Her favorite piece of pottery in her rather limited collection is a small maroon and blue Van Briggle, the top edge of the elliptical cup curving up and down like waves. The other night she heard about a potter who developed his own manner of glazing pottery and was so possessive about the special kind of metal patina that he developed that he ordered his relatives to burn the papers that told of his process upon his death. She thought that this was rather obnoxious and so decided never to buy any of this man's metal-looking pottery, whoever he was.