Mid-Century Italian Ceramics Buyer

Large grouping of vases produced by Bitossi during the 1960’s through the 1970’s. Aldo Londi was the Artistic Director for Bitossi for over 30 years.

Bitossi Rimini Blue Bull. Produced throughout the 50’s and 60’s, this is one of the most iconic and reconizable pieces of Bitossi ceramics.

If you have clicked on our 50’s furniture tab, then you will have read that Mid-Century Modern is experiencing a booming market right now. This is not limited to furniture alone. Another item in high demand is Mid-Century Italian Ceramics. There are collectors around the globe searching for these vintage pieces. Once made in abundance, these Mid-Century Italian Ceramics have become more and more scarce over time. Over the years they have been broken, tossed out, or stored away making them more valuable to collectors.

Made by designers such as Aldo Londi for Bitossi, Marcello Fantoni, Guido Gambone, Ettore Sottsass, and Alvino Bagni these Mid-Century Italian Ceramics come in a wide variety of subjects, styles, colors, and patterns. Bright, bold colors like orange, yellow, blue, and green are more popular and demand more money than others. They came in the forms of vases, compotes, lamps, ashtrays, bowls, animals, wall clocks, and figural heads to list a few. Vases are particularly sought after above all other forms. Depending on color and form these vintage ceramics have their own uniqueness and value.

Companies like Rosenthal Netter and Raymor imported these ceramics to the US and distributed them to department stores across the nation. The US was not the only importer of these Mid-Century Italian Ceramics. There were several of these importers across the world. Including countries such as Australia, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands, amongst many others.

These Importers would sometimes attach their own labels to these ceramics, or they may bear a department store label. More often than not these labels have been removed or have fallen away with time. The majority of these vintage Italian ceramics will have a simple (Italy) written on the bottom along with a series of letters or numbers. This can be quite confusing at times considering Italy produced enormous amounts of ceramics over the past decades. This is why we would recommend talking to an experienced professional to help discern your potentially valuable ceramics.

Here at Syl-Lee Antiques, we have Interior Designers and private buyers hunting for these unique, hard-to-find, vintage ceramics to add the perfect touch to their client’s home or collection. If you have old boxes of things stored away in your attic or basement it would be worthwhile to investigate the contents. Being that it is certainly a seller’s market for these vintage pieces and as one of the most trusted antique buyers in New York City and Long Island, Syl-Lee Antiques has Mid-Century Italian specialists who are willing to come to your home free of charge and help evaluate your vintage ceramics!

Below are some of the many ceramic producers we look for and buy: