DELDARE WARE - Antique Art Pottery made by BUFFALO POTTERY

Deldare owes it's origin and development to three men. The first of these men is Louis Brown, the first general manager and vice-president of the pottery built by John D. Larkin. He dreamed of an art pottery that would lend prestige to the company and compete with the fine products of the English Staffordshire factories. The second man would be William Rea, a ceramic engineer and first superintendent of the pottery, responsible for developing the Deldare line. The third man is Ralph Stuart, the artist responsible for the illustrations on deldare ware.

Although the pottery was never referred to as DELDARE until 1908, Rea experimented with the formula several years before 1908. To achieve the distinctive olive green color, he devised a mixture whose main ingredients were English Ball Clay and Tennessee Ball Clay, to which was added a certain percentage of oxide of chrome. Helping Rea in his development of the Deldare body formula was George H. Wood, who was superintendent of the clay shop. Wood was a man of many talents....besides being a potter and chemist, he was also a chiropractor, musician, artist, author and photographer. Just another member of Buffalo Pottery that could wear many hats!

"Deldare" pertains only to the solid body color of ceramic pieces ..... the destinctive olive green color.... and when chipped the color will be seen throughout. Some items in this body color were produced that are not of the Deldare pottery line...these pieces were earlier items before 1908 or early in 1908 and are known as "specials". It is thought these specials were made by special request and tend to be considered RARE. Three pitchers are known to have been made in the Deldare body...the Robin Hood, the Landing of William Rogers and the Pilgrim pitchers have all been found in the Deldare body and decorated in a similar fashion to the Deldare line, but not marked with the Deldare Ware mark. Some of these pieces are dated as early as 1906. All these pieces today are highly sought after by Deldare collectors.

The scenes used to decorate the Deldare line of Art Pottery came from original drawings of a man named Ralph Stuart. Stuart, Brown and Rea spent hours in the Buffalo Public Library poring over books to find suitable subjects to be adapted for use on the Deldare Ware pieces. Stuart made sketch after sketch with their guidance and recommendations.

Among the series of decorations these men created to be used on Deldare Ware is the popular series referred to as the FALLOWFIELD HUNT, depicting fox hunters on horseback with hounds. Another popular early series sprang up around illustrations taken from the famous English Classic, The Vicar of Wakefield and include scenes from Village Life and the Lion Inn. A later series featured the Dr. Syntax tours.

Artist's names and initials can be found on most pieces of Deldare. The Deldare artists were responsible for mixing their own colors. When the color applications were completed the pieces were stacked on stilts to avoid smearing the paint and fired in a kiln to set the colors. After firing, they were removed from the kiln and glazed with a clear glaze and refired. Each color was put on a Deldare piece according to a rigidly prescribed pattern. The decorator only could vary his design in the painting of white clouds....those were at the artist's discretion.

The bulk of early Deldare was made from 1908 to 1910. A completely new and different type of Deldare was introduced in 1911 called "Emerald Deldare". It is perhaps the most sought after and finest example of all the Deldare pottery ever produced....and it commands the highest pieces. It is in very short supply however and is only known to have been produced in 1911. Deldare was discontinued after 1911 except for a few experimental and special order pieces. It was not reissued for a dozen years until after WWI ended. Deldare again appeared in 1923,24 and 25. In 1922-23 Deldare made it's sole appearance as a probable Larkin premium in the Larkin fall and winter catalog. But the publics interest had apparently wained and no known following catalogs carried the line again.

Deldare ware is treasured for its beauty of color and for its interesting and classical decorations. Today it is sought after for its investment value. Since it was produced in limited quantity over a very short period of time there exists enough items to make the line a competative collectible and available, but limits the availability so prices have remained stable.

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