Flyer and Photographs from the
2004 New York Ceramics Fair,
January 14-18, 2004

Review of the 2004 Ceramics Fair,
and Luster Pottery by Paul J. Katrich,
Posted in the April, 2004, Edition of
The Maine Antique Digest

The New York Ceramics Fair
by Lita Solis-Cohen

NEW YORK CITY -- In five years the New York Ceramics Fair has become a traditional part of Americana Week in New York City. Since 2000, it has opened with a preview party the night before the Winter Antiques Show. When the American Folk Art Museum opened The American Antiques Show on the same night in 2002, some collectors rushed through one show to get to the other. To remedy that inconvenience, the Ceramics Fair opened on Tuesday January 13, this year. Everyone who read the ads carefully were pleased with the scheduling. Many arrived early and stayed and shopped.

Americans like this show because of its diversity. Robert Hunter of Yorktown, Virginia, sold a broad range of ceramics from English creamware to American salt-glazed stoneware. Teresa and William Kurau of Lampeter, Pennsylvania, jam their cases with English wares made for the American market, including historical blue Staffordshire. They have a following. The Stradlings of New York City sold a range of 18th- and 19th-century American pottery and porcelain to collectors and museums.

Despite the fact that the Museum of Arts & Design put together the loan exhibition, dealers in contemporary ceramics were disappointed with the amount of interest, with one exception. Paul Katrich of Dearborn, Michigan, who specializes in works with luster glazes in the tradition of 20th-century art pottery, brought 42 pieces to the fair and sold all but 12 of them for prices ranging from a few hundred dollars to $3000.