GOUDA-DESIGN

Gouda copies, look-alikes, in the 'Gouda style', fakes or 'made to deceive'.

With the tremendous success of PZH in the 1920's and 1930's, it is not surprising that other companies wanted a share of the prize. It is not our intention to belittle these other factories. We show them as part of the world-wide influence Dutch pottery had. The Belgian Bergen and BIHL factory in Czechoslovakia produced some beautiful pottery. If anyone doubts their "Gouda" please tell us and send some pictures.

 

Bergen - La Céramique Montoise - a genuine plateel factory.

In this particular example below we see a piece dated around 1925 to 1935 from the Bergen factory. Bergen, also known as the Belgium Pottery Company or Bergen and Flamand (La Céramique Montoise) had a factory based in Mons, Belgium. It was formed by René Dubois in about 1919/1920 until circa 1950. Below is an example from our collection together with the base markings. The top number (846) is the mould number and is also impressed into the body. The mark (on most pieces) of Bergen is derived from the town itself. Can you see what looks like a hill or mountain? "Berg" (en) means mountain or hill - also as in "ice(berg)" - mountain or hill of ice. In this particular example, one can see it has all the hallmarks of Gouda. Some Bergen designs are very "Art Deco" in looks and are excellent and collectable.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Above right and here on the left some other Bergen marks you may come across.

 

This sticker with the logo "Bergen Plateel" is not from the René Dubois Bergen plateel factory but from a small factory in the Netherlands.

Thanks to Thierry Lancelet.

 
 
Japanese in the Gouda style.
This Japanese copy was sent by Barbara from Sydney, Australia. It is interesting to note that this is one of many examples of we have been sent from Australia and New Zealand. From acquaintances in Australia, it seems Japanese copies are plentiful. A typical copy of a small Gouda two handled vase. The base is unmarked. The vase is approx. 9.0cm high. One can see these on auction sites sadly described as original PZH. See more Japanese copies below.

 

 
 

More on Japanese copies.

Here is part of an e-mail (sent early April 2003) from David in Ontario, Canada.

"Over the past five years or so, I have been buying Japanese Gouda copies. They are in my view, very fine quality. While they are around, they are not as easy to find as Gouda. I have in my collection, about 50 pieces of all shapes and colours. Teapots, bowls, lamps, wall pockets, toothpick holders and of course, mostly vases. The extent of variation is amazing, and even on pieces with the same form, the colouring is different. I have been attempting to find out more about these. Where were they made? Who were the artists?

Some are unmarked, some marked 'Made in Japan'. The odd one is marked 'Elite Art Pottery', 'ELJCO' (see below, probably Czechoslovakian) and 'Hongan'. "Elite Art Pottery" is often seen as "rare Gouda" - no!

David - if you are looking in - please get in touch - we have lost contact.

Some examples from David's amazing collection of Gouda copies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above - two more examples of Japanese copies. On the left - sent by Adam. On the right - sent by Shari from Los Angeles.

 

Here a beautiful Japanese copy of the Flora 'Rumba' decor. We have many items of Flora in our collection and 'Rumba' is a favourite decor. Below a 'Flora 'Rumba' from our collection. One can also see 1950's items from West Germany with the nearly identical decor. We have some in our West German ceramics collection.

 

 

 
 For comparison, here is the Flora 'Rumba' decor from our collection.

 

English pottery - James (Jas) Plant, Hanley, Staffordshire.

 

 

A PZH 'Damascus'/'Matapan' decor look-alike by the English potter James Plant. From our collection. Date circa 1920.

Various dates and backstamps date items from circa 1914 to 1938. Most James Plant patterns are very similar. They were known as "Plant Ware". See more information below.

The original factory of R. H. and S. L. Plant Ltd. Tuscan China Works, Longton, Staffordshire, England, probably dates back to the mid 18th century. The business was formed into a limited company in 1915. Many members of the Plant family were involved in potteries. Factories had various names. For example, in the Tuscan Works, the partner proprietors were R. H. Plant and his brother. Running under the aegis of the Plant family, with S. L. Plant and his son (F. S. Plant) directing the sales department, while the two brothers H. J. and A. E. Plant were in charge of the production side. A James Plant factory was actually taken over by Grimwades. James Plant Senior died in 1931 and James Plant Junior took over. As you can see a very family involved business. The Gouda style, matte glaze decors were probably by a designer called Thorley. They were produced at the Brook Street Factory in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.

 

 

Left - an original PZH vase from the Museum Catharina Gasthuis in Gouda. It is in the 'Matapan' design. If anyone doubted that James Plant did Gouda copies then just look closer again at the large picture above - you can see the striking resemblance of the pattern!

One can see many examples of this ware at antique fairs here in the UK (we once saw four) and they are far from rare!

Photograph by Kim Lindley.

 

Modica.

This company was founded in 1969 by the brothers Frans and Peter Eikenboom, the sons of P.A. Eikenboom the founder of Plateelbakkerij Flora. They imitated the patterns and styles from 1930's and later designs of other factories - mainly PZH and Regina. The company closed in 1990.

