Re: The Leach Pottery. St Ives, Cornwall

by **philpot** January 13th 2022, 6:18 pm

The large dinner plate is probably one of the rarest of the Leach standard Ware, as they probably mostly got broken. They were also one of the most expensive items in the range.

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by **philpot** April 9th 2022, 6:51 pm

Charity shop find with a few chips. Still it is an Uncommon one. They came as a Vinegar and Olive Oil pair, with stoppers in the top. But having checked two catalogues they were in neither

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by Neil62 April 17th 2022, 9:21 am

philpot wrote:The large dinner plate is probably one of the rarest of the Leach standard Ware, as they probably mostly got broken. They were also one of the most expensive items in the range.

Hi Philpot,
One of the most interesting pieces I read on ceramikes site was the piece about how these plates evolved from the tree of life plates previously produced by Bernard and David Leach.
I recall there was a picture of David holding one of the plates.
This 20th century forum is brilliant for someone like me as a reference point as is Mikes site!
Many thanks I will try with my limited knowledge to contribute.

by Neil62 April 17th 2022, 10:13 am

A Yunomi by Bill Marshall bearing both his own personal mark and the St Ives seal

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by Neil62 April 17th 2022, 10:17 am

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Thought you might find this interesting. It is a sake set by Janet Leach all the items bear Janet’s personal seal and the St Ives studio mark.
The point of interest is that the sake pourer has the word “repeat” impressed.
I have seen both in my research on here and on auction sites that the word was used on small square pieces (as on earlier part of the thread).
In correspondence with Joanna Wason she could not recall why the word was used on such a piece as it was not done to her knowledge and only used on the small square trays.

by Neil62 April 17th 2022, 10:19 am

Yes funnily enough I got about half the price I paid as a refund but later thought with the reports / letters etc…. It might be worth more in later years.
Maybe Janet stamped it after she’d been down the local for a few sherbets

by Neil62 April 17th 2022, 10:28 am

Unsigned Bill Marshall

Almost the last

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for today - I bought this from the same vendor as the signed Yunomi, the provenance being that the vendor’s mother worked at the Leach shop in the early seventies and she purchased the vase then.
It is a heavy octagonal vase.

by Neil62 April 17th 2022, 10:32 am

I am pretty sure I saw a picture of either this very pot or one like it.

I bought it on the site often referred to by a seller in Canada.
It is by Bernard Leach, has the BL stamp, the St Ives mark and an ‘ENGLAND’ stamp.

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by Neil62 April 17th 2022, 10:36 am

Neil62 wrote:Here are two pictures of yunomis by Bill Marshall
One is from his time at the Leach and has both his mark and the Leach stamp the other doesn’t and only has his personal mark but which is which?

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by **philpot** April 17th 2022, 10:41 am

That is a nice Bernard Leach piece you have there! Did you buy the two last pieces of Bill Marshall's quite recently at auction. I can remember seeing similar pieces online and they had a whole spiel about the Turret Hall bookshop in Kensington selling Leach pieces. Which sounded a bit dubious. No reflection on the pieces, they look nice.

by **philpot** April 17th 2022, 10:43 am

[quote="Neil62"]

Neil62 wrote:Here are two pictures of yunomis by Bill Marshall
One is from his time at the Leach and has both his mark and the Leach stamp the other doesn’t and only has his personal mark but which is which?

I would say the brown one is the Leach piece, and the hakeme decorated one is the Bill Marshall one.

by Neil62 April 17th 2022, 10:44 am

philpot wrote:
Neil62 wrote:
Neil62 wrote:Here are two pictures of yunomis by Bill Marshall
One is from his time at the Leach and has both his mark and the Leach stamp the other doesn’t and only has his personal mark but which is which?

I would say the brown one is the Leach piece, and the hakeme decorated one is the Bill Marshall one alone.

Correct philpot

by **philpot** April 17th 2022, 10:48 am

His work at the Leach pottery was fairly straight jacketed. They used a limited range of glazed and shapes. His single work tends to have a much wider range of glazes and forms. Hence it tends to be a lot more popular with collectors.

by Neil62 April 17th 2022, 11:03 am

philpot wrote:That is a nice Bernard Leach piece you have there! Did you buy the two last pieces of Bill Marshall's quite recently at auction. I can remember seeing similar pieces online and they had a whole spiel about the Turret Hall bookshop in Kensington selling Leach pieces. Which sounded a bit dubious. No reflection on the pieces, they look nice.

I bought the octagonal vase and the signed Yunomi (not the one you identified) but a later picture from the auction you describe.
The bookshop she worked in was shared with a Leach shop selling their wares.
It was the ladies daughter who was the vendor.
The Yunomi is definitely right as it has both marks - the vase has no marks at all but is well made so I have no reason to dispute it given the Yunomi and the date she claims to have acquired it.

