Belleek Four Strand Rathmore Basket - 5th period | ||
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Posted 8 years ago
live.eclec…
(63 items)
This is another recent acquisition from a Montana auction and a beauty. This one is a custom order during the 1980s. There are 2 pads on the bottom with "Belleek (R)" on one pad and "Ireland C1" on the other. There is no loss on any component of the basket - mint condition, which is always hard to find on the baskets given their delicate nature.
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How intricate details !!! stunning !
Just wonderful!...:-)
Nice Rathmore Basket ("the king of all Belleek baskets," with the "Oval Covered Basket" being considered the queen [and most modern day designs being the joker]). :)
The "C1" after the word Ireland indicates this was made between 1985 to 1989. During this period Belleek added a short-lived numbering scheme where a unique number was added after the word IRELAND, and by which the owner could contact the pottery, give them the number, and find out exactly when the basket was made, the name of the maker and painter, etc.
It proved more trouble than it was worth, however, and the unique numbering scheme was abandoned in less than five years.
I'm not sure which copy of The Belleek Collector mentions this, but it's in there somewhere (at the end of 1984 or beginning of 1985, I imagine). The Belleek Collector is the newsletter of the Belleek Collectors' Society (BCS), later renamed the Belleek Collector's International Society (BCIS), and is accessible online at Belleek's Irish version of their site. You can become a member for free now and access these newsletters:
http://www.belleekpottery.ie/Company-Info/Collectors-Society/
@upscalebohemian Awesome info thanks! I became a member a few months ago and have digital copies of most "The Belleek Collector" and the UK Collector newsletters - haven't gotten through all of them, but will be on the lookout for that info.
I was pretty happy to pick this up for $1150 at auction - so hard to find baskets with no damage.
I'm not sure what this cost by 1985-89 when it was made, but I have the 1983 price list and it's listed (exactly) as:
0587-11 C Rathmore Oval Basket Ptd 17 $5500.00
The first number is the item number.
The "C" is the code for "Collectors’ Editions (Made to Order)"
17 is the page number of the catalog
And the astounding price is in U.S. dollars.
Belleek was wildly expensive in the 1980s, and is so much easier to buy now. I never thought I'd have the wide variety of just about every basket in plain and pearlescent finish and the Echinus and other tea sets I have today that I could only look at in pictures back in the 1980s and later. In the 1980s the trays for the tea sets were always about $1,000 if you could miraculously find one (there was no eBay back then). Today $400 or so for those still rare trays.
What would this be valued at today?