The auction is the organization’s biggest fundraiser and is held to raise money for scholarships, expenses and programs offered by the ELHSAA and to celebrate the East Liverpool area pottery heritage.

For the past two years the auction has raised roughly $25,000 each year. Brian Shockey, ELHSAA vice-president and pottery auction chairman, is hopeful to raise that much this year.

“The auction is definitely something we need, it’s what gives our organization the funds to continue on,” Shockey said.

While the organization is looking for donations and consignments of which a percentage of the sales goes to them, most of the bidding, according to Shockey, is on the custom pieces made for them by the Fiesta Tableware Company, Newell, West Virginia.

Special to the Journal/Brian Shockey Each custom piece of pottery made and donated by local potteries for the East Liverpool High School Alumni Association’s annual pottery auction is labeled as expressly created for the auction and numbered.

This year’s custom items include 12 individually numbered vases that were introduced in 2002 and discontinued in 2007. The Monarch Vase created for the auction is Meadow color, a color introduced in 2019 and never used on the vases. Using old molds from the 1930s and 1940s, the table ware company also created 12 individually numbered Hall China Rhythm Teapots in the Fiesta butterscotch color. According to Shockey, Hall China has always had their own colors, so this the first time a Fiesta color has been used on a Hall teapot. There will also be 12 Fiesta plates in peony, the Fiesta color for 2022. The plates will be taken prior to the auction to W.C. Bunting in East Palestine where they will have a calendar design placed on them.

Each piece is stamped on the bottom as a limited number created for the auction.

According to Bob Sells, one of the original founders of the pottery auction, the stamp was created by the late Terry Sfakis, who was also one of the four original founders.

Over the years, the vases have auctioned for a minimum of $1,000, the teapots between $100-300 and the plates between $80-100.

“The Fiesta Table Ware are really nice people who have been very supportive of us,” Shockey said.

There will be an open house in the museum room at the clock tower on from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sept. 24, where all the pottery for auction will be displayed with items numbers, so perspective buyers can view what they are bidding on.

“It’s really interesting to look at the wares, all this unique stuff that has been made over the years in East Liverpool or the surrounding area,” Shockey said. “I know when I took it over the first year, I was just amazed. It’s quite a history.”

The actual bidding will take place online at https://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/auctionhome.action?vhost=ELHSAA&aalias=Pottery beginning Sept. 13, and ending at 10 p.m., on Sept. 27. 2022.