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Dear Carol,

Kutahya is the second major center of Turkish ceramics. Main elements for quality come with its material.I mean the clay-soil used in making it. Most durable and valuable element is Quartz which is a mineral and heavy. In IZNIK CERAMICS, that is what they use and the quality comes from its material. It makes the plate heavy than normal. If your plate is heavy for its size, it might have some degree quarts which is good for it. If not, it can be any type of white clay which is common and not valuable. Hold your plate on your three fingers and flip it on the edge gentle with your index finger.. if you hear some sound waves.. That is a good sign.. if the sound waves are going down from high to low.. that is also a better sign. Also, the painting and artist who made it make it valuable. Since yours does not say any name or signature of an artist, it might be in second level production. Even today.. such plate can be purchased from $ 20 to 300 or more depending on who made it and what minerals it has.

Kind regards, Vedat Karadag

Turkish Folk Art

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Dear Folke,

Yes, both of them are Anatolian / Turkish.
FIRST : Smaller one with holes on top is a coffee seeds cooler. It is made by migrating Turkmen tribes on Taurus Mountains on Southern Turkey. It looks like made of pear or ash wood. They toast coffee seeds on metal pans and put them in this and shake it gently to cool them off before grinding in metal grinders. It is probably made in 1920 – 1940’s.
SECOND one : A traditional rural Mortar from CENTRAL TURKEY. It is carved out of one piece hard wood. They are used to crunch walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts for using in cooking and deserts. It is missing iron or wooden pestle. It should date from second half of 19th century.
No, I don’t have any African art.
Let me know when you need anything from this part of the World.

Kind regards, Vedat Karadag

Turkish Folk Art

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Dear Denise,

Your name is written in interesting way – We say it as DENIZ which means sea. This hanging item you have is an evil eye destroyer which is used by Mostly Kurdish tribes and some Turkmen tribes in Anatolia. They used to come out up until 1980s when nomadic life was still going on. Unfortunately, the one you have is not an old one – Made in 90s in the town of GAZIANTEP by a Family and distributed to market to be sold visiting tourists. I have few original of them from early years. I can send you images. This was a common shape made in those years for the market. Cowry shells, buttons and some other pieces were added to make them look interesting. They belong to mostly South eastern Kurdish tribes in Turkey. It looks like a nice one and take care of it and hang it somewhere where it can be seen by your visitors.

Best regards, Vedat Karadag

Turkish Folk Art

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Dear Karen,

It would be better to see the whole piece but from what I can see, it looks like from South Uzbekistan SHURKANDARYA province. The metal part can even be silver. If you rub hard your finger on it and your finger starts getting dark greyish color – that means it is silver. If it does not leave any gray/blackish stain, it is metal.

Best regards, Vedat Karadag

Turkish Folk Art

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Dear Edward,

Turkey converted to Latin ALPHABET in 1928. Since we see the Latin stamp “Made in Syria”. The fashion of putting a stamp “Made in…” is not before second WW in eastern world. This what I am thinking. It looks like copper with a tin as you said. Earlier ones has more design in general. This can even be made earlier and stamped later. But the beauty of it is the center design which is a pinwheel motif- meaning continuation of life. So, the owner is wishing and expecting a long life to him/herself by owning and using it. But Pinwheel is very common design used by Turks. You know Pinwheel originated from INDIA. It dates very back in documents in India. It is an amazing beautiful motif.. Hitler ruined it by using it in Second WORLD WAR and it became very unpopular. As you brought to attention, crescent moon shape motif is Islamic and used by Turkic tribes before converting to Islam while they were Shamanist. Here it is used as Islamic symbol.

Best regards, Vedat Karadag

Turkish Folk Art

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Dear Phichak,

Yes, it is from Northwest of Iran – made by a tribe called Shahsavan. Made for keeping Salt blocks to mix with animal food. Woven in Sumak flat weave technique. It is hanging in correct way even if animals upside down. It is designed for user so that he/she can see the animal motifs in correct direction when looking and working out of his/her neck. It is most probably made before Second World War. We could tell better if there would be better detailed images showing back side and close up and even inside.

