Alan Caiger-Smith Red and Lustre Bowl "A.P.L."

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this forum and fairly new to studio pottery in general.
I sometimes buy and sell pottery (and other vintage stuff) on eBay for fun but will also treat myself to a few "keeper" pieces.

Thought I'd share this Alan Caiger-Smith bowl with red and lustre brush work, I believe 1977. I discovered ACS at the V&A and he's become one of my favourite potters at the moment.

30 cm wide and quite tall so feels substantial, I quite like the detail to the rim. Intrigued as to who A.P.L. might have been - I'm assuming it's likely a personal commission or maybe institutional?

Some more pictures including marks

That is a super bowl. Congratulations!
Aldermaston was a working pottery, and they would produced a Lot of Commemorative ware to order. Seeing the full stops on the ALP probably means it was an organisation or company.
If I were starting to collect Alan Caiger Smith now, I would definitely concentrate on his lustreware. It is unique and absolutely gorgeous. It always shouts Alan Caiger Smith. whereas his ordinary Aldermaston work is fairly generic.
If you are looking to see a bigger selection of his work, Reading Museum has an excellent collection.
If you thinking on buying further then the best auctioneers to look are Mallams and Wooley and Wallis. His work appears regularly as their sales. Both auctioneers have a search facility to see past items sold.
We also have a thread on Alan Caiger Smith, which is mixed in with Aldermaston pieces as well. Here
https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t3346-aldermaston-pottery?highlight=aldermaston

Thanks to both for the appreciation - Philpot, this is a really helpful comment. I agree with you - the lustreware is what drew me to ACS and while I do like the ordinary Aldermaston stuff (you can see a little pot by Mary O'Gorman on the left) the former is much more striking.

Thanks for the pointers on the auction houses which I didn't know of - I have neither space nor money to collect much at the moment (was lucky to get a very good deal on the bowl) but when I do I definitely intend to look there. The longer ACS thread I've already perused and it's really helpful. Reading is on my to-do list as well!

Nice bowl.    Is it not APL not ALP? I'm assuming it was a retirement present? I could live with those initials but thew ones that say "Gerald and Hattie - Married 1992" are just too distracting and personal.

Yes it's APL apologies - wasn't looking at the bowl when I wrote the text! Fixed

And is this not a punch bowl? Too high for a fruit bowl.

?

That is thought Crawford. In fact further thoughts makes this quite unusual. I do not think that Alan Caiger Smith would have done much of this very specific work in lustre. As the firing results in lustre were always haphazard, and they could not guarantee the final results.

You DID get a bargain!

Ah did you find the sale? I did indeed!
I didn't think of a punch bowl... It makes so much sense now.