November 2005 News from Readers

An article in the August issue of Better Homes and Gardens suggests using vintage ashtrays to hold piles of jewelry. We recently made a similar suggestion. A reader wants us to warn you that pearls, opals, and other soft stones scratch easily and that if jewelry is piled up, the metal parts can scratch soft stones. It is best to keep jewelry in padded boxes unless you don’t care about possible damage.

Our newspaper column recently warned that it could be dangerous to eat from highly colored glazed dishes made in foreign countries or by local craftspeople. A reader reminds us that almost no modern potters in the United States use lead glazes. New lead-free glazes are easy to find, and it is dangerous to work with lead materials. Maybe contemporary pieces are the buys of tomorrow. Rookwood, Ohr, Overbeck, and many other expensive art potteries collected today were the work of earlier craft potters.