In the 6 months I’ve been collecting I have on the whole been pleased with my purchases.
Sometimes it’s been well bought others not so well - suppose that’s the general story!!
I’ve got a few pieces by David Leach, 3 whilst he was at Leach and others after he moved on.
I’ll post them another day.

by **philpot** April 17th 2022, 11:11 am

David Leach is interesting. His pieces at the Leach pottery are fairly rare. But a bit like Bill Marshall's they are limited in scope,almost purely because of the exigencies of a production pottery. In the immediate post-war years they were very busy indeed, owing to rationing.
If you are collecting David Leach be careful of the earthenware work which he produced in the mid 50's to early 60's. It is just not so accomplished as his later work, but is often sold at the same prices!

by **philpot** April 17th 2022, 11:37 am

If you are looking for background information on the Leach pottery Marion Whybrow produced two books which are worth looking at. Usually available on Ebay. There is also a book on David Leach which is quite good, and of course Emmanuel Cooper's book on Bernard Leach. Emmanuel Cooper also produced a book on Janet leach. There is also a less common book on Bill Marshall which you see on Ebay sometimes.

by Neil62 April 17th 2022, 5:25 pm

philpot wrote:If you are looking for background information on the Leach pottery Marion Whybrow produced two books which are worth looking at. Usually available on Ebay. There is also a book on David Leach which is quite good, and of course Emmanuel Cooper's book on Bernard Leach. Emmanuel Cooper also produced a book on Janet leach. There is also a less common book on Bill Marshall which you see on Ebay sometimes.

Thanks Philpot I’ve got one of the books by Marion Whybrow.

I’ll post my David Leach : St Ives ones tomorrow

by Neil62 April 18th 2022, 8:25 am

I think this Leach tile is from c1930 but happy to be corrected

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by Neil62 April 18th 2022, 8:27 am

David Leach at Leach Pottery

I bought this from e bay possibly from one of you and I’m happy with it!

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by Neil62 April 18th 2022, 8:57 am

David Leach at the Leach pottery

I bought this at auction together with some provenance and explanation from the vendor.
There was a signed letter explaining that he had spoken with David Leach at the 1993 exhibition and conference (Dartington) about a similarly decorated piece to this one at the exhibition.
The letter said that the piece (not this one) was one of two or three thrown by David and decorated by his father for the 1952 Dartington exhibition.
There was also a copy of the Dartington booklet signed by Marion Whybrow.

There is a picture of a similarly decorated bowl in the Dartington booklet. The piece is different to mine though presumably because David did this one on his own.

I suspect the only date which can be attributed to the piece is c1950s ie after the 1952 Dartington conference but prior to him leaving Leach pottery, but I don’t know.
David’s piece on Dartington in the booklet is very interesting for someone with no knowledge of pottery.

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by **studio-pots** April 19th 2022, 3:46 pm

Neil62 wrote:Yes funnily enough I got about half the price I paid as a refund but later thought with the reports / letters etc…. It might be worth more in later years.
Maybe Janet stamped it after she’d been down the local for a few sherbets

I have seen and had other pieces with repeat on them such as teabowls. My understanding is that she did it in order to make them less expensive for visitors to the Pottery when compared to individual pieces. Very much in the way that David leach did with his Lowerdown seal in later years.

Not all visitors could afford the prices asked for her one off pieces.

When I visit the Pottery and Joanna was assisting Janet, I can only remember the REPEAT mark on the dishes you mention and so other items with REPEAT might be before Joanna was taken on.

P.S. Although Janet did got down to the local, I think most of her serious drinking was done at home.

by **studio-pots** April 19th 2022, 3:53 pm

Neil62 wrote:Unsigned Bill Marshall

Almost the last
for today - I bought this from the same vendor as the signed Yunomi, the provenance being that the vendor’s mother worked at the Leach shop in the early seventies and she purchased the vase then.
It is a heavy octagonal vase.

If someone suggested to me that this was by Bill Marshall, it wouldn't be enough for me to believe them.

The nearest thing that I have seen like this are the pots that Jeremy Leach was making around 2000 at a small pottery he had on the edge of Dartmoor. An image of the base would tell me more.

by **studio-pots** April 19th 2022, 4:09 pm

Regarding the David Leach pieces, you will notice that I have tidied them up a little, as we don't alter the thread title when posting in a specific thread. It's not a problem except that it gives we "consultants" work to do.

philpot is correct about David Leach pieces with the Leach Pottery seal being quite rare but there is absolutely nothing wrong with your two pieces. So you have started off well.

Throughout the time that Bernard Leach was working at the Leach Pottery he always used better throwers to throw many of his larger pots. In the 1930s Harry Davis did so and then David and from 1955 onwards it was Bill Marshall. I know that in the case of Bill Marshall that he threw, decorated, glazed, fired and stamped some pots with the Leach Pottery seal and Bernard's personal seal when Bernard was on his lecture tours.

by **studio-pots** April 19th 2022, 4:31 pm

philpot wrote:His work at the Leach pottery was fairly straight jacketed. They used a limited range of glazed and shapes. His single work tends to have a much wider range of glazes and forms. Hence it tends to be a lot more popular with collectors.

You are correct, philpot, but occasionally Leach Pottery pieces of Bill's were a little different, as with this teabowl from my collection.

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I had to double check myself when I bought it.

by **philpot** April 20th 2022, 7:18 am

The octagonal piece up there. I actually viewed this auction (it was at a Auctioneer's in Stourbridge) and handled this piece. I had my doubts.

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