1959 Auckland Harbour Bridge Commemorative Dishes

 Were you one of 160,000 who walked over the Auckland Harbour Bridge?

S.110 - Auckland Harbour Bridge dish

There were some amazingly historical events that happened in 1959. The arrival of the Barbie Doll, the first Grammy Awards, and ‘Xerox’ to name a couple. 

Auckland had its own momentous occasion, the opening of the Auckland Harbour Bridge on the 30th May. One newspaper estimated, one hundred and six thousand people walked its length to celebrate the opening after four years of construction. It was four lanes connecting the North Shore, at Northcote Point, to Auckland City at St Mary’s Bay, with drive through toll booths set up on the northern side to cover the costs. The clip-ons were added in 1969.

I remember my father paying the cashier the coins from our car's unused ashtray. My parents didn't smoke, so it was safe place to keep the coins to stop them disappearing annoyingly under seats and floor mats. If I pestered long and hard enough my father would let me hand the coins over to the male cashier (we never got a lady), sitting in the bright yellow booth. Later he bought books of individual toll tickets. As a kid I had wondered how the cashiers got out of the booths without being run over, to go to the toilet. 

From Louise's collection

Cameron Brown had great business sense when eyeing up opportunities to sell his pottery. This souvenir dish is an example of that. In early 1959 he designed in relief, an image depicting the Auckland Harbour Bridge stretching over the Waitemata harbour with Rangitoto in the background. They are hand sprayed in green, blue, grey over a white body. Each one slightly different. The shape reminds me of a paua shell. Clematis flowers sit in relief on the left side of the original handle-less dish. 

S.109 - 1959 Auckland Harbour Bridge dish (handled) - Cam & Bev Brown

This bigger version owned by Cam and Bev Brown has a flowering clematis vine in relief which form handles on either side and also includes a seagull in flight. I have seen brighter versions with the green, blue, grey, and yellow clematis flowers.

Teachers Rona and Jim Maxwell lived over the road from Cameron and Dorothy at Waitakere. When one of the Maxwell’s children was unwell at Auckland Hospital, Cameron asked Rona, a talented artist, to draw the Harbour Bridge from nearby Grafton Bridge. He supposedly used her drawing to inspire his design for the Auckland Harbour Bridge dishes.

There's a large triangular plate with the Auckland Harbour Bridge carefully drawn through a black glaze showing the white body underneath. Teddy Rennie designed the image. Collector, Judith Watson has kindly suppled a picture for this blog post. 

Photo courtesy of Judith Watson

I hope I've given you something else to think about next time you're crossing the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Happy days,

Louise

*HELP NEEDED!

If I don't have a Sherwood Pottery or Titian Studio piece to photograph, I'll put out a request on the Titian Studio Facebook page for help.  I try to ask ahead of time so collectors have a chance to respond. If you have a piece that I'm missing, and would like to offer a photograph for the blog please put up an image on the Facebook page that shows it off to its best advantage. A plain white, grey or black background works best. I will credit you for the photo. You are welcome to private message me your photos if you prefer. On most occassions I will only need a single photo however collectors, like myself, enjoy seeing the different glazes on the same piece. If I've seen a photo of your piece online which I'd like to use I will message you asking for permission. Please share my blog online and follow me for a new post each week. There's still a lot to show and tell!

©Louise de Varga 2022 - Content and pictures in this blog