S & F Fielding Co. porcelain vase bears lasting value

QI was wondering if you could tell me more about this porcelain vase.
— J.W.
via email

A The S & F Fielding Company is responsible for the manufacture of your lovely porcelain vase. This is designated on the bottom by the S & F Co mark over the crown.

In 1870 Simon Fielding put his life savings into the Railway pottery, Sutherland Street, Stoke-on-Trent company. Within only a short time the company ran into financial difficulties. In 1879 his son Abraham Fielding stepped in and saved the company. The marks found on wares, varied and by 1913 Devon or Crown Devon was incorporated as part of the mark. By 1930 the mark of S & F was completely dropped.

An early ad listed the following items made by the company to include: majolica, and porous ware. As well, jet, green glaze, best Rockingham, fancy goods, and earthenware were part of the line.

Under the leadership of Abraham business flourished. Its success stemming from the production of excellent quality goods offered at the lowest possible prices. At one time 400 employees worked for the company. Of that, 90 skilled hands worked in the decoration department where the flowers and gold gilding of your vase where applied.

Your antique handled porcelain vase with outstanding artwork was made somewhere during the time period of 1890-1913. This was before the Devon or Crown Devon period. Flow blue is also incorporated into the decoration of your vase. The smeared effect of the flow blue is found at the top and bottom on the white porcelain of your vase.

Flow blue was popular between 1830 and 1900 and came into being due to Chinese porcelain being popular but expensive to the masses. Flow blue porcelain met this need and was created. You did not mention any measurements of your porcelain vase but from the photos provided it looks rather huge. I would value your vase at $225 to $275.

Q Until this morning, my wife had an art deco bottle that we knew very little about. It’s now in pieces, and we need to figure out what it was to get some kind of comparables.

It looks in style a lot like some Robj bottles we see online, but it isn’t Parisian; the base is marked “Germany” (appears to be etched into the porcelain by hand) with the number 4659. The bottle was about 9 inches high, and the cork was attached to the underside of the head.

The figure was a man with a top hat, an orange luster jacket, and white pants with thin blue horizontal and vertical stripes.

Any help you can give would be appreciated.

— R.J.
Old Saybrook, Connecticut

A I wish I could tell you that your injured flask decanter was attributed to Robj pottery, produced in Paris, France, between 1920 and 1930; many are worth into the thousands of dollars per item. However, unfortunately in your case the story is a little different.

As you mentioned, your decanter is marked Germany number 4659 and I believe produced a little later than the Robj bottles – perhaps in the 1940s or ’50s. You did mention that you’d like to find comparables and after research I did find two other decanters labeled as Men’s After Shave Cologne bottles, produced in Germany. Both appeared stout in stature as yours, dressed similarly and also with off-to-the-side top hats. The one main distinguishing characteristic linking all three was their interesting “googly eyes.”

Each was listed at $80. I would have attributed this value to yours before it toppled off the table and had a slight accident.