Adam Partridge studio ceramics auctions

They are always slow at Lyon and Turnbull but on the other hand Partridge always seems far too anxious to move the bidding on, what i did notice at the partridge sale was the lack of firm reserves on many items with some selling way below their estimates.

croker wrote:... what i did notice at the partridge sale was the lack of firm reserves on many items with some selling way below their estimates.

May have come from deceased collectors estates and the relatives don't want them back

croker wrote: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.

I had noticed that Hirai's seem to be found in every auction going. Maybe many people bought them in the first place with the idea of turning a quick profit rather than them being pieces they loved?

I think you are probably right but i think it's unlikely that they will realise a profit after such a short time with all the sale charges involved, collectors buying an item for future profit is fool hardy in my opinion and should buy only what they really like and can live with.

I got a couple of Guy Sydenham Rokko pieces for £90 so not a strong result for the seller

dantheman wrote:I got a couple of Guy Sydenham Rokko pieces for £90 so not a strong result for the seller

I wondered if you might go after them, Dan.

Buying most Art and pottery for a short term profit is a mug's game. Buyer's Premium 20%-30% then another 10%-20% as rough figures makes it risky. Different when you are a gallery or dealer and can incorporate those costs in your selling price.

philpot wrote:Buying most Art and pottery for a short term profit is a mug's game. Buyer's Premium   20%-30% then another 10%-20% as rough figures makes it risky. Different when you are a gallery or dealer and can incorporate those costs in your selling price.

Over recent month's I became interesting in the prices that the Stratford Gallery were getting and the amount they were selling of modern Japanese ceramics. For example, some teabowls selling around £3K+. I am on Instagram and there you can sometimes get an indication about who follows an account and what kind of individuals they are. When I looked at the Stratford Gallery account there appeared to be a number of American based "investment advisors", who I assume make money out of advising people with too much money on what to spend it on. Maybe this type of activity could be responsible for the prices of some studio ceramics rising significantly over the last year or so?

I think there are only a few potters whose work has grown significantly in price in the last few years. The staples of Maak auctions for instance. John Ward, Emmanuel Cooper etc started rising sharply in price circa 2014/2015.

studio-pots wrote:
Over recent month's I became interesting in the prices that the Stratford Gallery were getting and the amount they were selling of modern Japanese ceramics. For example, some teabowls selling around £3K+. I am on Instagram and there you can sometimes get an indication about who follows an account and what kind of individuals they are. When I looked at the Stratford Gallery account there appeared to be a number of American based "investment advisors", who I assume make money out of advising people with too much money on what to spend it on. Maybe this type of activity could be responsible for the prices of some studio ceramics rising significantly over the last year or so?

Stratford Gallery and the Oxford Ceramics gallery both overprice their Japanese pots. I buy my Tomoo Hamada, etc, pots from the St Ives Gallery in Tokyo and they are far cheaper.

https://auctions.adampartridge.co.uk/auction/details/0317-studio-ceramics-macclesfield/?au=15&pn=17&g=1
My but how Time passes. A new Spring Adam Partridge sale. This time around while there are few really top end pieces, it is a quality sale for the average collector. A very wide range of quality mid market pottery with mostly something for everyone. Usually his sales tend to be loaded with a fairamount of dull stuff, but this one is not.
A number of Michael Cardew, a Ewen Henderson, Bowl. Mary Rogers, two small John Ward, couple of nice Lucie Rie bowls, Nicholas Homoky were spotted in a quick perusal.
If I were in the market for buying, this sale would excite me!

I think the pick of the bunch in this sale is the yellow Lucie Rie bowl, both of the Emmanuel Cooper bowls have a certain amount of damage, which is a shame. I have never seen a John Ward pot in that pale yellow glaze before and i wonder if the unusual colourway will attract or put potential bidders off. The best group of Homoky seen at auction for some time . As you say a good middle of the road sale with nothing really outstanding. Amazing the amount of Malone pots in the the last three sales around 200 i think , probably offloading stock as i believe he is retiring.

