Steven Jones - Samstorp, Karlstad, Sweden

This is a small salt-glazed jug (approx. 5 inches/13 cm tall) and has a signature that to me looks like S. Jones. That or something similar means nothing to me, so any ideas?

Not finding anything under S. Jones. The colour and method of signing looks French or American imo

I would say American as the name is new to me

I know that it is not the usual way of signing pots in the UK, so have thought the same but just wonder how it ended up in Plumstead S.E. London, as nothing else suggests it wasn't made here.

Jeremy Steward at Wobage runs courses for more advanced potters and that includes salt-glazing, so I wonder if this may have been a nice pot from one of their better students.

http://www.workshops-at-wobage.co.uk/news/3-a-half-day-improvers-jug-making-jeremy-steward/

I think that I am more inclined to think that it was made in the UK by a young potter/student than being from elsewhere but that's just based on the look, the stoneware body and the way it seems to have been fired.

That red colour on the base is far more common amongst American wood firers, such as Ron Philbeck and John McCoy, although it might be by someone using John Jelf's soda kiln

How much American unidentified pottery crossed the Atlantic before the age of the Internet and Ebay? If it was found in found in South London then perhaps Harrow alumni might be a possibility? Or what salt glazed professional potters did pottery courses? An inscribed signature like that generally means student/amateur/hobby potter.

I wouldn't judge everything just by its method of marking. Inscribed signatures like that are common for those not taught in the Leach tradition, so pretty much every Studio potter outside of the UK. Far too good to be by a student.

Offhand, I can think of very few British potters that actually sign their work by inscribing it. Whether in the Leach tradition or not.
Are there then no student/hobby/amateur potters that produce professional quality work?

Apart from the way it's signed, it looks very British to me. I agree it looks a nice piece, but some students do produce better work than many of the "pro" potters around.

From what I understand the darker red on the base is from being slighty over-fired (I bought a similar piece from a English potter as "seconds" for this reason), but that may have been the intent, as I think it looks good anyway.

I asked a friend and they suggested Steven Jones

http://www.stevenjones.se/

This is my reply from Steven Jones, who gave me permission to copy and paste part of his reply, which was as follows: -

"What a pleasent surprise to get your mail. I do admit to being the man behind that jug. It is somewhat squat compared to the type of jugs I make today, but the salting was okey. It may have gotten to England through the English families, that have summer cottages around the lake where I live.
The mainstay of my work is salt glazed stoneware and porcelain but have been exploring more and more the use of Shino glazes combined with salt or fired in wood kilns without salt."

I do have a website which unfortunately needs updating. www.stevenjones.se.

So although born in Salem, Ohio in the USA, Steven has spent most of his life in the forested region of Värmland, Sweden where he still lives and works.

still an American though..