John Moran Auctioneers’s recent auction featured a pottery vase which made much more than the estimate.
The vase, designed and made by Frederick Hurten Rhead and his wife Agnes, is 18 inches and features a peacock and tree branches. Rhead taught at the People’s University in University City, Missouri, a school dedicated to promoting women’s art. He designed many pieces in his lifetime, including Homer Laughlin China Co.’s Fiestaware, still popular today.
It was purchased in 1910 and given to a family in Iowa City, Iowa. Descendants of the family recently discovered it and decided to put it to auction. It sold for $570,000 – five times the estimated price!
Courtesy of Kovels