Our Stories

Crown Lynn patterns – Bellamy’s
In 1977 Crown Lynn was invited to produce tableware for use in Parliament’s restaurant Bellamy’s. They wanted something that went with their new earthy ...
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Crown Lynn patterns – Magnolia Moon
Magnolia Moon was designed by Juliet Hawkins in 1980-1981 and was in production from 1982 to 1987. Juliet kept diaries of her time at ...
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The art of the modeller
Our collection contains a large number of moulds. These were either in the Crown Lynn factory when it closed, or else dug out of ...
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Crown Lynn patterns – Carnaby
Carnaby was designed by Colin Simon and won the Crown Lynn Design Competition in 1967. Colin sadly died recently in Wellington. He won in ...
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Production line decoration
Although Crown Lynn production was highly mechanised, especially after the 60s, but it was also highly labour intensive. Hand applied decorations included banding, hand ...
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The Cook and Serve range
The Cook & Serve range was first produced by Crown Lynn in 1963. Their tag-line was “Heat it in the oven, dump it in ...
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Crown Lynn Swans 101
The first swans were made by Ambrico in 1945. They originated from manager Tom Clark, who brought one made by Sylvac home from overseas ...
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The real maker of the ‘Rhodes’ vases
We have in our collection three beautifully made hand potted vases made of brick clay, with tiki backstamps. We knew one of them had ...
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Peter Lange and the 12 inch Crum pipe
In 1967 Peter was prospecting the derelict mercury mine at Puhipuhi in Northland when he noticed a collection of large pipes lying around in ...
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Vince Keene
In 1939 Tom Clark offered Vince’s father Ron Keene a full time position as an electrician with the Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Company. In ...
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Tony Goodwin
Tony Goodwin worked at Crown Lynn Potteries from 1963 to 1966. In 1963 Tony started a new job at Crown Lynn Potteries as a ...
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Johnny Green, the pocillivist
Johnny has shared his story and precious egg cups with us. It was Easter in London, 1939. Johnny was nine years old and his ...
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Kiddibricks
A couple of years ago Te Toi Uku had the pleasure of a visit from Ian Crum, who brought with him these miniature treasures ...
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The Colour of Clay – From New Lynn to Matauri Bay
AMBRICO ‘Porcelain Specialties Department’ Before Crown Lynn was known as Crown Lynn, they went by the name of AMBRICO; which is derived from the ...
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A gift from Santa (Christmas 1946)
Marion Potbury, donated this lovely child's tea set to Te Toi Uku, to accompany the set she wrote this story: "This Teaset was a ...
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Shillings and Pence to Dollars and Cents
On the 10th of July 1967 New Zealand’s currency changed from pounds, shillings & pence to dollars and cents. The coins that were introduced ...
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Growing up across the fence from the Crum Brickworks
Murray Taylor was born in 1935 and grew up on Great North Road three doors down from Crum Potteries. Their house backed on to ...
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Spartan Santas
When Annette Tuck came into Te Toi Uku, she held out her hands and showed me two Spartan Father Christmas Figures. Annette recalls decorating ...
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Reflecting on Reflections
We had a visit from Joan Josling, who was visiting Te Toi Uku Museum with the U3A Birkenhead group. She asked if we had ...
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An Artistic Job
Joan Davis (nee Sheen) started working at Crown Lynn c.1940 in the Decorating Department, during WWII as part of the war effort. Joan lived ...
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Moeroa Brothers
In November 2016 Moeroa Brothers came to visit. Moeroa worked at Crown Lynn for 30 years from 1969-1989 in the transfers department, managing 30 workers ...
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Crown Lynn Cut-Out Cups
We had a visit from a man named Andrew. He came into the museum holding a plastic bag with things clinking against each other inside. He pulled ...
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Mrs Bowles, Pottery Decorator
Among the Te Toi Uku archives is a School Journal with an article on Maude Bowles, who was head of the decorating department at Crown Lynn ...
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Walter Nash, Tom Clark and Freda Desai
Freda Desai worked at Crown Lynn in the decorating department from 1958 until 1964. She is photographed here, at the age of about 15, ...
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A nice bright plate for nice bright salads
This plate was one of the many Joan Liam and her team painted in 1959-1960 at Crown Lynn. In 1959, at age 21, Joan ...
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The Lynndale Range
On Monday 27 January 1964 Crown Lynn sponsored a pre-Olympics sports meeting at Western Springs stadium as a fundraiser for the Lynndale Club. Where ...
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Pool of international friendship
Miss Helen Iggo, Miss Canterbury 1964, who also placed second in the Miss New Zealand contest, is pictured here at the Crown Lynn factory ...
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Scrabbling in the Dirt
Richard Quinn was more than a Crown Lynn enthusiast, he was passionate about saving an important part of our modern history. He spent thousands ...
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