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What’s Happening in the Transferware Database?

By Connie Rogers, General Editor
April 2008

I want to discuss two aspects of the work being done in the TCC Database by our editors.

1) Quantity of patterns
2) Quality of research and depth of information

Quantity of patterns

Those of you who visit the TCC website regularly will be familiar with the messages to be found under Club News. The message of particular interest here is this one:

As of April 1, 2008, there are 2207 patterns in the database. 100 per month is the goal we are meeting with our current roster of editors. The numbers change monthly.

Quality of research and depth of information

The Database

Wes Palmer, editor of the American Themes category, has added another editor in the category: Len Kling, who helps supply historical perspective and information to the patterns. See American Themes/Highlands Hudson River for an example. Wes has been adding Source Prints to many of the patterns in the category. These have been kindly contributed by Margie J. Williams, author of American Historical English Pink. Some prints are in black and white, but others are in full color. See Water Works Philadelphia – Stevenson as well as the view by Jackson. The source print can be found in both entries.

Rita Robbins is becoming acclimated to the world of computers in general and the database in particular as she has begun adding patterns in the Aesthetic Category.

Colin Parkes, our editor for British Themes got intrigued with the Vermicelli pattern of Don Pottery. There are many small vignettes found in the pattern that are unnamed by any authors, including John Griffin who wrote the definitive book on Don Pottery. Colin has studied the various pieces illustrated in Griffin as well as in Coysh and Henrywood and various FOB Bulletins and has identified 12 different vignettes used in the Vermicelli pattern. Three of these vignettes are illustrated and discussed in British Themes/Rural and Genre. All 12 vignettes are documented in the information given in ‘Vermicelli – Don #1’.

Colin believes that one of the primary strengths in the TCC database is the number of unrecorded patterns that are now entered. This, more than anything else should attract researchers and collectors of transferware to the database.

The Database and beyond

Judie Siddall, our editor for Animal patterns has added many source prints for animals found in “Zoological Sketches” and the “Quadrupeds” Series, in particular. She also enters a lot of floral and children’s patterns in the database. In the current TCC Bulletin (Winter 2008) on page 4, you will read of the New Attribution Judie was able to make of Fruit and Flowers pattern to Davenport. The combination of an importer’s mark, a “hidden” Davenport impressed mark and finding a clearly marked Davenport example of Fruit and Flowers pattern already entered in the database by DeeDee Dodds gave Judie the support she needed to assign this previously unattributed pattern to Davenport. It is clearly a matter of “going the extra mile” for Judie to pull the information together to present her findings in the TCC Bulletin to share with our members.

Michael Sack has entered a number of the Chinoiserie Tea Patterns in the database that were featured in his lecture at the convention in Hartford in October. He will resume that activity later this spring after other commitments are cleared away.

Loren Zeller, our president and co-editor with me of the Chinoiserie category has recently prepared an interesting paper for publication in the Friends of Blue Bulletin from his research on The Chinese Raft pattern, a variation of the pattern and similar pattern: Chinese Raftman and Ruins. All three are entered in the database under Chinoiserie/Pictures with Chinese Influence.

Current Editors of the Database:
Aesthetic Patterns: Rita Robbins
American Themes: Wes Palmer, Len Kling
Animal Patterns: Judie Siddall
British Themes: Colin Parkes
Chinoiserie: Connie Rogers, Loren Zeller
Indian and Oriental: Michael Sack
Romantic Themes: DeeDee Dodd

Unassigned Categories:
The Arts, Children’s Subjects, European Themes, Floral and Botanical

Any questions? Photos to send? Volunteer?

Please contact me anytime: Connie Rogers, General Editor

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