Beautiful Pots
Welcome to BeautifulPots.co.uk, the website of Peter Critchley and Ferndale Antiques.
Peter has been collecting pottery and porcelain for many years, and has now written a book which can be ordered through this website. The book, "A Collectors Guide to British Porcelain", provides a definition of terms like stoneware, hard paste porcelain and soft paste porcelain, as well as a guide to shapes and styles of decoration of ceramic items. The book also provides 100 examples of cups, saucers and plates made over the last 250 years. Read more...
This website also contains photographs of some items from Peter's collection, which ranges in date from 1760 to 1960. The photographs are divided into two time periods - 1760 to 1815, which represents the main development of the British porcelain industry, and 1818 to 1875, which represents the best era of hand-painted quality English bone china. Read more...
To assist collectors and connoisseurs this website also contains a list of Useful Links to other websites. Read more...
The author, Peter Critchley, with a plate by John Yates (1825)
The author with a beautiful pot that is a new addition to his collection. The plate was made by John Yates about 1825 and has the mistletoe and oak leaf pattern around the rim. The diameter of the dessert plate is 228 mm.
The Author and his Collection
The story goes back to my childhood, when I was sent to the English Lake District during the Second World War. I lived in the house of an adopted uncle who had many antiques, including furniture, silver, glass and porcelain.
He also had a library, and I was curious to find out more about different items in the house. It was often lonely in the evening so I read books. There was no TV and the nearest cinema was 7 miles away with a bus every two hours! After the war I visited my grandfathers pawnbrokers store on many occasions and found more curios.
When my grandma died she left me a set of jugs that I classified as Allerton and Sons. I started to collect other pieces of Allerton pottery, and then I branched out into pretty pieces of porcelain.
I have spent all my life in scientific research, in industry and later at university, so when I retired I wanted to do something that combined my hobby of collecting porcelain with research to identify the age and origin of the pieces that I had collected.
I visited most of the museums that house a good collection of pottery and porcelain; I also visited houses owned by the National Trust. I collected a library of reference books, many of which are now out of print, and articles on antique pottery and porcelain which I have studied in depth. I go regularly to sales, and I know and talk to many of the dealers who sell porcelain.
Armed with this background, I wanted to share some of my knowledge with other people who find antique porcelain beautiful, so I wrote my book with a particular emphasis on affordable collectables.
Contact Me
Tel: 01926 856 998
Email: peter@beautifulpots.co.uk