Wishful Thinking Doesn't A Masterpiece Make

It can happen to the best of us, or in my case the overly eager,wet around the ears, greenhorns in us....against all nagging intuition, we buy a piece of junk billed as a masterpiece. Such is what I experienced when scouting high and low for the very sought after Marblehead Pottery.I hail from good old Marblehead, Massachusetts and I have taken quite a shine to Arts and Crafts pottery. I love that from an initial therapeutic community in a sanatarium in 1904, a cottage industry where stunning pieces of pottery were created. Marblehead Pottery can sell for thousands and is truly magnificent in its smooth lines and curves. I love the blue and green matte glazes the most, for they remind me of the slate blue skies and rugged ocean of my childhood. Naturally when a piece came up for auction,I jumped at the chance to own my second example of coveted Marblehead magnificence. I should have been wary at the slightly out of focus photographs when bidding, as well as a hue of blue that did not match any glaze shades in the Marblehead Pottery catalogs. In addition, this piece, which I have posted here for your viewing pleasure, was listed as a "superb example of experimental Marblehead Pottery." A three piece potpourri dish, this allegedly had the faint maker's mark on the bottom, a square rigged ship. Yes, some genuine Marblehead Pottery marks are fainter than others. However, upon receiving my anticipated parcel , I could not, even with a loupe, a light, hell,an army, decipher the squiggles barely visible as anything remotely genuine. In addition, the very craftsmanship of this piece is more like "crapsmanship.". The main bowl keels over a bit to one side, the glaze is too thick and sloppily executed... And it's a glaring antithesis to a masterpiece. It is also a lesson to me and hopefully to all of you, to bid and buy not rabid and frothing, but with knowledge, deliberation, and patience. Trust that little voice in your head which says "Gee I think this experimental pottery was probably made in Marblehead in a nursery school in 2003."