DAVID LAY A CLASSIC CORNISH SALE!

https://www.davidlay.co.uk/auction/details/pt01-studio-pottery/?au=390

A wide ranging studio pottery 200+ items. With a very wide ranging assortment including a black John Ward, Janet,Bernard and David Leach and many others!

Thanks for posting Philpot, although pots have been included in their art sales this is Lay's first dedicated studio pottery sale, only time will tell if it's possible to be a regular feature due to their location. As expected there are a number of leach type examples . I think the John ward has done the rounds over past years although i will still be interested if the price is right, an aspect of the sale which i find a bit disturbing are the large amount of Shoji Hamada?? on offer, perhaps 'studio pots' could give us his views on this.

There is a LOT of studio pottery that is sold in Cornwall! Barbara Kirk are also in Penzance, and they always are chock full of Studio pottery! W.H. Lane is in Penzance as well. Plus studio pottery often appears in other Cornish auctioneers.
I used to live down that way, and bought my first studio pottery at David Lay's. Near 30 years ago! Historically, Devon and Cornwall have had a very significant concentration of studio potters!
Good Ol' Shoji! Given the number of his works that come up for sale for 'auction' in this country. He must have lived in Cornwall most of his life!

Hi philpot, Barbara Kirk is no longer operating, much of the pottery that appears regularly in Lay's is locally made and i can't really see many vendors sending their treasured Rie, Coper etc down to the tip of Cornwall for sale. As for Shoji Hamada, i find that some auctions and buyers are willing to accept these pieces with no provenance, as you know many similar pieces can be bought online , an auctioneer acquaintance of ours has been offered a few of these pots but on questioning the source refused them. I think Shoji Hamada must still be operating somewhere probably being helped by Elvis.

This is the blurb from David Lay about their inaugural studio pottery sale.
https://www.davidlay.co.uk/news/studio-pottery-sale/?pc=120
To be fair to them they have been selling studio pottery-especially Leach style- works for several decades. Similarly with If anybody is going to know their Leach works, it is going to be them! On t'other hand, I personally would never touch a 'Shoji,. Hamada piece with a barge pole. Nor Bernard for that matter. Janet Leach and Bill Marshall I do have.

On 'other hand. In recent decades Cornwall has been a permanent residential place for a cadre of very wealthy people. Let alone second home owners. It has Michelin star restaurants! With a lot of art galleries! There is a lot of wealth there , and people prepared to spend it! Its a curious society. On the one hand Cornwall is one of the poorest counties in the country. Yet it also contains some of the richest residents.

This blurb gives providence as to how the collection was made. Although presumably not everything may have come from this collection.
'Over the last 40 years, Ian & Ann Head have gathered an outstanding collection of paintings, prints, pieces of jewellery and studio pottery, buying predominately from galleries across the UK, including Beaux-Arts and The Candover Gallery. It has been a pleasure to learn about Ian & Ann's artistic passions and the arc of their collecting process. Our June Cornish & Fine Art Sale hosted the sale of a number of particularly glorious works by notable artists such as Mary Fedden, Breon O’Casey and Bryan Pearce, alongside other paintings from their collection, also beautiful jewellery by Jessamine Kendall who was the daughter of Bernard Leach.
We are delighted to be offering as part of our inaugural Studio Pottery sale an impressive selection of Ian and Ann’s ceramic collection, which includes works by John Maltby, Jim Malone, Janet Leach, Bill Marshall and many more.'
I remember the Candover gallery very well. It was in Arlesford, a small VERY posh town near Winchester. We used to see it often when we lived down South. Never bought anything there though!