by Anne Gilbert
The Cincinnati Enquirer

This is a good time of year to start a collection of unusual flower and bulb pots.

You may not even recognize a bulb pot and think it is some type of candleholder. Pots can be of fine European or Chinese porcelain or simple pottery, and can be many shapes.

Q&A

Question: I bought a clock 20 years ago that appears to be marble, black with mottled brown mottled trim. On each side are brass lion heads with rings and the top has an urn topped with a brass finial. Inside the clock is a tiny coin with the following inscription: "Medaille D'Argent. Vincenti & Cie, 1855." Can you tell me anything about it? Answer: The maker of your French mantel clock, Vincenti, received a monetary award for this clock. It could sell at auction for more than $2,000.

While flower pots have been made for centuries, pots made specifically to grow bulbs, such as hyacinth and narcissus, became popular around 1680.

By the 18th century, growing bulbs became fashionable with royalty and the wealthy. Madame de Pompador ordered 200 for hyacinth glasses and 363 for flower beds.

Sevres porcelain was making ceramic bulb pots by 1756. These were baluster-shaped, hollow pedestals that were to be filled with water and were topped with fitted circular bulb holders with pierced collars.

These quickly became fashionable in England, where famous potteries such as Josiah Wedgwood, Worcester and Staffordshire created their own styles in earthenware.

By 1782, the fashion for growing bulbs in water had caught the fancy of the general public. English potters adapted the hollow flower brick with holes for bulbs to be displayed.

It was Josiah Wedgwood, an avid gardener, who added his touch to the look of the bulb pot. He created a 71/2-inch-high earthenware pot glazed often with agate or black basalt with encaustic decoration.

His other innovations were bulb pots that could hold candles in place of the bulbs and with additional fittings that could be used for cut flowers.

Wedgwood added a light touch to the bulb pot with his hedgehog crocus pot. This was a hollow receptacle modeled in the form of a hedgehog. The bristled body was pierced by holes for crocus bulbs. With it came a tray packed with moss or soil.

From the late 1700s on, pot shapes and materials continually changed. The more unique the form, the more expensive the pot.

A good example from this era is a crocus pot in the form of a commode made in Qianlong, China, c. 1770. It sold for more than $6,000 at auction several years ago.

In the mid 19th century, bulb vases were made in cut and patterned pressed glass. Some of the most colorful pressed glass examples were made by the Boston & Sandwich glass company.

The early blue and white flower bricks and 19th-century glass bulb vases continue to be reproduced and can be found in museum gift shops. The glass bulb vases also turn up at garage sales, unrecognized.

Depending where you find old flower and bulb pots, prices generally are modest. When identified and sold at auctions and shows, prices can range from $100 up.

Contact Anne Gilbert by mail: c/o Cincinnati Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202. Photos cannot be returned.