Mug by Michael Cardew Student

This (stoneware?) mug came in an auction lot of Wenford Bridge pieces, one each by Michael, Seth and Ara Cardew. It was apparently by a student of the senior Cardew but the auction house was unsure of their identity. The lower monogram looks to be HF and the upper one looks like the Greek Phi without the stick extending below. Any guesses?

cb maybe? The lower mark is almost South Heighton.

or even ruthanne tudball?

https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t3612-ruthanne-tudball

If the lower mark is South Heighton then it is either Chris Lewis or Ursula Mommens. Ursula being the one who actually worked with Michael Cardew.

Thanks, both for the suggestion. I'm struggling to find any similar South Heighton marks though. Don't suppose that you have a link please, Jerry?

I don’t think it’s South Heighton, if only because of the shape and clay, and the mark is inconclusive

As always, just bouncing spurious ideas aroud, to maybe give some pointers
to further research. Nice item, should be something.

The lower mark looks a bit like Ray Finch’s very early mark. Is it possible that part of it is just cracks in the glaze giving the appearance of an H?

Definitely no hint of a curl, unfortunately, so closest would be HF or, if you rotate 90 degrees, a 4 resting on a line. The mark above, if also rotated, looks like a lower case e with the horizontal line extended to the left. I suspect that the potter may be too obscure to be identified but I'll keep me fingers crossed.

That top mark reminds me of the one that Colin Pearson used for his production work.

Similar but Pearson’s mark is the other way up and in a square

I'm clearly seeing "cb" for the potter's mark.

Agreed, if I had to put money on it, I would say cb and HF. Doesn't help much, does it?!