Lowerdown Pottery David Leach question

I have a little simple bowl here with the Lowerdown Pottery David Leach mark. It also has another mark but I don’t know what this signifies? I also don’t know whether that Lowerdown mark means it’s made directly by David Leach or not? I can’t seem to find out online, lots of sites just say they’re made by him... any ideas? thanks
Cat

It ws not made by David Leach himself. The L+ sign is the one used by apprentices who worked with him. He had quite a few over the years including John Maltby and Tim Andrews. What you have here is a fairly straight forward soup/fruit bowl that would have been part of the standard ware range that the apprentices would have  made lots of to hone their skills.
David Leach was a famous potter , who invariably used his PERSONAL D/L mark combined with the L+. He was well aware of the extra value that his personal mark and reputation gave his pots.

Hi,
OK many thanks that clears things up a bit! Still not sure if the other mark signifies who made it? Many sites are very misleading simply showing that mark as a 'David Leach' signature. Your answer does make sense! Thanks

The other mark looks like a 7. It's standard ware so probably only has significance to the pottery

Thanks! You've both been a great help! Such a great forum.

The 7 is a code for the glaze mix inside the bowl. Therefore it is a trail piece but of course still OK to be sold as part of the inexpensive functional ware range with the Lowerdown Cross (L+) mark. It is a glaze that doesn't look familiar and I have seen many hundreds of such bowls over the years and still use some.

David always liked to have pottery on sale at Lowerdown to "suit every pocket" and did in fact make thousands of pieces with just the L+ seal, when he was working alone, to satisfy this demand. However, as he said once when I was there buying stock for my gallery and included a couple of L+ items, "I should have put my personal seal on those two and then I could have charged you more."

Therefore if anyone suggests that you should pay more for a piece with a L+ seal because they say that David made it, your answer should be that David Leach didn't charge more when he told potential buyers that he had made an L+ piece, so they certainly had no right to demand more.

That’s very interesting- and especially from someone who met him! I found this in a mixed lot from someone who just saw it as general pottery and wasn’t even looking for any kind of makers mark, so I got it cheap anyway! It was actually almost lost to the sea and spent four nights floating around in Poole harbour in a very well packaged parcel before being fished out by someone who then contacted me... so it has an extra story too it!!!

The back story sounds interesting but this thread isn't the place but you could start a new thread in the Lava Lounge!

I knew David for the last 15 years of his life and had quite considerable contact with him, so everything that I write about David comes from David himself or from other potters that knew him well.