Here is a typical Modica backstamp, as you can see, one could easily be fooled into thinking this was from PZH.

See the lookalike copy of the "little house" (Lazarus gate) mark and the "Zuid-Holland".

The "F" and "P" are the first letters of the brothers names - Frans and Peter .

 

 

Other Modica marks.

Images courtesy of Henk Veentjer and collectors.

 

 

 

BIHL pottery Czechoslovakia - genuine factory.

Jan from the Netherlands is an expert in and collector of BIHL pottery which is sadly often confused for Gouda. One has only to look on eBay to see this. Look at David's collection above and you may see some BIHL examples.

Jan tells us - "BIHL was a Czechoslovakian pottery company from Ledvice (or in German Ladowitz). There is not much known about this former company. I'm at this moment preparing a catalogue of known BIHL pottery. Some of these pieces are labeled with ELJECO / Holland. I am quite sure that the pottery was produced in Czechoslovakia then these pieces were exported to Holland, given a local back stamp (ELJECO / Holland) and sold on the Dutch market!"

Here are some really wonderful pictures from Jan's collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Here an example from "Eljeco" sent in by Joe Altare.

 

This Eljeco kan, in a very nice decor, was sent in by Magda from The Netherlands.

 
  

 

 

Metawa - genuine factory.

A very interesting "lookalike" here originally from the collection of Hotze & Elly. Thanks to the generosity of Hotze & Elly, this piece and others are now in our collection. This was made by the factory "Metawa" or N. V. Metawa, Tiel, Holland. The name deriving from "metal ware". Founded 1923, it closed in 1982 but was for a short time revived. It finally closed in 1985. As you may have guessed - this is made of tin not pottery! Decor 'Guus' on model 1529.

 

 
   Left - another 'Metawa' mark. Decor 'Rita'.

 

 

eBay (and other sites) - fakes - made to deceive - call them what you will.

By showing these items from eBay (and other sites) we do not imply that the sellers had any knowledge they are/were fakes or made to deceive. They are shown as examples as we believe it is in everyones interest to see them. On our opening page we do state this and it is repeated here below. There is a seller on eBay who regularly sells these 'fake - made to deceive' items. Please be aware.

"About auction sites and their misleading descriptions - several respected collectors have contacted us to express concern over the description and indeed authenticity of some Gouda items appearing on eBay. We see these descriptions and claims. It is not our place here on this site to judge online auction sites and the sellers, however, if you are unsure about any item or description on eBay then contact us. Remember - "caveat emptor - let the buyer beware"."

These items have been for sale on eBay (can also be seen occasionally on Marktplaats.nl) as genuine Plateelbakkerij Zuid-Holland. The painting is very crude (to say the least!) and the base marks are false Zuid-Holland. No genuine Zuid-Holland marks or painters signature in these styles exist. Possibly painted by an employee as supplementary earnings at home. Obviously done by the same hand, look at the style of the bird on Pictures 1, 2 and 3.

 

 

Picture 1

 

 

 

 

 

Picture 2

 

 

 

Picture 3

 

 

Here below a Plateelbakkerij De Distel fake. This is a copy of a real Distel mould - M207A - by the designer Bert Nienhuis. A typical example of "sjabloon" - the decor is stencilled on. To the right is the genuine item. We are grateful to Friggo Visser for the information.

 

 

 

 

Here below another "made to deceive" amphora with false PZH markings.

This is actually a Regina amphora model - M33/3 - which you can see in the picture on the right. PZH had no mould number P 512 of this shape. The decor is clearly an "adapted copy" of a Rozenburg decor. Pictures from the book are shown below. See 'Rozenburg 1883-1917', Haags Gemeentemuseum - pages 208 and 209!

We are grateful to several collectors from Holland and the USA who have contacted us about this "made to deceive" item seen on eBay.

 

 

 

 

This is the original decor from the Rozenburg book.

'Rozenburg 1883-1917', Haags Gemeentemuseum - page 209.

 

 
 Falsified PZH markings. See the year mark with no month.

 

Below - Zuid-Holland fakes from the same "family" as the one above. The correct Zuid-Holland model number of 620 is a slim cylindrical shape. Not this double gourd shape. The year mark of 1920 is missing the month number - something that very rarely happened. The green colour was never done this way by PZH. It is another imitation of a Rozenburg spider and web decor originally by Sam Schellink. Once more we are grateful to collectors and museum experts from Holland and the USA who have contacted us about this "made to deceive" item seen on eBay.

We repeat our wording from above - "By showing these items from eBay (and other sites) we do not imply that the sellers had any knowledge they are/were fakes or made to deceive. They are shown as examples as we believe it is in everyones interest to see them."

 

 

The correct PZH 620 model is not this shape as seen on the left.

On the right is model 620.

 

Yet another one. Falsified PZH markings. The '6 dots' marks never existed with PZH. Looks like the same painter in style.

 

 

 

A big thank you to Adam, Barbara, David, Henk, Jan, Hotze & Elly, Joe, Friggo and all collectors for pictures and information on these items. We have had a tremendous response from this Gouda Copies page - thank you for all of your comments.

 

Gouda Copies Part 2