Best regards, Vedat Karadag

Turkish Folk Art

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Dear Ralph,

Ceramic artist, SITKI OLCAR was born in 1948 and died in 2010. So, the date it was acquired before 1930 is wrong. Yes, it looks like one of his pieces.. and signature looks like his. It is a nice small cup for drinking cold liquid water or etc.

It looks like one of his early pieces.. His workshop is still going on – You can contact his daughter NIDA OLCER at their web site. https://sitki.com.tr/nida-olcar-urunler/ in case you want to sell this item.

Thank you for contacting us. Wishing you happy Holiday season..

Vedat Karadag

Turkish Folk Art

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Dear Heston,

From the images your plate looks like from KUTAHYA not Iznik. Iznik ceramics ended in late 17th century and Kutahya followed it by copying its designs and style with a lower degree quality. And yet, Older Kutahya with quartz in it are pretty nice. If your plate is heavy for its size it must be made with quartz which is a very strong mineral and makes the item much more valuable than one made with plain clay. The colors are vibrant and look nice. From back it looks it has some age. Can be Early 20th century or earlier – it needs to see closer image of back and if there is any chip – small broken area – if you can see the color of the material that might give more info.

Best Regards, Vedat Karadag

Turkish Folk Art

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Dear Barbara,

It is made by Baluch Tribe. India and Pakistan have the tradition to use broken / chopped small mirror pieces ( Shisha) in their weavings. Baluch is a great and large tribe scattered around mostly in Iran and Afghanistan and some in Pakistan and India. Also, it is not a Storage bag. It is a pillow cover and has its plane woven backing. They stuff them and use for leaning – sitting on them. Such colorful ones with Shisha and glass beads are made for dowry. The photo is not close enough – I think, it is woven in 1920 – 1940’s.

Best Regards, Vedat Karadag

Turkish Folk Art

Dear Jeff,

This is a new hat and IT looks like from China or Xinjiang – Uygur Turkic Region. The image is not clear, the decoration material looks new too. It should not have much value on the market.

Best, Turkish Folk Art.

Dear Hannes,

It is good to hear from YOU. Here is one of my BOOKS that gives the identical pieces as a reference for Wuzi’s textile. Here it says Attica – Greece.

Say hello to everyone in the group.

All my best, Vedat

Turkish Folk Art

Dear Hadrien,

Sorry for a late reply. I thought they were more on Turkmen side. I check with one friend he is an ethnic jeweler – he said it is Uzbek – and his father said they are from INDIA and his other brother also said they are Indian.

So, I think, I will continue to search more and find a firm answer for you in near future. I have some of them too and I bought them form Turkmen pickers.

My best, Vedat KARADAG

Turkish Folk Art

Hi Cerys,

No, this figurine is not rare and made 20-30 years ago. Such ones are still selling in the Market here.
They probably worth 40 to 150 $ depending on size and the name of artist (can be written at the bottom).

Best, Vedat KARADAG

Turkish Folk Art

Dear Natalie,

Simple tassels are made after spun / twisted silk yarns are taken in needed length and folded into two and tied and sewn from a certain part of the upper part. This is the simple way of making them. If you put a single or more beads to the center before folding each yarn, you will have beads hanging in bottom of the each tassel. The upper part can be embroidered in some as you can see in yours or sewn with another colorful or same color yarn to hold it tight.

There are many ways of doing them in size and type and function. It is very complicated and time consuming process. Honestly I saw them when they were making them in my early years and I did not realize how important and difficult making them. Later years – they are rapidly gone because of vanishing a nomadic life.. I think, they can still be found in remote areas in Central Asia and Persia or Afghanistan but I haven’t had the chance to search for it or seen it in later years. I don’t travel as much as I used to.. I will keep in mind and try to see if there is a woman I can find who is still making it, I will kindly ask her to do it so that I can film it.

All my best, Vedat KARADAG

Turkish Folk Art

Dear Cayta Jordan,

No, we do not mind sharing and telling what we know with other textile lovers. Yes, it looks like a card woven band and it is probably from 1970-80′ s or even later. It looks like it is made for tying packs and loads on animals and humans and they are called – pack animal bands. We think, yours is from the Black sea region, they also weave them in the Taurus Mountain regions in the south part of Turkey. They call them kolon in Turkish.

Here is some info about their construction – http://www.shelaghlewins.com/tablet_weaving/TW01/TW01.htm

Our best, Turkish Folk Art