bonhams design sale

The Bonhams sale on the 7th December doesn't have a great deal of studio pottery but there are a couple of interesting pieces . A large Bernard Leach 'tree of life charger' similar to the piece just sold in the Driscoll collection but with a less elaborate border, it will be interesting to see how this piece fares in the wake of the Driscoll example. Another interesting item is a large model of a pig by William Newland, i can't ever remember seeing a pig by him, bulls are more normally associated with this potter.

Croker could you please post the link to the sale

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26799/?bid_lot_no=5514845#/MR0_length=10&w0=list&m0=0&aa1=1&MR1_length=205&w1=list&m1=1

Bonhams are just a ghost of what they once were in the Studio Pottery field. Some interesting old style Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew from the the Leo Baker collection. Two William Newland pieces of which the Pig is Really unusual!
There is a lot of nice pottery there though! Pity its not studio!

hi, Yes Bonhams really can't attract the studio pottery collections any more ,when they dropped out of that market others came and filled their shoes and now it would seem they can't get back in. On another note that Pilkingtons Lancastrian piece by Mycock is stunning, i think i spotted a piece of Martin Bros we used to own.

None of the Big London auction houses have specialist Studio Pottery auctions now. Sothebys dabbles a bit with including studio pottery in its Made in Britain sales, Bonhams ditto but less than Sothebys, Phillips seem to concentrate on the handful of really big hitters, and Christies is nowhere.
Maak has done extraordinarily well in being the best Studio Pottery British auction destination.

Many auction houses are now trying their hand at design sales that include studio ceramics, but unfortunately i think they have possibly missed the boat, as you say MAAK are now the best destination for quality studio ceramics, probably partridge next with larger sales but with mainly more affordable pieces, most vendors pots seem to gravitate towards these two rooms with maybe woolly's a fair bit behind.

There are a few number of provincial auction houses that are always worth looking at for studio pottery. Their knowledge tends to vary though!
Tennant's, Adam Partridge, Lyon and Turnbull, T W Gaze, Cheffins, Sworders, Woolley and Wallis, Chorleys, Toovey's, David Lay, Bearnes.
I have bought from all of those over the years (lot of years!) apart from Lyon and Turnbull.

hi, Like you i have bought from all of the rooms mentioned apart from Toovey's and i get alerts from most but i cant ever see any of them breaking into dedicated studio pottery sales . By the way did you see the total at Phillips for the Driscoll sale over 6 million.

£49,000 for the Bernard Leach Tree of Life Dish. £1200 for the Willian Newland Bull, and £1800 for the Pig. A De Waal went for £15,000 and a mixed bag of so so prices for the rest with some unsolds. Hammer prices of course.
It seems the Driscoll collection auction was an exceptional event.

Yes the Driscoll collection appears to be a one off sale and did not materialise in a price revaluation of studio pottery , i guess buyers just wanted part of the 'historical' collection and also had plenty of money to throw around.