Alan Caiger-Smith and apprentices, Aldermaston Pottery

philpot wrote:Even MORE so Naomi, Eastop left circa 1960. It makes it even more interesting to know who the other person was.

I think it's Anne Blakiston (also called Anne Blakiston-Houston) who had an AB mark and was there from 1961.
Since Geoffrey Eastop left in 1960 it's possible Blakiston was asked to finish the set

Another one earlier on the thread with Alan Caiger Smith's mark, and a 1960 date mark  -

https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t3346p75-aldermaston-pottery#149370

Possibly by Juliet Wilson 












Catherine Bennett -

Ab Alan Caiger Smith mug and vessel from the Bill Ismay collection at COCA York.

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The following photos are taken from Mallams of Oxford   October 2007 Studio sale  and retirement. Aldermaston pottery closed for the last time in 2006. Alan Caiger Smith being then 76.
                  Prices were expensive. I actually bought one lot of three pieces. Two of which I  still have, and much loved.
                   The Lot here was No 40 in the sale. A 12.5 square vapoured lustre dish made in 1978. Hammer

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From the Alan Caiger Smith retirement sale in October 2007 at Mallams.
A gypsy bowl in soft red lustre, painted inside , outside and underneath. Made 1986, Hammer price was £1400

Lot 67. The Mallams Alan Caiger Smith retirement sale in October 2007.
A pair of Owl Plates decorated in Red Gold Lustre in 2005. Hammer price  was £750.

THE GREEN MAN.A hand modelled Relief wall plaque 13 in across.1997, Hamer price was £380

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Lot 103. A hand modelled group of the supper in Emmaus,. White clay  with yellow glaze 2001 8.5 ins across. A very unusual piece for Alan Caig120er Smith. Hammer price was £

Similar to one earlier in the thread that I think someone referred to as a milk just wondering if anyone knows who the mark refers to? Also has a squiggle I used, is this a date mark? Thanks!

Which page is the other one?

For me not 100% this is pure Aldermaston and not a disciple post Aldermaston?

Hi thanks for the reply. Page four a little way down I think.

I'm undecided, the pale colours yellows and greens were all solid never seen such a pale washed out colour scheme, happy to be proven wrong but along with the mark (I can't see it on the list) would side with a disciple.

Wait a bit and the others will comment

I think I agree with Crawford. Can't see the mark.

Definitely Aldermaston, imo. The mark will be a combination of A for Aldermaston and a letter from their first or last name. We don’t have a definitive list of apprentice marks so it may not be identifiable. The incised S is probably the first letter of their Surname

Thanks that’s good to know! It does in almost every respect look like an Aldermaston, so I was pretty sure it was. Could do with a more extensive list of marks!

Sadly the original potters who worked there are dying off

Edited to add some info via Julian Bellmont about a set of Aldermaston tiles:

"The pottery used to buy unglazed tiles and paint 6" and 41/4" in regular tin glaze and also 2" ones in lustre. We would all paint tiles from time to time to keep stocks full. Apart from the larger 6" lustre tile they look like stock patterns"

The definitive list is in the Jane White book Alan Caiger Smith and the Aldermaston Legacy. I just cannot see anything like this signature in there. Even allowing for the freehand nature I cannot match it with nu signature.
On the other hand, there are ten names in the Jane Smith book that do not have a mark attributed to them.

Alan Caiger-Smith lidded pot with date mark for 1961, unfortunately missing its lid 

NaomiM wrote:Definitely Aldermaston, imo. The mark will be a combination of A for Aldermaston and a letter from their first or last name. We don’t have a definitive list of apprentice marks so it may not be identifiable. The incised S is probably the first letter of their Surname

I'm wondering if these incised letters are conventional thrower's marks, as they are underglaze.
Did all the decorators just decorate? If so, who threw the pots?

A couple more examples here of incised letters.

https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t3346p275-aldermaston-pottery#205020

https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t3346p275-aldermaston-pottery#211969

Some of the Aldermaston apprentices stayed on at the pottery so should probably be called employees, and marked their pots with incised or stamped monograms - Julian Bellmont, for example used a stamped J on his pots - presumably because other apprentices then practiced decorating them, (although often the thrower decorated the pot aswell), so they have the potter's or potters' written monogram, with A included in it for Aldermaston, and their personal stamped or incised monogram

Yes, but what I was suggesting was, were there throwers there who didn't decorate,
but just threw pots for the others to decorate?

No, it was too small for that. The pottery had a few longtime employees, but most were short term apprentices, and they all had to chip in and make the Aldermaston standard ware from start to finish

Aldermaston Pottery itself officially closed  closed in 1993. But a number of the potters stayed on. These included Alan  Caiger Smith, Andrew Hazelden, Charlotte Davis, Myra Mcdonnel, Ursula Waechter, and Nick Caiger Smith. All over various periods. They had a name sign as Aldermastom Pottery. But it was roughly loose cooperative. They all worked independently, but shared the general running costs and the general running of the workshop. It finally was closed in 2006.Over 13 years a lot of unusual marks might have occurred.

This is a Caiger -Smith lustre bowl I picked up recently

All the Alan Caiger Smith pieces are mixed up in the Aldermaston thread,
https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t3346-aldermaston-pottery?highlight=aldermaston

That is is an absolutely gorgeous piece. Lucky you! You do not see many of his Blue lustre pieces. What size is it?