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My Quimper Journey By Mike Hyde Who would guess that a small butter dish would be the start of my Quimper journey? I don’t recall the date exactly, but I do recall the place – Lebanon, Ohio. It was probably around five years ago, and I was shopping some of the antique stores in that area. In one of the shops, a butter dish with a weird flower pattern caught my eye. I picked it up and looked at it, then found the makers mark – EA Quimper – on the bottom. I put it down and continued to browse that store and others before heading off. Back home later that day I did an internet search for the Quimper name to get more information, and that’s when I noticed all the different patterns and types of items that Quimper had been making for all these years. This was intriguing. It was late by this time, but I decided to go back the following day to buy the butter dish. I didn’t know it then, but I had been bitten by the Quimper bug. Here is the first piece of Quimper pottery I purchased. Looking back after all these years, I don’t feel it’s the prettiest piece in my collection at all. Honestly, it’s now one of my least favorite patterns. But okay, I had my first piece of French pottery. What was I going to do now? Although I’ve collected a few things over the years, I’ve certainly never collected anything like French pottery. Realizing that I needed help to get started, I went online and bought myself a couple of books. These are the first books I found. They were about $15 each at the time. After I read these books, I was even more intrigued and wanted to learn more about Quimper. Also, of course, I wanted to see if I could find some of the cool pieces whose pictures I had seen in the books and online. So, I bought more books and investigated more antique stores in my search for Quimper. Like it or not, I was now on the Quimper hunt. Every weekend I ventured out to any and all antique stores within a couple of hours of my house. Once I had bought up most of the pieces I could find locally, I needed to go farther, because now it had become a challenge to see if I could find any cooler pieces. And so almost every weekend we would get up early and head out on the search. Many times, I woke my girlfriend up before 6 AM on Saturday and Sunday, so we could drive for hours in order to be at the first antique store when they opened in the morning. Since those days I have learned to try and plan out my shopping route, and I do a lot of research on the places I am visiting each time. As my girlfriend is a huge Winnie the Pooh fan, concentrating on Eeyore items, we also try to pick up the occasional Eeyore piece for her collection. Our typical day might begin by leaving the house by 6 AM and grabbing some breakfast along the way, in order to be at the first location right when they open. Then, depending on how many antique shops we have on the list, we try to visit them as fast as we can while still trying to enjoy our day out. Some days we can peruse five or ten shops before they close.

I have learned a lot about myself along the way, and one of the main things I’ve learned is that I can’t always have what I want. Some pieces of Quimper can be quite pricey, no surprise to most seasoned collectors, I’m sure. I am just an average guy who happens to like some very expensive pottery, and I must tell myself that I can’t buy everything I see or want. I’ve also learned that an interesting and unusual place to find Quimper is Facebook Marketplace, the new online shopping experience for Facebook users. I’ve found both some great deals and some not so good deals on here. Facebook Marketplace buying comes with a few caveats, however, and one of the main ones is to try to meet the seller in public places, for obvious reasons. If you must meet at their house, ask beforehand if they have a dog. Trust me, being bitten by a dog, as has happened to me, is a pretty big price to pay for a piece of pottery. Another Facebook ploy I’ve learned is to ask if they might have other Quimper pieces they want to sell. This simple question has led me many times to multiple purchases from a seller, and occasionally I’ve managed to purchase a whole collection when it was part of an estate. Whether I’m buying on Facebook Marketplace or any other venue, I always try to be respectful of the owner, who bought and enjoyed the pieces before me, or who acquired them from a loved one and is regretfully unable to keep them. With that being said, I would like to share a few stores about some of the pieces in my collection. I found this candlestick holder on Facebook Marketplace. The seller was a lady who had just gotten married. She was selling everything she owned and moving to Spain to start a new life with her husband. The piece had been in her family for years, but she said that she had no brothers and sisters, so sadly the piece would have to find a new home. This next piece was an eBay purchase. After the item arrived, I found a paper inside the teapot. I reached out to the seller, and she told me the story about her grandmother, the original owner. She had volunteered to go to France to help as a nurse with the war relief during WWI, and she was the person named in the French arrival document inside the teapot. The seller had always loved the teapot but thought it was time to let someone else enjoy it for a while.

