situation. I will say that the potters that do do that are usually some of the very best potters and their prices are going to be according to using those kind of methods. So, that's one of the things: is it handmade – pinch and coil or is it greenware? Greenware I'm not interested in, and coil – I am. Now, with regards to historic pottery and even contemporary pottery we want to look for condition. Condition is very important. It's okay to have a few things wrong with it, but we need to take some things into consideration. How old is the Indian pot? So, if it's a turn of the century or earlier pot and it's got a few scratches chips, I can live with that. But, if it's a 1960 Maria Martinez it better be in very good condition. I don't want to see things like water damage, which is not uncommon. You'll see those in Maria Martinez pots because they would use flowers in them and humidity would cause the slip or the outer surface to raise up. So, if it's a Maria Martinez, I want to see it in as good a condition as possible. But, I do understand if it's an early pot from the 1940s and before, it's going to have a few scuffs and problems. Other things you want to look for are chips. Little chips are not a problem –even good restoration is not an issue for me, as long as it was done well. You have some scratches – if they're small that's not a big deal, and you can have stress line fractures or firing cracks. Sometimes when they're firing they had a crack, and this has been there since the day the pot (was) made. I do take it in consideration as far as condition, and for price, I also take it into consideration. When I'm going to send a Native American pot, I don't ever want to send a pot if it hasn't been stabilized – that means that the pot has a crack, but we want to put a little glue in it so won't vibrate and break. You can also have cracks on the bottom of the pot. This is not uncommon, but if it does, then it should be included into the cost of the pot. One of the other things you see, especially at Acoma, is spalling. Spalling is when little chips come off of the pot. This is generally done because of the temper. The temper is what keeps the pot from breaking, and if the moisture is still held into the pot over time as it dries, then they can get little pop outs. This is very common in Acoma in the 60s and some of the best potters – Marie Z. Chino and Lucy Lewis – some of (their) pots have lots of spalling. This does affect the price and you want to take this into consideration. So, overall the things you want to realize when you're evaluating a Pueblo pot is: 1) is it handmade and 2) what's the condition? Small things aren't a big deal if it's early on. If it's later they should be in pretty pristine condition. You can look at this video and see some of the examples I've shown that relate to what I'm looking for when I look at Pueblo pottery to evaluate, and what you should look for too.

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