Understanding JeanElton Catalog Numbers

Every JeanElton piece carries a catalog number. It appears on the piece itself, written on the underside, and on the page of every work shown here.

The number has two parts.

The two letters identify the Collection — the form from which the piece is made. TV is a TallVase, SV a SailVase, EB an EllipticalBowl, and so on for each of our Collections.

The six figures following the first underscore identify the Surface Treatment — the particular way in which the surface of that piece has been worked. A single Collection may be finished in many Surface Treatments, and a single Surface Treatment may be applied across many Collections. Together the two parts name the exact combination of form and surface which a piece represents.

The underscore at the end is deliberate. It indicates that the number continues.

Because the JeanElton catalog number given here describes a combination of form and Surface Treatment rather than a single object, two pieces offered at the same time may show the same number. This is not an error. Where a piece is made in a Limited Series, the motif may be worked again, and each piece so made shares the catalog number of its design while differing in the small ways that hand decoration and firing produce.

Each individual piece, however, carries six further figures which belong to it alone. Those six figures complete the catalog number and make it unique to the single object. Should you acquire a piece, its complete catalog number will appear on your order — and it will match the number written on the underside of the piece itself.