One of the most collected and affordable pieces is the Troika Marmalade Pot. This is a really pretty example which unusually has no marks on the base. We have seen a few of these over the years and are led to believe that during the Newlyn era between 1970 and 1983, particularly towards the end of the period, when Troika employed a l number of trainee decorators from the Government YTS scheme, a number of these YTS employees didn't mark the bases; rumour has it that they were asked by the head decorator not to as they weren't considered to be proper Troika 'artists'. It is believed that many pieces decorated by YTS staff were then signed by some of the other workers, but none of the ex-Troika decorators have ever confirmed this!
The pot is predominantly in the instantly recognisable Troika Blue colour and each face has a different design with two opposing faces fully coloured brown and grey, the other two in relief only in the same colour as the ground. The shoulders of the pot are in a dark petrol blue and the inside is in titanium white tin glaze.
It stands 10cm (4 inches) tall to the rim and is 7.5cm (3 inches) square. In excellent condition with no chips, cracks or other damage evident, and guaranteed to be a genuine Troika piece even though the base isn't marked. A nice piece to add to or start a Troika collection.
Stolen from Long Street Antiques, Tetbury, Friday 26th August 2011
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