Small ornate vase from Berkeley Castle, help needed!

Hi all

I would be very appreciative if anyone could offer with me some help on the item in the attached images.

I know very little about pottery, coins are my thing so feel free to ask me anything on coins in return!

All I know:

My relative was awarded it in the 1960s for 40 life years service at Berkeley Castle in Gloucester, it was given directly to her by the Berkeley family, I believe she was some sort of servant or maid.

My parents took it to be valued in the 1970s and they were told that the vase is a part of a pair, they were advised that it is worth around £150 at the time as an individual piece, if the pair were together they would be worth £400. My parents cannot seem to remember any other details they were told.

Please can anyone shed any light on it and advise of its current value? Also the best place or auction house I should take it to for disposal?

Many thanks

Mat

Mmmm. We shy away from giving valuations.
My first thought was Worcester, but it looks a little crude.
Maybe German porcelain?

the styling of those impressed letters may be a clue to it's country of origin, a few close up pics of those could help

Hi both, thanks for your responses so far.

The impressed letters in the centre are so shallow I can barely make them out, even with a loupe. All I can make out are digits only, 657. I have taken a pic of the lower set of digits 87, you can make out the style of the 7 the best out of any detail.

Any steer in the best place to dispose (I live in Stoke on Trent so I am surrounded by pottery auctions houses) and do pottery auctions generally do the leg work in research as they do in coins before listing? If its only going to be worth around the £100-£200 I am not bothered in selling it, but if I am told its worth a lot more then I will need to consider a sale and half will need to go to my brother. I just want to be sensible about it but I am very realistic knowing how it works in the coin world and how much rubbish is out there.

Cheers

Mat

To be honest from the images I don't think it's worth a great deal at all and certainly would not make as much as it would have done 40 or 50 years ago. It's really out of fashion and it looks as if it is made in a mould. Although it is difficult to be certain from the images, it appears as if the only painted part of the decoration is the gold highlights. If so, then it really is only worth a couple of quid and it wouldn't be easy to get that for it.

Obviously, if it appears better than that in reality you are in the right place to take it to an auctioneer that ought to know.

I agree with Studio-Pots that this type of pottery is very out of fashion and would have been worth a lot more thirty or forty years ago. With that high a valuation from the 70s they must have known the factory and decorator, and maybe there was the added cachet of where it had come from. Without the makers information, as SP says, it's only worth a few quid. Best to take it to the Potteries museum and see if they can identify it.

that was my impression too but take it to the experts,we might all be proved wrong

Thanks folks for all your comments, very useful to have some gurus on hand when one needs it.

Your aggregate thoughts answer it for me so I shall stick it in the cupboard for now and show it to an auctioneer when the chance comes by on the off chance its a useful piece.

Best regards

Mat

Sorry all. I'm a bit late to the party on this one.

The design and the impressed numbers point to an origin in Germany or the Austrian empire as it was before the 1st world war. The line along the side shown in the 2nd picture indicate the vase was made in a mold and although that is not a major issue it does point towards not being of the highest quality.

What I can't tell from the pictures is how much of the image is hand applied and how much is a transfer (if any). The value of these things is all in how good the art is and how it was done. I can see its been highlighted in gold and that is thickly applied. If you look very closely at the fruit you may be able to tell if its a transfer (check for lots of tiny dots). I would guess it is a transfer based on how it looks and that fashion or not does not point towards a high value these days. Although it could have been expensive when new?  I would suggest simply enjoying it for its family connections.

Edit: Didn't mention how old it was. The shape is similar to Amphora designs from the 1st part of the 20th century so I would guess then (just before the 1st world war).