Several months ago, I posted about a piece of pottery that had been in the family for a very long time. That piece was a Robinson-Ransbottom 412-11 Garden Pot (c.1930s). The pot had been made in Roseville, Ohio. I featured it as a post because it was time to let it go so that someone else can enjoy it as much as I have over the years.
When checking a stat page to see what our readers like to read, there was a question from a Canadian reader that wanted to know where to sell their Robinson-Ransbottom pot. This post addresses that question.
When I first began to entertain thoughts that I was finally going to let go of the RR PC 412-11, I searched the web. Much to my surprise, I found little. The company had undergone a lot of changes over the years of course. There were many very good companies in that same area in central Ohio also. That compounded the problem. Then with a merger and a very well known business finally ending its history as one of the oldest pottery companies, some of the rare pots were scooped up by antique dealers and private ownership such as mine. But, trying to find someone who wanted to specialize in the RR PC or someone who actually had specialized just ended in a dead end hunt.
My next step was to talk with a few local antique dealers. Some knew of the pottery pot but didn't seem to be to interested in my pottery pot. They were displaying the high glaze pots that could be set on a side table as part of interior design dealers and furniture companies. A garden pot just didn't seem like it was worth anything to some of these dealers who can be "to close" to their products and miss a lot of what is happening in the market. I learned a long time ago in a marketing class that you never want to get "to close" to design or a fad etc.,etc. An example would be that you sell in your store what YOU like. The problem with that is that you customers don't always like what YOU like. So, you need to stock things that you don't like as well as the things you do like. Many don't follow that advise and end up with things that one, don't sell and two, end up not turning valuable inventory on a timely fashion.
After I listed my pottery pot on this blog, I was getting a lot of hits but no bids were coming in to consider. It was now time to really hit the pavement and find out just what type of industry would be most interested in this pottery pot. I went to garden centers, I talked to a lot of antique dealers that bought up estate sales and garage sales .
Then, much to my surprise, the thought hit me that there were a lot of new homes that I nicknamed McMansion after custom home builders were buying up "Ugly" homes by twos and then bulldozing the houses making one big lot that they would then build a modern upscale home with movie rooms, 5 or 6 bedrooms with 5 or 6 baths, family rooms, three car garages, pools, garden driveways and the like in established neighborhoods where tall old trees lived. The link? Architecture Dealers. Big patios need lots of pots. In fact, they need big old pots with character. Rustic, but sturdy that will withstand a storm, heavy rains, hail storms and the like. Once I made that connection, the pot was sold within a week. The sale price did not suffer, either.
See archive for previous pot on this pottery garden pot: July 03, 2013
edited to change see to sell in paragraph 2.
When checking a stat page to see what our readers like to read, there was a question from a Canadian reader that wanted to know where to sell their Robinson-Ransbottom pot. This post addresses that question.
When I first began to entertain thoughts that I was finally going to let go of the RR PC 412-11, I searched the web. Much to my surprise, I found little. The company had undergone a lot of changes over the years of course. There were many very good companies in that same area in central Ohio also. That compounded the problem. Then with a merger and a very well known business finally ending its history as one of the oldest pottery companies, some of the rare pots were scooped up by antique dealers and private ownership such as mine. But, trying to find someone who wanted to specialize in the RR PC or someone who actually had specialized just ended in a dead end hunt.
My next step was to talk with a few local antique dealers. Some knew of the pottery pot but didn't seem to be to interested in my pottery pot. They were displaying the high glaze pots that could be set on a side table as part of interior design dealers and furniture companies. A garden pot just didn't seem like it was worth anything to some of these dealers who can be "to close" to their products and miss a lot of what is happening in the market. I learned a long time ago in a marketing class that you never want to get "to close" to design or a fad etc.,etc. An example would be that you sell in your store what YOU like. The problem with that is that you customers don't always like what YOU like. So, you need to stock things that you don't like as well as the things you do like. Many don't follow that advise and end up with things that one, don't sell and two, end up not turning valuable inventory on a timely fashion.
After I listed my pottery pot on this blog, I was getting a lot of hits but no bids were coming in to consider. It was now time to really hit the pavement and find out just what type of industry would be most interested in this pottery pot. I went to garden centers, I talked to a lot of antique dealers that bought up estate sales and garage sales .
Then, much to my surprise, the thought hit me that there were a lot of new homes that I nicknamed McMansion after custom home builders were buying up "Ugly" homes by twos and then bulldozing the houses making one big lot that they would then build a modern upscale home with movie rooms, 5 or 6 bedrooms with 5 or 6 baths, family rooms, three car garages, pools, garden driveways and the like in established neighborhoods where tall old trees lived. The link? Architecture Dealers. Big patios need lots of pots. In fact, they need big old pots with character. Rustic, but sturdy that will withstand a storm, heavy rains, hail storms and the like. Once I made that connection, the pot was sold within a week. The sale price did not suffer, either.
See archive for previous pot on this pottery garden pot: July 03, 2013
edited to change see to sell in paragraph 2.
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