Where it all started....

We spent most of a day touring the Medalta Museum in Medicine Hat.  We were very lucky and had a guided tour of the displays, the work area and even got to view the storage room where they keep all the non-displayed pieces. 

I can only imagine how hard the people worked in the factory and the conditions they worked in.  It must have been very hot working around the kilns, loading and unloading the pottery.  I admire the people that toiled so hard in those conditions to produce the pieces of pottery that we now collect.  From getting the clay ready right through to the hand painting of pieces, it was hard work with little mechanization available. 

The variety of pieces produced from the very utilitarian crocks to the very beautiful hand painted vases to the advertising pieces or the children's dishes, I am sure you could find Medalta in many homes in Western Canada.

The Friends of Medalta are to be commended for their tireless work to restore and maintain such an amazing part of Medicine Hat and Canadian History.

Play Hide and Seek.....

As we start planning a get away we are looking to places we might find a new piece of Medalta.  It has been fun playing hide and seek and it is surprising the places we have found some of the harder to find pieces.
















We have been to antique flea markets in Minnesota, and antique shows in a couple of provinces and we always look for antique stores where ever we go.



















There are other places we look every time time we get a chance and leave our name and contact information every place we stop.  It has been an adventure for us researching and planning places to stop, people to see and trying to imagine where we might find another treasure.
























We have found Medalta in Canada, Minnesota, Iowa, Montana, California and as far away as the United Kingdom.  Sometimes it is hard to imagine how pieces from Alberta made their way to the United Kingdom, places such as Montana are a little easier to understand as they are at least on the same continent.  It is even more amazing to attend a flea market with more than 285 vendors and finding a Manitoba advertising pitcher!



And the search continues........

The Animals....

We have collected a few of the animal planters, mostly in a plain white glaze.  Some of them have paint left on their faces and some do not or maybe did not have any to start with.  I love the expressions on their faces, no matter when I see them they make me smile.












I am always amazed at how different the same piece looks with a different glaze or coloring, they have the same shape and size but that is where it ends.  The same swan planter in a fairly plain glaze looks very different than one that is colored.






























Some of our pieces were made by Medalta and some were made by Medicine Hat Potteries,












It's not hard to imagine one of these planters sitting at a hospital bedside filled with bright colors to cheer up someone special.








Like so many other things I am always amazed at how pieces like these have survived in such great condition for as many years as they have.  We still have a few more to find but the fun is always in the time spent looking and the people we meet along the way.























And the search continues..........

Marvelous Miniatures.......

       



           








I have always liked objects that are a smaller version of a larger size.   Once again the yellow measuring stick is seen in the photos and that is so we can see the size without using something else in the photograph to compare for size.

                   These 2 jugs are the same size even though one does appear to be larger than the other one.  As the printing on the jugs show they were each made by a different pottery companyies.







We had read about Medalta miniature jugs, crocks, chamber pots and butter churns.  We found one jug and then found the butter churn, unfortunately it does not have the lid but is still a very  nice piece to display and someday we may be lucky enough to find one with a lid.

Since then we have added a few more miniatures and the nice part is they don't take up as much room as the full size pieces.  And they are rather cute!





















                                     



The hardest thing when you find that elusive piece to not let anyone know how excited you are to actually find it, after all who wants anyone to see them cheering, jumping and celebrating a great find.  One of the best things about shopping from home is that no one else can see the "happy dance" when you actually finding a piece that is really exciting!








And the search continues..............

Different Stamps

There is a great reference book that lists the stamps and marks that Medalta used for their products.  It is easy to follow and there are pictures of the stamps with a year range to match the marks.






It has been interesting to collect different pieces and check the marks to see if we can come up with a date range for when it was produced.














We have found pieces with imprinted marks, oxide stamps, a white stamp on top of the paint, paper labels and sometimes a couple different marks.

Sometimes you have to look really close or feel the bottom of the piece or even move it to catch a reflection from light to see what is impressed in the bottom of the piece.  Someone told us it depended how often they had used the mold and the more it was used the less of an impression was left on the bottom.






 There are still lots of pieces that have no mark at all, so it is important tot handle various pieces to feel the weight, color, shape and all the little things that make Medalta unique.

Then of course there are the marks from some of the other companies that produced pottery in south eastern Alberta.







We still don't know all the numbers of vases and the decoration numbers and names but the more we see them and read about them the more we learn and remember.  It can be frustrating to look at something and try to remember if we have one in our collection or not, so we have starting carrying an electronic album with us as a reference.





And the search continues..........

Hickory, Dickory........Old King Cole......

It really is a child's world, even Medalta made wonderful dishes for children complete with nursery rhymes and pictures.  Imagine being a young child and sitting down to eat and finding something like that on the bottom of you bowl!
















We have found a couple different styles of bowls and plates all have wonderful graphics that would appeal to the not only the children but the grandparents as well.



 I say grandparents because I am sure that there were times the parents were working so hard to make ends meet that it would the grandparents to find the joy in such a simple thing.






In the 1930-40 time period when most things were very utilitarian a child's dish must have been quite a novelty and not found in every household.  What fun pieces to collect and hunt for!

 And the search continues.........