| Kevin Francis Face Pots | |
| What is a Face Pot? |
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At the I.C.E. in Anaheim, Kevin Pearson and the Face Pot booth was always very busy. It was interesting that it was not only collectors or dealers that were looking at the pieces, but numerous artists from other lines were intrigued by the pieces and kept stopping to look at them -- a high compliment indeed! The Face Pot website tells how they came about "The idea was inspired by a 18C Japanese Netsuke design. The combination of the best of British pottery with traditional Netsuke style has really created something rather special. Delightfully appealing to the eye, each Face Pot has a presence that is unique and form suitable for any display. Inherently collectible they will grace any collection." Pearson has found the way to appeal to collectors and our desire to amass complete collections -- special colorations and variations on the pieces are done and then randomly shipped to dealers! For instance, 100 of each release will have a gold backstamp which is released only during the first six months of production. Different colors are used as in the case of the special Blue Santa. The Santa 2000 Face Pot was retired with an edition of 496, but eighteen of those Santas were done in Blue. All of these can only be found on the secondary market now, but be ready to spend much more than the retail price of $45. For instance, the rare Blue Santa has sold on eBay for as high as $810. Bernadette of Berns and Allen is an avid collector and dealer of Face Pots. She mentioned the high charity auction prices with the Face Pots as "the prize". Of course a charity auction will usually bring a high price, but several recent ones have realized well over $1000. for the Black Berties (only eight were made). She even confesses to spending several hundred for a White Bertie! When asked why they appeal to collectors, Bernadette says --- "they are cute, small, detailed, well made, elegant but still humorous. First the pot is very elegant, but when you open it up -- there is something inside that will make you smile. As an example, inside the Marilyn Monroe piece it says -- 'Ooh, Mr. President'." Currently there are eight retired Face Pots, but look for that number to grow rapidly as Pearson is committed to keeping the issue numbers low on his wonderful pieces. Although all the pieces have become instant favorites and it might be hard to choose a favorite. Dealers have said that a few of the more popular ones include Marilyn Monroe, Brown Bertie, Einstein, Winston Churchill and the 2000 Santa. Looking at these incredibly detailed sculptures, you can see why they would have such a large appeal to both Face Pot collectors and cross-collectors. Kevin Frances Face pots is becoming known for their Instant Retirements of a piece, don't be too sure that the one you want will still be around next week -- it could be retired if the numbers get high enough. The only Face Pot that has a scheduled retirement is Santa. Each Santa Pot will only be made for one year and will be retired on the 31st of December of each year. The one exception to this rule would be the exclusives made for the dealers. For instance, the Whimsical Wares exclusive Split Decision Version #2 is available for only 36 days and will be retired on June 2, 2001. Whereas Version #1 had a production of under 300 pieces and was produced exclusively for the Anaheim I.C.E. show, truly making it a very limited collectible. Another very special edition (110) will be the Nellie Sings the Blues available for those that sign up for the House of Blues tour in conjunction with the Rosemont Show. Contact Bernadette at Berns and Allen for more information.Next > > > Page 2 About Kevin Francis History More of this Feature: -What's a Face Pot?-Kevin Frances Hist. -Split Decision Note: It appears that Facepots are no longer being produced, as links to the web site no longer work. |
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Photographs (c)2001 Barbara Crews, licensed to About, Inc.
