West German pottery: Bay

Three years ago I fell in love with West German pottery of the 1950s through the 1970s, also called "fat lava." Since then, my collection has grown, and I have narrowed my search to pieces by Scheurich, my favorite manufacturer. However, there are a number of other companies that made this type of pottery, and over the next few weeks, I'm going to focus on several of them. The subject of this week's post on West German pottery is Bay Keramik.

Bay was founded in 1933 by Eduard Bay in the western German town of Ransbach-Baumbach. The company was one of the leading art pottery producers from the 1950s until the very early 1970s, and Bodo Mans was perhaps their best known designer. His colorful designs were popular then and are considered highly collectible now.

When identifying Bay pieces, look for white clay and the use of a lower-case Y in the word "Bay" and also in the word "Germany." The name of the company is not always present, but the lower-case Y makes it fairly certain that Bay was the manufacturer.

From fatlava,net, anseta.com and ginforsodditiques.com

1stdibs.com

retropottery.net

pinterest.com - Colleen Abbott

vasekino.net

grahamandco.org

etsy.com - vintage2remember

lamesa.de

ginforsodditiques.com

bungalowbill.com

Vase-o-mania

I've been in a bit of a frenzy lately...a vase-buying frenzy. First, I picked up a beautiful 5 1/2" (13.97 cm) bottle/vase by Giovanni de Simone to display the larger 8" (20.32 cm) one I bought back in February. The new one is signed and dated 1964.

Bottle by Giovanni de Simone

Next, I found a 12" (30.48 cm) West German piece by Bay that I had to have. The shape of that handle and the color combination of brown, green and orange were just too wonderful to pass up.

West German pitcher/vase by Bay

Just when I thought I'd give my eBay account a rest, I saw a spectacular 12" fat lava piece by Scheurich that I wanted, but I thought it was a bit overpriced. Luckily, the listing had the Make Offer feature, so I thought I'd give it a try. To my surprise, I didn't have to wait long for a response. The seller accepted immediately, and I became the proud owner of this lovely vase.

West German fat lava vase by Scheurich

I had a bid in on a Wirkkala Pollo vase...yes, the one that keeps eluding me...but I was outbid.  I am determined to continue my quest for one at a bargain price and won't give up till I get it.

More fat lava

It's a inexplicable phenomenon, but as soon as I learn about something, I start running into it everywhere. Until a couple of weeks ago, I didn't even know that fat lava pottery existed. Then when we went to a furniture auction Thursday night, sitting atop a teak mid-century credenza were two really nice pieces of West German pottery.

By the time lots #206 and #207 came up for bidding, most of the mid-century crowd had gone home, and I was hoping none of the fancy-schmancy antique folks would be interested. Apparently that was the case. The first piece started really low, and although it got a couple of half-hearted bids, I ultimately won it at a very reasonable price.

I was able to get the second piece too...and at an even better price. I'm going to have to research the markings. I think they both might be Scheurich, but I could be wrong. After all, I'm a complete novice at identifying fat lava.

Scheurich?

I think the new ewer it will be beautiful with this pot the SIL picked up recently at an estate sale. 

Fat lava planter by Bay

Fat lava

For quite some time I've been fascinated by brightly colored West German pottery, but I'd never taken time to read about it till my SIL brought some home from an estate sale over the weekend. A cursory search turned up some websites that seemed promising, so I returned to them today for a closer look.

The term "fat lava" is believed to have started as an imprecise translation of "thick lava," describing the heavy, lava-like glaze on some West German pottery. However, it has evolved over time to be an accepted name for a certain type of West German pottery made from the 1950s to the 1970s, which may or may not have the lava glaze.

Mark Hill, the author of Fat Lava (West German Ceramics of the 1960s and 70s), is the expert most often mentioned on the sites I visited. Some of the leading manufacturers were Roth Keramik, Scheurich, Ruscha, Jasba, Dümler & Breiden and Bay.

From midcenturia.com, ginforodditiques.com, fat-lava.com, markhillpublishing.co.uk

stuffgirlslike.net

collectorsweekly.com

classic-modern.com

flickr.com - H is for home photostream

midcenturia.com

petpeoplesplace.com

This stuff is so much fun! Just looking at it makes me smile. I think I'm going to have to be on the lookout for more of it, as well learn much more about it.