Guy Sydenham

These are what Guy called his Ghostly Pirates. He was walking on the beach at Church Hope Cove on Portland and wondered how many shipwrecked sailors lay under the sea bed. He cut a slice of clay with a twisted wire and pushed these shapes up. He used to sleep in his studio and told me these used to come alive and haunt him hahaha

wonderful

Here you are Dan. The three mermaids One saltglaze. One terracotta called Amelia and the very last one the Guy made.

I love the saltglazed mermaid! could we see the face and hair please?

Yes OK

I just photographed almost all the pieces I have but it a lot. This is an unusual piece worth showing. Solid clay whic is unusual for Guy

Dan is this yours or one very similar

I own both of them John, thank you so much for posting those pics

NP glad they are the same ones

I spoke to Joan Sydenham when buying the smaller one and she remembered that it was from the first firing when they moved to Long Island

When you watch the video there is a section where they open a kiln on Green Island See if you can spot your mermaid. I am sure there is one in the frame somewhere.

I can't wait to watch it !

Its quite long

 

I stole this on ebay today

(sorry Sue)

Yes I saw it on Ebay and I know the seller. Thye have three pieces on there The £300 Portland themed piece is one of the best I carved. The holes in the top represent the quarries with the blocks of quarried stone, The circles round the base are Chesil Beach with the cliffs of Portland

Sue is a member here and helps to run the Poole collector's club

Yes I know Sue. I message her often. I sold her two Guy Dolphins A brooch and a pendant

Thought you might like to see some of the bits from Guys studio that were in a bowl of all sorts. I just put sterling silver chains on them

are they stamped Gs?

Thats the problem Dan They dont have any marks at all I think they were part of the stuff they made to sell in the Quay Pottery shop

difficult to sell then , apart from decorative value

Yes but I would provide a written provenance if required as to the origin

unfortunately I don't wear jewelery

I have two that I used to wear when I was selling jewellery It sort of went with the image at the time. One is a pottery sharks tooth

The Quay Pottery makes was designed by Guy to fend off Poole Pottery's threats of copyright. I A Potters Life II there is a section about it. Its based on back to back P's For Poole Pottery and the H is for the Harbour. Ans as can be seen it resembles a Key. This is one of the many things I admired about Guy. His inventive imagination. I have a flagon and three goblets bearing Russels mark but when I showed one to Russel he said "they are dad;s " I said but they have your mark on them. He said well as we worked together sometimes item were marked with each others marks. I said how can you tell He said its the way the handle is pulled in wet clay. One will have a groove along the middle and the other will have a raised ridge. That only works of course if the item has a handle !!