Finding information on Ceramics/ Help with ID

[kblackfoto]

Greetings,
I'm in the process of selling some items I've collected from thrift shops over the years and need help knowing how to ID them. I am opening a small online shop where I will post them for sale. With each item, I want to include an insert with some interesting history surrounding the object. My biggest hurdle is finding the time period the piece was made. Does anyone know of the best online resource to find this information?

Here is one I am currently researching:

Supposedly it's Mid-Century but wanted to clarify and get some more information about it.

Thanks if anyone can help!

Mid Century Green Glazed Terracotta Base Handle Pottery Pitcher: Marked Handwerk 7/15 At Base And ALT WESTER WALD On Side
(bought for 15 bucks at a local online auction)

 

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[Red-Coat]

Hi, and welcome to Tnet

There are dozens of good sites for pottery identification and Google will easily find them for you but, to be honest, I don’t think there’s a single resource on the net which comprehensively covers pottery of all periods and types from all countries/regions. There are some (expensive and in multiple volumes) specialist reference books which do, but even those aren’t generally much use if you’re researching vintage-modern studio pottery because there have been so many small producers who have escaped documentation. The other problem is that you often need a certain level of experience to narrow down the age, type and country of origin of pottery you have to help determine where you should be looking for the marks you can see. Google is then your friend.

For those reason, I have long used a combination of reference books and stored downloaded articles, pdf files and such that have formed an ever-growing personal library over the years. I then Google for additional information or to confirm dates and names once I know what I have. Even then, I’m relying on a fair amount of personal knowledge to know where to start looking in the first place.

The jug you’re showing is from the “Westerwald” region of Germany noted for the traditional production of salt-glazed stoneware now generically known by that name, and referred to on the jug as “ALT WESTERWALD” (literally “old Westerwald”) which is what you have. The mark “HANDWERK” just means “handicraft”. One of the main producing towns in that area was “Höhr”, which is what it says below the mark that looks like crossed swords. Note that the ‘sword handles’ are in the form of the stylised letters ‘D’ and ‘B’, which is a mark used by Dümler & Breiden whose factory was in Höhr.

It’s a post-WWII mark and was used until 1980, after which the full names of “Dümler & Breiden” were used up until production stopped in 1995. Your piece is probably before 1971 since Höhr has been the collective municipality of Höhr-Grenzhausen since then. In the 1950s and 1960s D&B were one of West Germany’s leading ceramic companies. Older pieces (they had been producing since 1883) can be quite sought after, as well as some of the more recent pieces carrying desirable artist/designer signatures, but not tremendously valuable. The numbers inscribed alongside the mark will likely be production control reference numbers that won't lead you to a more precise date.