Multicolor "bubbles" vase marked Ke..? Keramik

Hello,

This is my first time posting on the forum, though I've been lurking occasionally for awhile. (Hopefully, I've done all the right steps - but please let me know if anything is not kosher. Also, yes, these are our images.)

I was wondering if anyone had an idea on the maker of the vase below.





We picked it up because it looked weird and different than the usual pottery we see (we're in California but come across W. German pottery every so often too.) It has these multicolor "bubbles" of different sizes glazed in yellow, green, black, blue and red. Kinda interesting, where the bubbles overlap, they've left it unglazed. The base is a matte black glaze, and the interior is glazed a turquoise blue. It's about 7 1/4" (18cm) tall.

I posted pics on Flickr, but decided to come here to see if anyone might recognize the backstamp. It has the word "Keramik" in it, which led me to think it was West German. I was guessing the word right on top of that is the company name, but can't make it out. It looks like "Ke..?" I saw somewhere that there is a "Kera Keramik" (Walther Gerhards?), but I don't think it's in the style of any of those examples. Also, I think the words at bottom might be the "Handarbeit WG" which we've seen on a number of German pieces. There is also a shape number of "1031" inmold on the bottom.

I thought this might be a new item at first - but I don't know enough about West German pottery to have an idea. Our expertise is more on California pottery (we run the Potteries of California blog), so if anyone has any questions on that stuff, would be happy to give it a shot.

Thanks,
Bryan

looks like Kermos Keramic

Hi Bryan, welcome to the forum

Thanks for being a lurker

xx

Karl Hans Kerstaner set up Kermos in the 40's and sold it in the 60's

Thanks very much Dan. I would've never guessed that it was Kermos, because the writing looked shorter.

Thanks for the welcome Skay! - will try and be less of the lurker and contribute some posts in future

Yes welcome :) A nice little pot, looks to be 1950s production ...

alamodern wrote:Thanks very much Dan. I would've never guessed that it was Kermos, because the writing looked shorter.

Thanks for the welcome Skay! - will try and be less of the lurker and contribute some posts in future

I'm not a West German Pottery collector so please check out my suggestion,I am by no means certain

I think it says Kehr - keramik , I have seen similar pieces around , the decor looks a bit like steulers confetti decor , ruscha is another that springs to mind .

the name on the base does look more like Kehr

Big Ed, Dan - thank you both so much for the suggestions! I'll try look into both of those names. In any case, any suggestion is better than what I had to go on before, which was nothing! I'm very much a newbie with non-American pottery - I was hoping to maybe give something back by ID-ing some American makers. But after spending a few hours in the "ID My Pottery" forums I haven't found too much I know about. Well, I'll keep on looking through the posts anyhow.

Pip - hello to you as well, I've really enjoyed your photos on Flickr. I think it was one of your photos that enabled me to recognize a Ceramano piece.

Keto Keramik had a penchant for the matte black and brightly coloured spots. Google this pottery name and see what comes up....you'll see two examples....a fish and a wall plaque.

Wonderful, wonderful vase by the way!

Good spot , Keto keramik it is then

Kincardine - Thanks! It does seem very similar to some of the Keto pieces that I googled. Before you posted, I'd also looked up "Kierchle" since they seem to have done a number of pieces that use bright colored glazes on a matte black glaze. And interestingly, the style of bottom incising on a few of those items seemed to be the closest to the vase I had. But it seems more likely the signature is Keto, because of the length. Will continue to look around and see if I can spot any similar items. And thank you big ed, dantheman, pip for the nice comments!

270617099875 heres one on ebay

Welcome, some times I have inspired days, most times I do not.

I've never heard of Kierchle and now have something to check out too.