Pottery Values N'stuff

How do you value a piece of pottery ? monetary or otherwise , money wise , I see ceramics like Carn going for hundreds of £'s , but only if it has a blue or red spot !, i see troika , moulded repetitive pieces going for the same , it is a strange old world this pottery lark , I myself favour studio pieces and have spent probably too much on some things , I don't know time will tell , why is moorcroft so highly valued ?, over say your local potter , reputation , perhaps , history , definitely , but at the end of the day it's what someone will pay I suppose , it just seems topsy turvy to me , I cannot for the life of me see why Clarice cliff who had sod all to do with the majority of the wares , never even seen them , or God forbid the demand for keith murray ( turned on a lathe ) Likewise , are so collectable , Bjorn wiinblaad or what ever his name is ,with one little design is another that springs out of my mind , yes I konw it's all about personal taste blah, blah , I think most of the stuff that is considered collectable is pure hype , advertising at its best and very little to do with anything else , ....................but I could be wrong

Its fashion Ed, apart from Clarice Cliff you can hardly give 30's ceramics away nowadays. When I first started buying, anything deco was selling, Carlton Ware, Sylvac etc.. nobody wants it now.

And your right about hype, you only have to watch FlogaBargainintheAtticrealdeal everday to see them parade Troika, Whitefriars, Moorcroft and Clarice Cliff.

You might be right Dave , fashion , style could have a lot to do with it , i sometimes wonder if it's just that the powers that be ,have loads old crap to offload and in their wisdom deem it fit to spew it on the public as vintage ! collectable / whatever , sylvac you mention , I mean , really it's as naff as it gets , but add a designer name, and presto ! clowns will follow , lets face facts the majority of buyers go by what is in books telly etc . unlike most on the forum who are a bit more savvy .

there are different reasons for high prices on pottery one is the number of people who want to collect a particular potter so it may be fairly common but have lots of people after it pushing up the price what seems to be happening at the moment is lots of people follow the online auctions so what sells on ebay becomes desirable people see something in a bootfair say I can make a profit on ebay resell it thereby perpetuating the circle buying what you like that has no resell value is very rare unless its cheap. I think ebay has more effect than the tv shows

I agree ebay has a large effect , but possibly sparked by certain tv progs , magazines etc. we are told / guided/ persuaded as to what is desirable by brands / names / must haves and so on , left to our own accord I doubt much of the stuff being bought would even be heard of.

Waves, waves ,waves. In Germany in the 60s and 70s, people loved "Fat Lava".
In the 80s the taste went against buying it. In fact everyone started to hate the stuff, that's why so many firms went bankrupt at that time. Today in Germany, WGP "Fat Lava" is making a come back. The book from Malcolm Gladwell "The Tipping Point" explains these social epidemics very well.

I agree things do come in waves , but these waves are caused by another force , I think if there is an interest in fat lava in germany it was caused by the revival over hear , because before the fat lava exhibtion you could still by the stuff for peanuts and at car boots , I believe the hype around certain wares is created before the actual goods are flooded on to the market , for example , if a tv prog or magazine promotes a type of glass say , then you can be damn sure somebody has a pile of the stuff hoarded up ready to flog .

very nice chap that though he is, i blame Mark Hill et al. It's the taste of high-profile individuals who are able to promote particular wares on tv programmes that influences wider taste. Along with his interest in mid20thC German ceramics, his (and some others) influence in glass is having an impact: Czech glass and Mdina glass etc are burgeoning in the antiques fairs now. The fact that he has such a large input into the Miller's Guide must also have some impact. He has blogged that he collects Ambleside pottery as he likes the style..... and then, wouldn't you know it, there's more and more Ambleside in the latest Miller's guides. The same with Metalware and the Conrah phenomenon. Prices have jumped almost overnight since it was included in Mark's Cracking Antiques programme and then put in the Miller's Guide. I personally hate/detest/ABHOR alot of the Fat Lava type German pottery and there are loads of people jumping on the bandwagon who have no aesthetic appreciation for it, but realise it's new monetary potential. Tastes and fads don't just evolve of their own accord, they need a catalyst, and at the moment, the catalyst is TV shows and experts.

I like to follow my own instincts as well , some obscurish studio potters albeit a tad expensive are what I enjoy most , none of them have had telly or huge magazine exposure , so that is for myself , I will buy something I know will hopefully make a profit ( even if I hate it) to fund the other stuff, the fat lava phase at the moment , most of it is just rubbish , but like all things some higher quality designed stuff rises to the top .

those tv people do follow trends they don't just invent everything lets face it if something you bought cheap because"you liked it" becomes worth a fortune generally you are pleased and feel vindicated in your choice, if on the other hand the price drops and you see them every where unsold and even your friends family and clients think its rubbish you end up not "liking it" quite as much in the long run

That's true up to a point , but the more involved you get in this game, the more savvy ( hopefully) you become , if you buy because you like it and the prices go down or whatever it's irrelevant , you have bought to your taste , granted tastes can change over the years , I never pay any attention to family and friends advice on pottery buying , most of them wouldn't know an egg cup from the holy grail , no , I do think it's big business (andvery clever businessat that ) that starts trends / Brands are catching imo.

if thats so Ed then a forum like this should be able to make an unpopular pottery into a best seller any Ideas?

[quote="tenpot"]if thats so Ed then a forum like this should be able to make an unpopular pottery into a best seller any Ideas?[/quo

te] Huh! , How come ? Forums (plural ) do contribute to making certain pieces a success , fat lava in particular , you miss the point , I said the popular stuff is activated by larger companies and also it's not about making something unpopular popular , it's about bringing a fresh look to certain areas of collecting , i know where I stand on it , they day I start making a loss , or fall out of love with my stuff , I'll pack it in , flogging dead horses is not what's it's about .

How about Chessell Pottery, Isle of Wight? In 1979 I bought a stunning large blue glazed bowl with clusters of small mushroom-like flowers "growing" up from inside. It is brown on the underside and has a metallic ring when you tap it. I used it for floating candles and it was admired on many occasions.
I found a small spherical matt off-white version in the 1990s, second hand, and a further couple of similar small pieces. I think the Pottery may have closed a few years ago, which does not surprise me because they were producing sickly crap designs such as eggs with baby dinosaurs heads sticking out!
I'm surprised cp's early stuff hasn't caught on - maybe I could start a trend?