Blue Plaques

Now this is the sort of person blue ceramic plaques should commemorate: -

http://www.wakefieldexpress.co.uk/news/local-news/blue-plaque-for-prolific-pottery-collector-william-alfred-ismay-1-6366175

I don't think the person who made the comment at the bottom of the page would agree though!

Only 3600 items, in a terraced house? he wasn't trying!  I'm surely not far behind..

I got very close to that in just 6 or 7 years but thankfully the number is now shrinking steadily

I think most of us on here have had that many over the years , just didn't hang on to them all , not really practical for most folks to have all the floor space filled with pots , but then he wasn't most people and that was his bag , as for a blue plaque ..well no harm in it i suppose but the majority of people wouldn't have a clue .

i think a ceramic plaque is very apt, pitty it wasn't thrown by a potter that William liked

I just read that the early ones were Minton, then Doulton and now Poole

dantheman wrote:I just read that the early ones were Minton, then Doulton and now Poole

Are you saying they are steadily getting worse?

actually I was, the next ones will have gold pen scribble all over them and will be made in Longton

I believe the that the person who made Studio's "Shoddy Hamada teabowl" has got the commission

He started in 1955. 3600 over say 40 years? That is x2 a week ...every week ....no ebay

A number of years ago I did visit a couple, Frank and Sue Ashworth, who lived in Blackheath S. E. London who did make a significant number of the blue plaques for the Greater London Council and then English Heritage during the 1980s/1990s.

They made pots as well but I don't recall being impressed. I think that they have both passed away now.

22 Crawford St. wrote:He started in 1955. 3600 over say 40 years? That is x2 a week ...every week ....no ebay

I just checked and Bill bought his last pot from me during my Mike Dodd exhibition on 4th November 2000 and died on 13th January 2001.

He was in hospital at the time so couldn't get down to London for the Private View and I had to send him photographs - not just of the pots that were available but where they were on the shelves. At my exhibitions that he attended he would always bring his large camera along to photograph the pot(s) he bought in situ and was always first in the queue. That despite being around ninety years old and having to travel down to S. E. London from Wakefield and then return that evening.

Keeping records, buying only what he liked and the best that he could afford, together with never selling anything from the collection was what he was about.

Not only no Ebay but he didn't buy from auction and almost always from exhibitions. He didn't drive but managed using public transport.

Good for him, I say. I like seeing Blue Plaques, it's history for the masses.

His collection is full of outstanding pots , no question about it and great that he didn't sell on ( hence the great collection ) I personally have no qualms about selling on at times as funds are not endless and I like change as well ) , not a big fan of the blue plaque brigade though , see them everywhere , one in our village to some author or other , a "van gogh lived here" in Islesworth , jeez where didn't he live ? Dickens resided here is another in portsmouth , what next ? a paving stone marked - "Justin Beiber tripped and fell on his arse here "

Maybe they should be reserved for the houses of people who collected studio pottery. So what would you put on yours?

I wouldn't have anything , except "no cold callers" don't see the point of these sort of awards in any shape or form , knighthoods etc , plaques load o nonsense so it is , it's given by tossers to other tossers , witness the pervs who have been honoured over the yrs it's like a who's who to avoid , 7 billion people in the world all shouting remember me ... geeza plaque

In London they are running the Talking Statues scheme, where celebs record a tract from/about the famous person depicted by the statue, and you can hear it by pressing a plaque by the piece.
Although if it's on your own house, I can imagine it would get a bit tiresome after a while.

I like the plaques. they are a tiny reminder that we have a great history. They always make me think and I look up the names I see. I'm sure the new owners of the house are happy to have it. I would be honored to live in his house with a blue plaque.... but I would have all the floorboards up just in case

NaomiM wrote:In London they are running the Talking Statues scheme, where celebs record a tract from/about the famous person depicted by the statue, and you can hear it by pressing a plaque by the piece.
Although if it's on your own house, I can imagine it would get a bit tiresome after a while.