I'd like to share this one last story because I am sure some of the readers have met this person in the past. I am sad to say that the world has lost a fellow Quimper collector, Anna Maroney. Anna was one of the workers at the Quimper store in Stonington, Connecticut. I never had the pleasure of meeting her, but she had worked there for years and from what I can tell, she pretty much bought a new piece of pottery every week and added it to her collection. After her passing, one of her family members found me on Facebook and asked if I would help them figure out what she had in her collection, and whether I could give them suggestions about what to do with it. Oh my gosh! I had no idea what I had signed up for. When I first met the family, they knew they would have to sell her collection, not because they didn't want it, but because it takes up a lot of room and it isn't something that a lot of young boys would collect. Ideally, they said, they would prefer it to be sold to someone who wasn't buying it just to make a quick sale at their expense, but someone who would appreciate the collection. I assured them that was not my intention at all, and it has since been my utmost pleasure to work with this family. Yes, I bought Anna's entire collection. After two trips from Ohio to Virginia and back to pick up the massive collection and get it all back home, it took me quite a while to clean the pieces and figure out where to put them all in my house. I noticed all the Christmas ornaments that Anna had collected and I found her Quimper name tag from her time working at the Quimper store in Connecticut. She had two sons, and I am pretty sure that she bought each of them a new Christmas ornament every year for years, because I have two ornaments for each year she worked at the store. I could have just put these ornaments on my Christmas tree each year, but I felt they needed something more. Yeah, my idea might seem a little crazy, but when you have a dining room full of Quimper pottery, why not put a 36-in tall metal Christmas tree in the middle of the table and display it all year long! When I had the idea of the tree, it was my way of not only displaying the ornaments, but also in remembrance of Anna. After finishing the tree by adding all the ornaments and pins and necklaces Anna had collected, along with her Quimper name tag, I shared the pictures of it with her family. They were in tears, knowing that her collection and her passion for Quimper will live on in my collection. If any readers knew Anna from the store and would like to share their stories about her, I would love to hear them. I have a lot of pieces with stories like these. That's one of the bonuses of collecting Quimper - the history in many of the pieces.

I have been asked if I have a favorite piece or style. I love all my pieces, even the first butter dish I bought. I do, however, have a couple of plates that I really like. Maybe it's because I am a veteran and I served in Germany that I like these World War II plates. What speaks to me about these plates is not that I approve of Germany's actions in the war, but the fact that somehow these pieces survived the devastation that happened all over Europe and the rest of the world at that time. I have on occasion had the opportunity to buy pieces from Europe that were made by Quimper before the wars, and I feel they are pieces of history that I am trying to preserve, one piece at a time. One of my favorite styles or color is the style and orange color of the Corbeille design. I don't have a lot of this pattern in my collection, but if I see a piece in this pattern for sale, I typically buy it even if I already have one. (Above): Shelf displaying both Rose Corbeille and Ivoire Corbeille.

Some of the things I have learned from my Quimper collecting are to have fun and enjoy meeting new people and learning their stories, to try not to overspend, and not to get too emotional about the pieces I can’t afford. Another consideration is location pricing. What I mean by that is that the typical selling price of an item being sold varies drastically, depending on where it is located. That is something to keep in mind when buying, selling, or insuring your collection. My Quimper collection might be a little overwhelming to some, mainly because I don’t focus on just one pattern; and I try my hardest to display each piece I have in my 1200+ piece collection. My dining room is where I have the bulk of my pieces. The walls are covered with glass display cases, and above and between and all around them are plate holders on every wall. (Above & left): Two views of the dining room.

Eventually, I ran out of room in the dining room to display things, so I thought: why not put some of the smaller wall hanging items in the hallway? It might have gotten a bit out of hand in here, too, but I still have a little room for a few more pieces. The living room is not too congested – yet! I love the tulipieres and I have my collection of them displayed in there. I had to move them all to the coffee table to get a decent picture of all of them.

Favorites from the collection, or at least a few of them. Massilly Biscuit Tins I do have a liking for the Massilly Quimper biscuit tins and have purchased them from all around the world, including Serbia and Italy. I have over 40 different examples of these tins. This picture shows a few of them. Rose Corbeille and Ivoire Corbeille The Corbeille pattern is probably my favorite style. Something about the round sponge style painted circles with the red dots looks neat. As you can see in the picture some have a pinkish/orange tint, while others have a yellow/cream tint and others are just painted white.

Polka Dot Collection by Quimper artist Renaud Black & Yellow décor I had collected a few of the black and yellow pieces over the years, but when I bought Anna's collection that's when I got over-loaded with them. If you are Quimper collector and a Pittsburg Steelers football fan, then these black and yellow pieces are just what you need. I am a Green Bay Packers fan and maybe that's why I am a huge fan of the green dot pieces in my collection. Swans & Chicks I do like the Jardin Bird style pattern, but I have no clue how I ended up with so many different kind of fowl pieces.

Figurals including saints and candleholders. (Right):The Porquier-Beau pieces, when I saw these come up for auction locally and at a great price (yeah), I left work early to go buy them. I have a few other Porquier-Beau pieces in my collection, but these ones are unique. Porquier Beau embossed terracotta plaques. The pretty in pink pieces. This is another one of my favorite color combinations, mainly because I don’t see it for sale that often. When I do find some if the price is right, I try to pick it up. I considered buying a collection from an online auction during the Covid lock down, but Canada closed the border, so I missed out on a nice collection. If anyone is looking to unload some pink pieces let me know. My Quimper lamp collection, not really sure all of them were originally intended to be lamps, but nevertheless they all work and I’m good with that. The candle stick ones are neat, I am still in need of one with the man figure, so I could have a matching set.

(Above): Salts (Right): Petite Plaques Over the years I have joined pottery groups and forums wherein I have tried to help others who have questions about Quimper ware. I don't consider myself an expert by any means. If I have learned anything about Quimper, it is that I learn new things about it every day, including what kinds of pieces they have produced over the years. And I always am happy to share and educate people about Quimper pottery whenever possible. Right now, I am having a blast traveling all around the eastern part of the USA, collecting new pieces, and looking for that next cool Quimper find. Thanks to: Editor – Nancy Duncan Layout – Lucy Williams