COMPLIMENTARY COPY
Published Weekly By Joel Sater Publications www.antiquesandauctionnews.net
VOL. 42, NO. 49 FRIDAY DECEMBER 9, 2011
Haeger - 140 Years Of Wildly Popular Pottery leek. Sinuous. Colorful and cutting edge. Timeless, trim of line, and, above all, thoroughly modern. How many 140-year-olds can make that claim? Well, Haeger Potteries, for one. Founded in 1871, the Dundee,
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the Great Chicago Fire, his firm turned out bricks by the bushelsful, all needed to replace decimated Chicagoland structures. For the next thirty years or so, industrial production remained the primary emphasis of the thennamed “Haeger Brick and Tile Company”. Although some decorative flowerpots were produced in
The famous Haeger panther, a Royal Hickman design, Ebony Glaze. This large “Panther Lamp” with leopard shade, on a wood base, dates from the early 1940s. 20 inches high by 28 inches wide, $225 to $275.
“Thunder and Lightning,” Walnut Glaze, 1954. A lively and rare figurine, as the horses jump through a stylized lightning bolt. 17-1/2 inches high, $300 to $500. (Figurine & photo courtesy of Ann Mulhollan)
first piece: a “Classic Greek Vase” (later reproduced, in a gold-highlighted limited edition, for the company’s 100th anniversary in 1971.) From the very beginning, Haeger was distinguished by its starry roster of designers, often wooed away from competing firms. First up: J. Martin Stangl, glaze wizard for Fulper, until hired by Edmund. As Haeger’s ceramics engineer from 1914 until the dawn of the Roaring 1920s, Stangl performed the same magic he had
Stangl and his Haeger contemporaries was on classically simple, uncluttered Arts & Crafts stylings. Haeger’s roster of pots, jugs, vases, bowls, and candleholders all proved big hits with buyers. Interim designers kept the Haeger kilns busy until the 1924 arrival of Franz Koenig. By then, Art Deco was just beginning to emerge as the latest design trend; that position would be solidified by the Paris Exposition of 1925. Soon, Jazz Age consumers wanted more than just the soothing sim-
Illinois, firm this year celebrates the early 1900s, it wasn’t until 140 years of pottery-making. Over 1914 that the company, under the the years, Haeger has successfully leadership of David’s son and smoothly moved from the util- Edmund, turned its itarian to the decorative. Whether attention to artware. freshly minted, or from the vintage Industrial Art vaults, Haeger creations continue According to popto provide what advertisements ular lore, Edmund’s from the early 1950s called “a decision to refocus galaxy of exquisite designs. . . Haeger was inspired visual achievements symbolizing by a look at art potexpert craftsmanship and pottery- tery created by making knowledge.” employee Fred Rieke, With 140 years of experience a talented German to back them up, who can argue? potter. No doubt One Brick At A Time equally persuasive: Today’s collectors are particu- the burgeoning popularly captivated by the modernistic larity of the Arts and Haeger output of the 1940s and Crafts movement. Its 1950s - from “panther” TV lamps emphasis was on the and figurines of exotic Oriental artistically handmade An Eric Olsen “Lion,” Desert Red Glaze, 1950. 6-1/2 inches high by 16-1/2 inches long, maidens, to chomping-at-the-bit - and what could be $225 to $275. statuary of rearing wild horses and more artistic than snorting bulls. But the Haeger hand-crafted, (albeit mass-pro- worked at Fulper: steering a com- plicity of Arts and Crafts. What story began long before the days duced), pottery? Soon, the repur- pany away from industrial produc- they wanted was a riot of color, of the much-publicized Royal posed (and rechristened) “Haeger tion, and into the creation of art- and Haeger was happy to oblige, Hickman, and his equally talented, Potteries Inc.” was on its way. The ware. The design emphasis of thanks to Koenig’s inventive glaze expertise. if perhaps less Haeger Potteries well-known sucreached its earliest cessor, Eric Olsen. zenith with a pavilion It began in fact, at the 1934 Chicago with a fire. In World’s Fair, A Chicago. In 1871. Century of Progress. That’s right. You Fair-goers, (and there know the one I’m were millions of talking about. them), became Company acquainted with the founder David Haeger name thanks Haeger had recentto the exhibit. It ly purchased a included, in addition budding brickyard on the banks of “Panther Tail Dragging,” Amber Crystal Glaze, 1949. The tail of this Royal Hickman design was prone to to home environment Dundee’s Fox breakage. In later versions, the tail curls up and makes contact with the back heel for greater stability. 5- settings decked out with Haeger, an actual River. Following 1/2 inches high by 29 inches long, $225 to $275.
working factory. Once visitors had viewed the step-by-step pottery production process, how could they could resist picking up a piece of Haeger on the way out, (and purchasing plenty more after returning home?) Royal Prerogatives The World’s Fair brought Haeger to America’s attention but its grandest days of glory were still ahead. 1938 saw the promotion of Edmund Haeger’s forwardthinking son-in-law Joseph Estes to General Manager, the arrival of equally forward-thinking designer Royal Arden Hickman, and the introduction later that year of the wildly popular “Royal Haeger” line. (The “Royal” moniker, Estes always insisted, came about by accident. He’d been thinking along the lines of “Royal Doulton;” only after hiring his new designer did he learn of Hickman’s unusual first name. Although Royal Hickman departed Haeger in the mid-1940s, the “Royal Haeger” name remained.) Much has been written about the multi-talented Hickman. An Oregon native, he was equally at home creating in crystal, wood, aluminum, (and a dizzying array of other source materials), as he was in creating pottery. Snapped up by Haeger after stays at J.H. Vernon, Kosta Crystal, and his own Ra Art, Hickman quickly made his mark. Gone were any Old World remnants of earlier years. No more Haeger planters depicting winsome cherubs, dozing donkeys, and storks en route to the delivery room. Replacing them were leaping fish, birds taking wing, and a ubiquitous snarling black panther. (Since, the Haeger panther was so widely imitated by other ceramics firms, and was only distinguished by a paper label, it’s often hard to determine the Hickman original. Two clues to look for: hooded eyelids, and absolutely no embellishments). (Continued on page 2)