The John Ward is indeed intriguing. It is very, very subtle in its colours. So subtle in fact, that I do not think photos are quite doing it justice.
I suspect there are going to be a lot of Jim Malone on the secondary market in the next year or so. Putting such a large amount on to such a small market is probably going to depress prices. But he is retiring. Best thing for him to do.
The Homoky pieces are indeed very good. I would even be tempted to bidding one if my wife would not have my guts for garters if I bought anything else!

When I first started collecting and dealing in studio pottery, I not only bought new pots but was buying old pots because I hadn't seen them before or seen/owned things like them before. In recent years, as my stock and dealing has slowed down, I have been adding to my collection but only really new work from a few British based artists. I buy it because I want to own and enjoy the work and support the artists and that's it.

This is not typical of those that buy on the secondary market, as there are many new younger collectors out there than there were 5 or 10 years ago. I think that we "old timers" underestimate the size of the secondary market. I have been surprised at how well the Malone's have sold over recent sales considering the number on offer but it's probably due to me being out of touch, even though I am still dealing and selling to a few of these people.

https://auctions.adampartridge.co.uk/auction/search/?au=15

The results of yesterday's Adam Partridge sale. Very few blockbusters. The unusual mid-50's Lucie Rie went for £53,500. The other Rie bowl mid teens. The Ward with pale lilac stripes went for £4000. A couple of pieces touched just over £1000 The Emmanuel Cooper, Matthew Chambers and a couple of others.
               Very much a bread and butter sale,with prices often at the low range of estimates which were low in themselves. Still, there were very few unsolds from such a big auction. Although a  fair amount might well have gone to the trade. Given the substantial numbers by Leach style potters there are obviously still a fair number of buyers out there.

An interesting sale, the Lucie made an expected high price against a ridiculous estimate, i managed to buy both of the Ward pieces all of the leach type pottery was very much in the doldrums with Malone selling for peanuts, in fact a collection could be formed for very little outlay and apparently there is more to come in the next sale , overall i detected a bit of a downturn in demand with prices generally low, possibly due to the present economic uncertainty.

I thought £1050 for that little Green Ward was a fairly high price. Mostly that size goes go for under well £1000. What interested you so much?
The simple fact about the Leach style pottery was there was just such a vast amount of it! There are just so many collectors of that sort of pottery now. Equally, those that collect Leach style pieces probably have a fair selection of it already!
Mind you, for those had bought at Goldmark prices then the prices would have made feel a bit queasy!
Having looked at the Rie closely one realises it is quite a rare piece. She did very little of that type of vivid colouring in the mid 50's. Which is the date of that one. If had been more finessed it would have got a lot more!

Hi philpot, The green Ward pieces are a particular favourite of ours , i wasn't to sure of the yellow piece initially but it grew on me.

https://auctions.adampartridge.co.uk/auction/details/0321-studio-ceramics-macclesfield/?au=29

The latest Adam Partridge studio pottery sale on 28 July, A mega sale of 831 lots! An excellent overall sale of mid range studio ceramics for the collector. No outstanding block busters that I can see at first glance.
A very Large number of Charles Bound Lots. Mostly in multi-lots. An estate or studio sale? Lots of John Maltby et al. Its always a very interesting browse

The Charles Bound are all being sold for charity,it will be interesting to see how the Maltby fares as he hasn't been doing very well in recent sales, there is nothing in the sale that i am interested in but as you say a good mid range sale with nothing really outstanding.

Charles Bound has been hit and miss. I've picked up bargains in previous Adam Partridge sales. The tea bowls are collected but his larger items struggle to sell. I don't know how much of a following he has from US buyers. I suspect we'll be seeing some pieces in their following sales

Bound - too much, can't dump that much clay on the market without it bottoming out

Charles Bound has a fairly narrow spectrum of collectors. His style is definitely not a mainstream appeal to the average collector. I think you are right Crawford. That is probably a greater total of Charles Bound stuff than has been on sale in all auctions in the past ten years or more

An interesting of course is that are these Adam Partridge auctions getting Too big? It takes ages just to wade through it! Quantity over quality?

I started with my breakfast and just finished. Lots of stuff that I would love to own
I will probably go for 2 of the Swindell lots and possibly 4 or 5 others