Re: What is a Condition Report

by **philpot** October 14th 2016, 11:10 pm

Nah....The Golden Age of Studio pottery is dead and gone! Laughter

by **dantheman** October 14th 2016, 11:27 pm

that's what collectors will say when the current master potters are gone

by **philpot** October 15th 2016, 7:29 am

'Master p0tter'. Now why is there never a 'Mistress Potter'? Laughter

So what would your master potters be who are actually living and below the retirement age then Dan?
Just love this name game!

by **studio-pots** October 15th 2016, 8:40 am

If I may join in - Lisa Hammond.

by **NaomiM** October 15th 2016, 11:10 am

Agreed, Lisa Hammond

by **NaomiM** October 15th 2016, 11:13 am

Matthew Blakely
Geoffrey Swindell
William Plumptre

And if you're a Leach fan then there's still St Ives pottery, plus the carriers of the Leach baton: Malone, Dodd, Batterham, Rogers....etc

by **philpot** October 15th 2016, 11:25 am

All those Leach potters are above retirement age......As is Geoffrey Swindell.
Matthew Blakeley? Have about a number of his pieces. A very good potter.But Master? Revered? Numero Uno internationally?

by **NaomiM** October 15th 2016, 12:08 pm

Jeff Oestreich

by **NaomiM** October 15th 2016, 12:14 pm

The thing is how do you define Master Potter? Leach, Hamada, Cardew, Caiger-Smith etc were breaking new ground. Who's breaking new ground today? Well Hammond for one. Yo Thom. Dylan Bowen. John Pollex. Albert Montserrat.... I could pick at least a dozen off a ceramics fairs exhibitors list if I had one to hand.

by **dantheman** October 15th 2016, 1:06 pm

just because they are retirement age doesn't mean studio pottery is dead.
Most master potters didn't get there until they reached middle age .
By the time Geoff Swindell and the like are retired,the younger potters will have matured

by **studio-pots** October 15th 2016, 7:03 pm

Richard Batterham is probably my favourite active British potter and he's 80, which is the reason I mentioned Lisa instead. However, Dan is right, 80 is no age for a potter. I stopped asking Ursula Mommens to have solo exhibitions with me after she was 96, as I thought she didn't need the pressure. What happened, Contemporary Ceramics then asked her to have a solo show when she was 98, after not bothering before.

by **denbydump** October 15th 2016, 7:51 pm

ppcollectables wrote:I noticed last week that Boldon auction house had a lot in its general sale that was described as 2 Poole vases plus a paperweight, with a low estimate. I was sure the vases were G. Sydenham so asked for a condition report and heights of vases and details of the base marks. Eventually I received a reply that stated that both vases had chips, one to the base and one to the vertical carving. The problem was that there was no comment as to the size of the chips, they could have said 1" or 1mm. Also they hadn't stated the heights and the angle that the photo had been taken meant it was difficult to work out if they were 6" or 9" high. They had changed the description of the lot to state that they were G.S. vases so there was obviously interest in them. The consequence of this condition report which was not much better than useless was that I didn't bother bidding. I realise that an auction house on Tyneside may not be Poole experts but the difference between a poor and a useful condition report could be a buyer willing to spend a fair bit over the estimate. Does anyone know what lot 4 sold for?

Sorry to get back on topic, but could it be that the very act of asking for a condition report, has the effect of alerting the auction that
the item may be something better than they thought it was? Withdrawn or re-estimated or re-reserved.
There is a lot of knowledge out there that the auctions simply don't have, and they don't like anyone getting one over on them!

by **philpot** October 16th 2016, 8:10 am

Take personal experience.Last Saturday down in Ottery St Mary In Devon there was a small auction with 7 St Ives Earthenware bowls. Quite rare together. Asked for a condition report,and got a very good and detailed one. Was sorely tempted to bid,bit in the end life intervened, and I missed the auction Online. They went for £20!

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