The Leach Pottery. St Ives

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.

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.


I had to double check myself when I bought it.

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.

dewibbling this thread. The discussion has been moved here -
https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t30850-auction-houses-discussion-split-from-the-st-ives-thread

Some of the Modern Leach production on sale in a gallery.

This was a St Ives chess set by Bill Marshall which went for £800 hammer price recently. A rare item.

Do you think this was a special commission? or made for his own use .

I think it would have been a special commission. The set had the St Ives mark on it as well. It was a working commercial pottery and there have been different sorts of oddments out of the norm at auction over the years. For a good deal of the time they only made teapots to order I believe.

philpot wrote:A small earthenware bowl,probably from the 30's.The earthenware clay is darker.

Philpot, am I mistaken or do I see writing under the glaze of this pot?

Regards,

Jay.

There was some writing on this, but I could never decipher it properly. Long gone now though, after downsizing!
In the mid early to mid 1920's The Leach St Ives pottery did a fair amount of motto work just do bring some money in. The most prized pieces are those by Michael Cardew which you still see around at auction occasionally.

I’m reading Hughes

philpot wrote:There was some writing on this, but I could never decipher it properly. Long gone now though, after downsizing!
In the mid early to mid 1920's The Leach St Ives pottery did a fair amount of motto work just do bring some money in. The most prized pieces are those by Michael Cardew which you still see around at auction occasionally.

Shame you never deciphered it.

My ex missus is a great niece of Michael Cardew and she has many of his pots & quite a few with quotes/mottos. She commissioned Ara to make me a tankard with a distinct logo & motto for me some years ago which I still use to this day.

Regards,

Jay.

Exhibition of early Leach St Ives Pottery at Farnham College several years ago

I 'll take the little yellow milk jug, No. 62. Unusual shape. The pattern book is unusual & interesting. I wonder if in 100 years all this information will be online and popularity will grow or if it will fade away.

Purchased at auction in Warrington. I know it’s leach pottery just wondering if anyone can give an approximate date or attribute a maker. It looks like an early piece to me but I’m a complete novice. I will have better pictures when I collect it. Any thoughts appreciated.

Is that base earthenware? It also looks like the sort of te standard slipware design they did in the mid in the 1930's when Harry Davis (he of the late Crowan pottery) was working there. It might possibly be earlier, but the clay does not look quite right for the 1920's. Unfortunately, although these pieces are quite old, it is only the pieces that can be identified with a specific potter that are eagerly collected.

You could look at our Leach pottery thread for more information. It is all a bit jumbled, but there is a lot of information there!
https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t9954-the-leach-pottery-st-ives-cornwall?highlight=leach+st+ives

Many thanks. I will hopefully know more when I collect it

I concur with philpot's thoughts and it looks to be from the 1930s.

I am assuming that it's quite small and a beaker?

Yes it’s a beaker

It would have been part of what we call the Standard Ware range at the time. The standard ware was basically the bread and butter range of the Leach pottery which bought in the money. There were a specific number of shapes which were continuously produced by a team of potters. They could produce quite a few in one day.

Absolutely fascinating, many thanks for the info. Learning all the time. It’s a fabulous little item

studio-pots wrote:A "Small Cream Jug" with glaze A (Black to rust tenmoku) priced at 75p back in 1975. The glaze is at the rust end of the glaze spectrum.

Saw a similar one this weekend, but with additional decoration down the front. Unfortunately locked in a cabinet so I couldn’t see the rest

I think that might be from the 1930s and in earthenware, Naomi, as I have something similar that I will photograph and post when I remember.

What Leach Pottery was made for. Perfect for Muesli!