During my last visit to “Twice Found,” one of my favourite modern/antique stores for browsing in the Annex, I was chatting with the owner who was extolling the virtues of Canadian pottery, and how she thinks we’re on the verge of a renewed interest in home-grown art.
Her particular interest was in Beauce, a company located in Quebec, and had many interesting pieces in her shop. One of the things I like about “Twice Found” is that they always have a wide range of pieces, I’ve previously found a vintage Arabia planter there, and I know someone picked up a set of Arabia mugs as a Christmas gift there too. However, as anybody trying to find decent Scandinavian pottery can attest: it’s hard to find, and usually when you do find it, it’s expensive and overpriced (thankfully at Twice Found they are a bit more reasonable).
That’s one of the big reasons why people are now getting into Canadian pottery: the work is just as beautiful as any other in the world (usually with a prominent Canadian twist), way more plentiful in this part of the world, and much, much cheaper!
So even though we left Twice Found with our first small German pot, I had a desire to discover and learn about Canadian pottery. I got my first chance the day after, during a routine rummage through Value Village, where I found these green mugs. They stood out amongst the usual crap in there, but when I spied the “Canada” imprint on the bottom, I thought it should at least give me a chance to do a little research.
After taking the mugs home, giving them a solid wash and removing the price tag, I found above the “CANADA” stamp a logo that looked like a crude mug drawing and a number. Apparently the style of the glaze is called “volcanic lava,” where something is applied to the glaze to make it bubble up and look like a coarse piece of rock. Very cool.
After a little search engineering, I found out that the mugs are made by a French company called Poterie Laurentienne or Laurentian Art Pottery (or just LP as the logo suggests). The company was based in St. Jerome, Quebec and was founded in 1939 by a Mr. Kominick. Apparently they changed their logo to a set of three trees later on.
From what I’ve seen online, they’ve made pottery of everything you can think of, from plates to cups to sculptures of snowmobiles and trains. Even if you can’t speak French, take a browse through this forum, where LP fans have posted up photos (and numbers) of the company’s designs.
i don’t know how you do it you have the best value village eye! i love that i get to benefit from your good taste and ability to spot to great finds among the rubble.
I just found a whole set of the “Three Trees” at a Salvation Army. I have like 30 plates, 8 coffee mugs, a creamer, a butter tray, salt and paper shaker, and more. I paid 10 bucks FOR ALL… They don’t all have the three trees but many do, I want to know if these are worth anything. Any ideas where to look?
Remember that BMP (Blue Mountain Pottery) has a ‘three trees’ logo as well. So you’ll need to look at the glazes as well as the logo to determine if it is BMP or Laurentian. Once you determine if it is Laurentian rather than BMP, see if you can match it to a pattern name. This always helps in determining worth. I will say that regardless of which of the 2 potteries made your pieces, you still came out way ahead. You can split the set up and sell by the pieces, which will probably net you more money, or keep the pieces and start your own Canadian pottery collection. Have fun with it.