George Ohr piece to go on auction block

Two years ago, a woman found a pleasant surprise when she discovered five George Ohr pieces in a storage unit she had just purchased. Now, one of the five is hitting the auction block.

A nine-year storage auctioneer vet, Joaunna Coon says she doesn’t strike gold that often in her business. But a couple of years ago she did. Amongst the items found in a storage unit she purchased were five pieces of George Ohr pottery.

Recently, she decided to put one of the pieces on the auction block. Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art Executive Director David Houston said, “They do come up for auction every now and then, sometimes in clusters and sometimes in individual pieces.”

Ohr was known as the ‘Mad Potter of Biloxi’ and is known for making thousands of pieces of pottery during his career spanning from 1879 to about 1910.

His career is broken down into three separate periods and this piece is from his second period when he was known for making thin pottery with vibrant glazes. “He went and started working on some pottery and he said he took to the clay like a duck to water.”

While the price of Ohr’s art fluctuates every now and then in the market, some pieces have been sold in auctions for up to $80,000. “What’s hot and what’s not changes over time. It has to do with taste. It has to do with certain collectors focusing on certain bodies of work.”

Ohr closed his pottery shop in 1910, packed away his collection, and asked that his heirs keep the collection untouched until 50 years after his death.

Only a few years after the request expired an antiques dealer from New Jersey, James Carpenter, purchased the entire collection from the Ohr family.

By the 1970s, Ohr was finally recognized as the master he was. “Now he’s out in the mainstream. His images, his work, and he is just one of the geniuses of Mississippi culture.”

The auction for the piece will be held at 320 East Main Street in Gloster, Mississippi.