Alan Caiger-Smith and apprentices, Aldermaston Pottery

In the earlier years Aldermaston and indeed Alan Caiger Smith himself would try many different things. They were after all, a working pottery that needed to make money.
             This week there was an auction of such early Aldermaston pottery at Hannam's in Hampshire. The following images mostly had Alan Caiger Smith's mark on. But all were definitely marked with some Aldermaston mark. The Pig and cow, and the bright blue glaze on a couple of pieces are especially unusual.

Never guess that those two animals were ASC

Here are two pictures of an eighteen inch platter that we received as a wedding gift back in 1971.  It was bought from Aldermaston pottery by a family friend who lived locally.  According to this friend the potter was reluctant to sell it as ut had been an experimental piece and, to be frank. it isn't quite flat!!  I haven't seen anything else quite like it.  Can anyone identify the potter's mark?

That is a lovely piece, and Very unusual for Aldermaston. The AC is for Edgar Campden who started in the early years of Aldermaston pottery in 1961, and worked there until the late 80's. I wonder if this was a personal experiment? Hence the reluctance to sell it.

Thank you Philpot for the information. I think it must have been a personal experiment. Our family friend was something of a character around sulhamstead and VERY determined when she set her mind on something. It seems a miracle to me that we have managed to keep this piece undamaged through 50 years and three moves of house. It has occasionally even been used to serve food. Will it survive the grandchildren?

looks like 1966 date mark to me

Aldermaston jug. Edgar campden?
His was the nearest I could see on the Aldermaston potters list but it has the extra dot.
?

Good. Bit chipped but couldn’t say no.

Hi guys, I've been a member for a while but its a while since I added to my collection. I think this is aldermaston but dont know the maker. I initially thought Edgar Campden but not sure now. Hope you like it.

Very nice piece, I think it is Edgar Campden, One of his marks has an extra strike
through the A like this.

The book has 45 marks in it's index and the list on this thread has 25 marks.

Ploughing through my latest ‘that looks interesting’ crateload of random studio pottery, I’ve come across the huge cup (maybe handled bowl?) and saucer below. It doesn’t look quite right for Aldermaston and I can’t match the mark, the colours are a bit odd but it’s a nice pair! Is this Aldermaston, and if not any thoughts? Thanks

Aldermaston invariably used a reddish earthenware clay. That edge looks a bit like stoneware. It does look like it clearly has an Aldermaston influence. The Z part of the mark is unusual though, although The A might well put it as Aldermaston. There were a lot of people who worked at Aldermaston for varying lengths of time and not all of them are documented.

Hi, the clay is a red earthenware, albeit quite a pale one - the flash has bleached it out a bit. I was wondering if it was an undocumented Aldermaston mark, I certainly can’t find it in the ‘official’ list

Look through the Aldermaston thread - there are multiple pieces but no one seems to be sure who AZ is. I think it is Aldermaston. They seem to have done a lot of plates. I have a few

Thanks, Naomi, I did think about Simon Rich but all the examples I could find showed his monogram as having the A and R similar heights. That’s the problem with letting potters paint their monograms. Forget national identity cards, I want national pottery identity stamps to be made mandatory!

Another possibility. Alan Caiger Smith also designed a range of pottery for Honiton Pottery. This might explain the change of clay and the not quite traditional Aldermaston design in this cup and saucer.