Crowning glory: A passion for crockery

Valerie Ringer displays a teapot, sugar bowl and milk jug from the Vermicelli range, in front of Crown Lynn plates. Pictures / Babiche Martens

Crown Lynn is a New Zealand institution. Valerie Ringer Monk is a collector whose enthusiasm for picking up Crown Lynn crockery means much of it has to stay in boxes, although you wouldn't know it looking at the amount of Crown Lynn on display in her partner's Auckland home.

Then, there's the stash in her Whangarei house and the motorhome.

Her first dinner set, Yucatan, was a wedding present and she's spent 20 years trawling secondhand stores for the stuff. She's particularly partial to the ginger cups she used to pay 20c for and which sell now for $7. Her friends thought they were ugly.

The journalist and Crown Lynn specialist has spent two years writing and researching Crown Lynn: A New Zealand Icon, the definitive story of the what was once the biggest pottery producer in the Southern Hemisphere, with 500 staff turning out 15 million pieces a year before the factory closed in 1989. You'd be hard-pressed to find a New Zealander over 20 who has never eaten off the stuff.

Monk managed to interview the founder, the late Sir Tom Clark, for the book, as well as a number of former employees. The book also contains the first complete catalogue of Crown Lynn's backstamps.

Who lives here?

This house belongs to my partner George Irwin. We both live here. I have a house in Whangarei which we will go back to live in at some stage.

How would you describe your home?

Built in 1951, it still retains that 1950s style. It is small, roughcast, cosy, easy to live in, in the quiet backwater of Beach Haven.

What's your decorating style like?

Definitely not House & Garden magazine. We have decorated this house to please ourselves. I like the 1950s style of the house, and both George and I tend towards clutter - we pick things up mainly from secondhand shops and display them around the house, then one day I get sick of all the clutter and put things in boxes and store them and the whole cycle begins again.

What makes it home?

It is home because we live happily in it, and because it is decorated in a way which pleases us both, though George does sometimes grumble quietly when he feels overwhelmed by Crown Lynn.

What do you collect?

Mainly Crown Lynn, but also other junk-shop items. For about the past 15 years I have picked up bits of Crown Lynn from secondhand shops, and ended up with a stack of plates and other bits and pieces. When I started writing my book, I began collecting it in earnest. I discovered that many are not backstamped with Crown Lynn - they are marked with odd backstamps like Gigi British, Kelston Ware, Covent Garden, Fancy Fayre Salad Ware - to name a few. By the time we were ready to photograph for the book I had a fairly comprehensive collection, though some of the more expensive and rare pieces in the book are from the Auckland Museum collection and other sources.

How do you display it?

To tell the truth, much of my collection is in boxes. In the small spare room there are so many boxes you can hardly move. I have more boxes in storage in Northland. We simply don't have the space to display my collection. We use Crown Lynn dinner sets and cups and jugs in our kitchen and in the motorhome, and I have an eclectic array of plates and cups in my caravan in the Far North. When the motorhome hit a large bump and the cupboard door wasn't properly secured, we lost four plates, so I turned them into mosaic planters. In this house, we have bits of Crown Lynn on every available level and plates hung on the wall, as well as hanging outside. I keep buying new bits so the display is always changing. I do know collectors who have entire rooms occupied with shelves but I have so far managed to avoid that.

What would your advice be to someone starting a Crown Lynn collection?

Read my book first, then have a look on TradeMe where you get a feel for the range of Crown Lynn products, and for what is collectible and valuable. Take note of the number of different backstamps they used. The best places to find Crown Lynn are the charity shops, such as the Salvation Army and the Hospice shops, various car-boot sales and street markets. The dealers will have been there before you, so you are unlikely to find any bargains. Collect what takes your fancy. The best pieces are those which look new; worn or damaged items are unlikely to give you pleasure in the long run. Enjoy your Crown Lynn and don't be afraid to use it. But think twice before putting it in the dishwasher.

What do you collect aside from Crown Lynn?

I have a leaning toward ceramics and pick up other pieces when I see something I like. We also have a growing collection of piggy banks started by George in self-defence and a few ceramic clowns. Then there is my tendency to buy kitchen storage jars.

What is your best buy?

A tea set which was hand-painted in gold by Doris Bird in the early 1950s. I bought it in the Browns Bay market for $15 earlier this year. I was astonished at my good fortune, although it's not on the same scale as the dealer who bought a platter decorated by Frank Carpay from a garage sale in Thames. He paid $10 and sold it on TradeMe for $4560. This is a very rare event.

What's your most treasured possession?

My preferences change as I buy new items. At the moment I am very happy to own a ball-handled teaset - cup and saucer, jug and sugar bowl - designed by Dorothy Thorpe in the 1960s. It is an astonishing and very stylish design. I bought it for a scary amount of money from my favourite antique dealer as a reward after the book had gone to print.

* Crown Lynn: A New Zealand Icon by Valerie Ringer Monk (Penguin, $45) is published on Monday.