Waistel Cooper

       

Bowl approx. 3 3/4" high x 9 1/2" dia. Nice pale green glaze to the interior with visible throwing rings. I actually like this one; most of his stuff I find looks rather crude and clumsy, but this one looks "right".

Lamp base

This is an ace find. Is it a keeper? What went through your mind when you saw it on the shelf?

My first thought was 'what a horrible shade'. I got rid of the lamp fittings, although there is a plastic fitting in the neck which I haven't tried to get out incase I damage it.
It's something I'm prepared to sell.

Large lamp base, approx 14" high.

I bought the above set in 2010 from a former customer of mine that had originally purchased it directly from Waistel in the late 1950s. It was one of the first items of studio pottery he had bought.

Since 2010 I had attempted to sell it together or separately for 10 years at a modest profit without success.

That is until I offered it to someone, who was interested in starting to sell Waistel's work in his soon to open art gallery in July this year.

Good luck to him but it does illustrate how fickle and publicity driven the market is.

I can see why you found it difficult to sell. Its not starkly atypical Waistel, much less individualistic than normal.

He was on my list of people to buy five or more years ago but the few pieces I've seen at fairs have been a bit 'stodgy' and I did not fall in love with them at first sight

I have a set of four of these mugs - they are very well made and the glaze inside is lovely but they are totally impractical, the rough edge to the rim makes them very unpleasant to drink from! I’d love to know who is behind them - does anyone recognise the finish or the w(?)mark?

By Waistel Cooper. Nice

Really? Thank you very much, I’ll take them back out of the charity shop box then

Not a potter I know much about apart from seeing pots sell at auction for what seem like unfeasibly high prices. I’ll have to look into his work a bit more. I’ll also become remember to check first names as well as last names!

His stuff is certainly in demand at the moment. :)

@denbydump  Thank you for the links  - I think someone nearly  got a bargain at Oxfam, I really don’t like them very much, I like my functional pots to function!

For information - is there a connection between Waistel Cooper and Robin Welch? That was the first name I thought of, and there are some similarities in glaze and form.

There is no connection between them.

I was going back through old images and found this vase of a typical Waistel shape but with an unusual gold lustre glaze that I sold in 2005.

https://www.thefineartsociety.com/exhibitions/168-waistel-cooper-1
A link to the Waistel Cooper show at The Fine Arts Society January 14 2022 to February 2022 in Edinburgh. Scroll down for images. Some interesting pieces, but a number of smallish ones not quite so outstanding.

I now have that unusual gold lustre vase!
There is a reason that you find lots of smaller Waistel's. When he retired from exhibiting around 1970 he sold his pots directly from his garden at Culbone. Culbone Lodge is an hours walk from civilisations over very rough terrain on the South West Coastal Path. The people who bought them could only carry a small pot in their backpacks. He produced a fair number of monumental vases but only the brave bought those!

There is a beautiful catalogue that accompanies this exhibition with an abridged essay on his life and work. Anyone who would like one is welcome to email me their postal address tim@timwilliamsfineart.com and I will pop one in the post, for free.