Adam Partridge studio ceramics auctions

There are a number of sales coming up in the next week or two with substantial Studio Pottery numbers. Lyon and Turnbull (the leading Scottish auctioneers who now also do auction from London) Chorleys near Cheltenham, Sworders near Bishop Stortford. Generally they are part of Modern Design sales. This covers a wide area and makes for an interesting catalogue browse. Maak February May auction has just come online today.

The nitty gritty is all in auctioneers Terms and Conditions. Usually auctioneers state that they are just acting as Agents of the Sellers. Which lets them off the hook to a large extent.
A Christies provenance would probably make it very difficult to advance any claim as to authenticity. It did look a very weird pot to be a Barnard Leach.

studio-pots wrote:I think if you spend just a second to look you will see that all of the major auction houses around the world have made mistakes or just not bothered or had the expertise to care about whether something is what they say it is.

As an example of this, my investigation that took a second.. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/oct/17/christies-forger-art-scam

A Christies provenance is worth nothing. That's the bottom line and Partridge's using that is a reason for saying this is a bowl by Bernard Leach is absolute b*ll*cks. Not they they did that. They just ignored the question.

Trouble is, the nature of who buys at auction has changed over the years. A lot more inexperienced buyers from the general public are buying, who are not aware of the pitfalls of auctions. That type of Buyer - and there are now a lot of them- Provenance from a Major International Auction House would be a cast iron guarantee.

I think we are actually being a bit unfair on Adam Partridge. They don't make many mistakes.
             However, to auctions in general.
             Most people do not realise that Auctioneers operate under a different set of laws than a Retailer. Historically auctioneers acted as wholesalers, designed to shift things on quickly, and realise money from debts, deaths and the like. So in the Antiques Trade for instance their main customers were Antiques shops and dealers.
            But now the general Public are buying a great deal more from Auctioneers.  But these auctioneers operate under long extsablished laws which do not give the consumer the same rights as when they are buying from a retailer, or Online from Ebay,Amazon and so on.
             Best advice is. READ THE SMALL PRINT. Read it very carefully. Very people seem to do that! Even then be sceptical of condition reports. Which are often not done by experts, and quite often by a porter or such like. Very few Auctioneers offer an examination under UV light, which is really the best way of seeing good restoration.

Partridges are actually one of the best auctioneers. I myself have bought a fair amount from them and never had any problems. Their Buyer's commission is one of the lowest as well'
Condition reports. Both Mallams of Oxford and Wooley and Wallis have just put up auction catalogues with a fair amount of studio pottery. This copied from Mallams.
'Please note that condition reports are not printed in the catalogue or on our website however we are happy to provide them when requested subject to our terms and conditions of sale.'
Wooley and Wallis ask you to send an e-mail when asking for a condition report.
Now that policy actually works against the seller, as the selling audience will be much more limited. People will just not bid so freely.
Oh and note that dreaded phrase 'Terms and conditions of sale' Condition reports often contain quite a lot of Caveats!

I must admit at that sort of level I would need to view it personally. A photo doesn’t tell you everything. Looking at the photo in Mallams it is just not a detailed enough picture to examine it closely.
                I think I remember reading somewhere that Lyon and Turnbull  had obtained the services of the Mallams studio pottery expert. They have certainly upped their game in that area in recent years.

You might want to look at Mallams website. Seemingly they are offering free bidding on Mallams Live.
One does wonder if Auctioneers are stretching it just a little too far. The Buyer's premium has been pushed from relatively low levels when it was introduced in the 80's to touching 30% or more if you include VAT. What with the seller's commission, profits must be looking very healthy. I wonder how much more increases in margins the market will take?

Often it is getting hold of the good items that is the problem for the upper market auctioneers. Equally with Buyer's premium as it is they can afford the discounts,
Equally that is the kernel of it all. Auctioneers are acting more and more like retailers but operating under a set of laws designed for them to be primarily acting as wholesalers. A member of the General public buying from an Auctioneer does not the full protection of the law that they would get when buying from a shop. Most people are not aware of that.