Aller Vale Pottery, Torquay (Devon)

Who made this beautiful vase... this is what i can make out from the mark at the base... ALLER B AND 10/11/35?

I love this item because is very beautiful although there some few chips.. am gonna have a go at having it repaired.. need to look for  good pottery around my end and have it fits. great lot :)

Potty wrote:Looks like Aller Vale Pottery.

Agreed. With scandi slipware decoration.

NaomiM wrote:

Potty wrote:Looks like Aller Vale Pottery.

Agreed. With scandi slipware decoration.

not sure i understand 'scandi slipware decoration'.

it's called an udder vase and i concure, deffo Aller Vale

ah, i see what you mean, Scandy pattern , not scandinavian

although, it looks more like Sandringham pattern in reverse colours - white on blue, rather than blue on white.

Aller Vale pie crust mottoware bowl

Can that be Scottish? (Big Ed?).
The Scottish and Welsh dialect motto wares are always
sought after, more than the usual carrot-cruncher stuff.
nice bit Naomi.

The Selkirk Grace, attributed (incorrectly) to Robert Burns.

Presumably Aller Vale and the other Devon mottoware potteries must have made Scots and Welsh language wares specifically for distribution to retailers in Scotland and Wales?

It's a popular motto. I suspect they were mainly made to be sold down south to tourists.

r-and-f wrote:The Selkirk Grace, attributed (incorrectly) to Robert Burns.

Presumably Aller Vale and the other Devon mottoware potteries must have made Scots and Welsh language wares specifically for distribution to retailers in Scotland and Wales?

Ah, so it is Scottish!

Yes I think so, as I have had some Torquay mottos in Welsh Gaelic,
which would not mean much to anyone outside Wales.

What was a more "desirable" item, though Torquay has hit the skids.
The cats and dogs subjects were always good, but for 20p well....

A 10 inch high vase with beautifully done impasto Narcissi. K2 pattern c1920s.

The more desireable "Coloured cockerel" motif.

Motto reads:
Take thy calling thankfully,
Love thy neighbour neighbourly,
Shun the path to beggary.

A more unusual moulded shape, with a floral cartouche on one side only. K1 pattern.

Nice motto.

Love your enemies, trust but few,
And always paddle your own canoe.

Aimed at the Irish market , I guess. Wondering how old it is as it appears to have some age


  Base shot hopeless but has ALLER VALE impressed and 275 incised under he glaze

I can't find dates except that Aller was in production 1880s to early 1930s. But I would guess early 1900s (1910s?) for this piece.

http://allervalepottery.co.uk

Thanks Naomi. I found that site and have found an email contact so have sent a message begging for info!!
I've just realised on further scrutinising that the bottom of the handle where they have been fixed to the body appear to be in form of animal claws - but probably my imagination again !!

I think you're right about the animal claws :)

The Aller Vale (Art) Pottery was probably in existance from 1868 but it wasn't until 1881 that John Phillips started to produce art pottery. Phillips died in 1897 and the business was taken over by Hexter, Humpherson & Co., who later purchased the Watcombe Terra-Cotta Co. and amalgamated the two firms in 1901. The company then became Royal Aller Vale & Watcombe Pottery Co. and generally the pottery from 1901 used Watcombe, Royal Aller Vale and other wording in the marks.

Therefore if that was true of all the wares produced, your two handled cup would have been made from c1885 (when work started to be marked) up to 1901. However, I have seen refererence to "Motto Ware", which is what this is, having the Aller Vale mark and the old shape number, as here, when produced by the amalgamated company after 1901.

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about this pottery to be able to say whether the reference I quote in the last sentence is correct or not.

Thanks for that SP. I'm hoping I will get a response to the email I sent to the chap on allervalepottery.co.uk
I'll post any info I get

That would be good.

Information kindly provided by Peter Wright on the Aller Vale web site :

This is a nice piece of Aller Vale, dating to around 1910, pay no attention to dots!
The shape 275 is on the Aller Vale shapes page under the Potteries menu on the website, where you will also come across a few other pots with this pattern.
Unsurprisingly the pattern and motto tend to go together.
The high glaze is from lead glaze used widely at the time.
It could be worth around £20


The reference to ' dots' is the mention I made when contacting him that I had been told my someone that the dots around the top being close together indicated an early date !

Thanks for that and it does confirm that the Aller Vale mark was used on motto ware after 1901.

About 4 1/4 inch high. Stamped 'Allervale' and I presume the style number, but does anyone know about the other mark C or L 1?
also does anyone happen to know if this is a pattern from earlier in the pottery's history (late 1800's) ? I've seen this pattern on ww.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/pp.cgi?item=2172 and the stamp design looks the same period.