Alex Sharp, AS or SA mark

The jug seems competently produced but the decoration...  well, not overly inspiring. Impressed SA under the base of the handle.

Thanks Naomi. The mark certainly looks like his (or hers?) even down to the serif on the S and the chamfered corners of the box. Seems incongruous compared to his/her work at the Leach Pottery but then potters don't have to stick with one style or a single type of clay.

Hmm, then again,looking at this thread https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t17234-alexander-alex-sharp, looks like his output wasn't anything like this jug. Back in the unidentified box it goes.

The handle shape suggests it could just be by Alex but if it is it must be very early. I've only seen this mark used in conjunction with the St Ives seal, and he used a different AS mark from his early days at Morar Pottery. But he made pots in so many different styles, clays and glazes that anything's possible. This could be a tin-glaze experiment.

If you're thinking of selling, please let me know as it would be an interesting addition to my reference collection.

Essenjay kindly let me buy this jug from him, and now that I have it, there's no doubt in my mind that it is indeed by Alex Sharp, but I'm not certain exactly where to place it in his career.

The AS mark is very similar to the one he used in St Ives, where he lived in the late 1940s / early 50s. According to his elderly wife (who didn't know him until some 10 years later), Alex's story was that at an early age he was so impressed with Bernard Leach's A Potter's Book that he moved to St Ives on spec and pestered Leach until he was taken on as some kind of trainee or handyman.

But this little jug in tin-glazed red earthenware doesn't look anything like Leach Pottery production, so now I'm wondering if Alex maybe also worked at a different pottery while in Cornwall? Don't suppose we'll ever know.