Adam Partridge studio ceramics auctions

All of the William Marshall pieces, when you add on commission, went for more than I would have asked for them or what I have sold similar pieces for in the last year. I wasn't expecting that.

In 2008 the situation had no effect on the prices that I was selling thing for nor did it slow down the rate of sales. Again I wasn't expecting that.

I don't think the possibility of major recession has quite sunk in yet with many buyers, as you say the 2008 recession almost destroyed the studio ceramics and other markets and they took years to recover fully, with the major auction rooms never returning to some areas. The interest rates for mortgage's and equities are about to rise and probably will again later in the year, MAAK sale in November will probably be an indicator of how the mid range market is reacting, (not the best time to invest in damaged pieces even if they are by Pearson)

when all the usual investments are looking shaky, people buy art

It’ll push up Lucie Rie prices

croker wrote:I don't think the possibility of major recession has quite sunk in yet with many buyers, as you say the 2008 recession almost destroyed the studio ceramics and other markets and they took years to recover fully, with the major auction rooms never returning to some areas. The interest rates for mortgage's and equities are about to rise and probably will again later in the year, MAAK sale in November will probably be an indicator of how the mid range market is reacting, (not the best time to invest in damaged pieces even if they are by Pearson)

As I stated above, the 2008 recession made little or no difference to my selling of studio pottery. I did/do sell modestly priced collectable pots and so in other areas things may have been different.

https://live.adampartridge.co.uk/m/view-auctions/catalog/id/268
An absolutely massive two day studio pottery end of next week 950 Odd Lots with a whole vast range of stuff. It takes long enough to go through it, but there is a great deal of interest it being so vast that it is almost impossible to pull out individual items.
I wonder where this huge collection came from?

Hi Philpot , As you say a vast sale but very low on big names, a few of the pieces have been doing the rounds over the last couple years. A typical Partrige sale i think but just more of it. I think the best sale recently was the design sale at Lawrences at Crewkerne which contained Rie and Coper pieces and others from a private collection with high prices attached (recession?) There seems to be pieces of studio pottery in many sales this Autumn with MAAK still to come. Nice to see you posting again.

Posting again is a long story. I have been in hospital for 7 weeks. Intetesting talking about recession, giving that we are going to have a deep one. Has the Studio pottery market moved on somewhat since 2008? There is a great deal wider range of makers fetching high prices, and studio pottery does seem to fit in with Design zeitgeist of the Times. Equally, the rich will always have money to spend, and in the Art world Most studio pottery is still peanuts. We shall see.

I see what you mean about the Lawrence auction. But even so, the Coper and  Rie did not seem to get as much as they might have got a year or two ago. The Takeshi Yasuda at £1600 was interesting. His prices seem to be rising. Equally the Edwin Beer Fishley at £3600 was interesting.
I suspect the test case will be the November Maak auction.

There was a piece of Henderson in Lawrences that i liked but another bidder seemed to like it more than me, you have to drop out of the bidding at some point. With the book on john Ward now available there may possibly be renewed interest in Wards pottery. I hadn't realised you had such a serious condition and wish you a speedy recovery.

Oh I am much better now. Its just getting back to excercising and building myself up.
I have just ordered the John Ward book on Ebay for just under £28.00 post free. For some crazy reason Amazon are showing it as not published until October 2023.

I agree with you about a certain limit on when you are bidding. Especially in a Live Auction you can easily get carried away with bidding fever. I think I did it once. Never Again! Mind you the era of the Live attended auction is probably going to disappear.

The book was due to be released on 3rd of October but some copies were on the market in September. A nicely presented book and importantly in a hard cover.

Interesting that there are 70 lots of Jim Malone in this sale and there were another 60 lots in a previous Partridge sale this year, i wouldn't have thought that this was the best way to achieve the best prices for the vendor. I will be interested to see what lot 274 a glaze test? reputably by Hans Coper fetches.

You obviously have a great deal more patience than I have to trawl through that vast catalogue. The Coper piece is entirely relying on the typewritten letter that come with it. A classic case of everything lies with Provenance. I must admit it looks a fairly lowly piece that one would normally not take a second glance at. Whoever buys it is taking a big punt.
One often wonders if Adam Partridge is more of a pile 'em might and sell them fast auctioneer. Having so many Jim Malone in two auctions so close together seems a poor marketing strategy. Prices will surely dip? Pity because there is a lotsome nice Jim Malone there. Maybe an investment opportunity?
Makes one wonder where all this lot came from.

I see the latest Maak goes on view the end of the week. There are also some interesting pieces in the Lyon and Turnbull auction this week. It will be an interesting test of seeing where the market is.

I will probably buy the small Henderson bowl in lyon and Turnbull, the Odundo looks good but i think it's going to fly.

Odundo has reached that highest level of values in pottery now. Her work is gorgeous, and it appeals to many different trends in the Art and Ceramics market.

Yes she seems firmly entrenched at the top of the studio pottery market and consequently most of us have missed the opportunity of owning a piece. I notice in the Partridge sale that a John Ward green striped piece has already attracted bids of £6800! possibly in response to the publication of the book.

Its at £7800 now. Seems rather crazy. It does not look a particularly good piece, and it is not big.

Before it started rising i thought i might have a crack at it ,but it's out of the question now, there have been similar pieces selling for far less in recent times although there were a couple of high prices in the Driscoll collection but these also were out of step with the norm, the black and white piece is a better bet even at the high reserve.

Perhaps it is the slightly blurred nature of the design that makes it unusual. They tend to be a lot crisper on most of those green pieces. The black pieces are always the most desirable and have fetched the heftiest prices. Probably because they are very dramatic. Mind you who knows the mind of collectors? There are some very avid collectors of John Ward around with very deep pockets. When two people see that individual piece that exactly fits into their collection like the last piece of a jigsaw then money becomes no object!

The green banded Ward vase went for £8000, a fair number went to estimate and generally there were not too many unsolds. Akiko Hirai was a bit hit and miss, and there were several of her pieces unsold. There was a similar reaction to her work in the Lyon and Turnbull sale where a couple went for £5,500 each yet others were unsold.

I watched some of the sale and i think the results for the Baldwin pieces confirmed what we said in another post. Akiko Hirai seems to be popping up in a number of sales and only performing ok with certain pieces namely the so called 'moon jars', Maltby seems to pretty flat at present. The Lyon and Turnbull auction was much more interesting for me being design and pots, the Odundo's were the star lots.

The sculptural work seems an exception for Maltby tho. A 17.5 in King went for £3600. I think its just that the oldser collectors of his painterly work have just stopped collecting it. The Lyon and Turnbull was very interesting. But they were sooooo slow!