Featured Collectors: Diane & Dave Hallstrom of Red Wing, MN

Thank you, Diane and Dave, for sharing your story and your collection with us.

Our collecting roots go back to the late 1970’s when we became interested in collecting Red Wing Stoneware, Red Wing art pottery, and Red Wing memorabilia. We also collect and restore antique cars. Now our latest love is collecting Ephraim pottery. A collection that we both cannot get enough of!!

Our first glimpse of Ephraim was at a friend’s house, Dave Kuffel from Chicago.  We were there visiting Dave and looking at his collection of Red Wing advertising jugs. He then showed us “this other neat stuff” that he had started to collect; Ephraim Pottery. He was already hooked and passionate about it, loving the fact that the pottery was hand-thrown and decorated, artist signed, numbered, and dated. It was love at first sight for us; it reminded us of the old Rookwood.

When we left Dave’s house to go home, we decided to make a detour and stop by Dovetail Antiques. John Mathews was there and took his time with us explaining all about Ephraim Pottery.  Before we left, we had bought 5 or 6 pieces. We were hooked!!!! We let John carefully wrap each piece knowing that as soon as we were in the car, we would have them all unwrapped; which we did! We were admiring them all the way home, turning and caressing them, noticing all the fine details that each vase has.  Each vase has its own story to tell; between

the wonderful craftsmanship and the gorgeous glazes, it was hard for us to decide which ones to buy.For us, Ephraim Pottery has been the hardest to collect because we both like it so much. We each like certain things about each vase which sometimes means that we have to buy two of the same vase because of their unique character. After collecting it for a few years, we have finally agreed on our collecting themes: animals, flowers, birds if we are lucky, and of course experimentals.

We now have close to 200 pieces, but still need more!  Every time we drive through Wisconsin, we always venture to Deerfield.  And of course, we have never left Dovetail Antiques empty-handed; quite the

 opposite. A favorite story of ours is that one time when we stopped at Dovetail Antiques with our friend Larry Peterson who had just started to collect Ephraim, Diane got in the door first; saw that there were 7 new pieces on the counter that had just gotten priced and were going to be put out for sale. She ran to the counter and threw her arms around all 7 vases and said, “I will take all of these!”  Larry was stunned to say the least.  After realizing how greedy that was and seeing the look on Larry’s face, Diane decided to give up 2 of her 7 pieces so he could buy them. As yet, Larry has not let Diane live that day down.

Collecting Ephraim has been one of the most gratifying experiences we have had. It is something that we  can enjoy together and each piece is unique, but most importantly, the friendships we have made along the way  are priceless!

Ephraim Faience Pottery - PO Box 168 - Deerfield, WI 53531
Tel 888-704-POTS/ 608-764-1302 - Fax 608-764-8439