John Maltby

There must have been nearly 100 Maltbys at auction in the past few months. They sell very well on Ebay as well. He is a very popular potter, and because of his very varied output he covers a wider range of bases than most other potters. Hence a wider collecting appeal. Potter or Sculptor? Maltby is truly both.

There's one collector who bought his pieces directly from Maltby over the years and who has hundreds if not thousands of his works. I wonder if he's started selling them?

It isn't Naomi. The auctions have been all over the country with substantial amounts. Cambridge, Macclesfield, Penzance, Diss, Cheltenham, London, Oxford, Yorkshire. Maltby sold in a substantial of the leading Studio Pottery galleries in the country, and he was prolific.
He is and was very popular. It is no accident that he is one of the leading important potters whose work sells very well on Ebay.

i can understand the attraction that some collectors have for maltby sculptural pieces, my wife calls them cute,not a word that i was thinking of. His peruvian raft type figures are quite appealing and i think because they were produced mainly from moulds this enabled him to turn them out very quickly in various configurations thus his very prolific output at modest prices which in turn created a large collector base(ideal for unusual presents). I think the success of his sculpture lies in the fact that they are instantly appealing unlike say ewen henderson also a small collection can be easily accommodated in an average shelved alcove or cabinet.

Were they produced from moulds? They aren’t very common and I haven’t yet seen two the same

hi, i had always thought the raft figures were produced mainly from moulds but i stand to be corrected.

We have had this one for Yonks. Never been quite sure where to place it in the Canon of John Maltby's work. Did he  ever have a Brutalist phase?  Anyways it has always been interesting to look at!

It sys OXO on one side, so this was fired with the nails in it? Where does this fit in timewise?

Timewise I think it is probably 1970's. Its got that feel of other items we have seen on here since that period. Just rather more unusual. He did experiment a lot with style it seems.

Now here is an item that you do not see often. A full John Maltby chess set.  For auction end of July, with a whopping £4000- £4500 estimate. The link explains the story. It was made for in 2000 especially for the famed Ashgate gallery in Fareham. Because the interest was so great there was a lottery to see who could buy it. The vendor thinks that this set is unique,

https://pin.it/2ECnSAP

Hi, just viewed the chess set and i think it would be a snip at that estimate, it might be a be a bit confusing to play with though.

32 figures at £300-£500 each? Maybe more for the kings and Queens. Well that is a minimum of £9600. It will almost certainly make a new Record for a Maltby lot. Any guesses as to the final price? £12,000? £15,000? Or is that being rash?

Not worth 300-500 each perhaps less than half that 3k-4k is my guess more like £100 each

Hi Philpot, i think you are probably right , £8000-£10,000 would be my guess but if i were a Maltby collector (which i'm not) i would have to own it.

is there a link to the auction site?

22 Crawford St. wrote:is there a link to the auction site?

We dont allow links to active auctions in this section, so I saved it to Pinterest. Click on it and then click on ‘visit’ and it’ll send you through to the lot

https://pin.it/32mH7ts

meh!

Estimate: £4,000 - £4,500 closer to £100 -£150 a piece. Maltby just worked out how to dry brush his items so they looked like then had an old patina. They don't they are relatively new = 2000. They are not Cardew old is what I mean (some Cardew comin up for 100 yo soon). I don't rate his things. Prices are silly atm so it's a good time for them to sell. Methinks prices will drop back. Much prefer to have a Guy Sydenham chess set which are going for what £200 a piece?

Prices are not just silly for all Contemporary Art, they are just plain bonkers. Equally prices paid for studio pottery -even at the top Odundo/Rie/Coper end - are still just chicken feed compared with most of Contemporary 'Art'.

Most studio pottery is still relatively cheap compared to 'fine art' or many other collecting fields for that matter. There are very few potters that can command more than the prices paid for even the secondary abstract artists from the St Ives school. I am not a great Maltby fan but it will be interesting to see how strong the Maltby buyers are as this must be a must have piece for them.

Hammer price of £9000 on THE Maltby chess set. Add in 30% buyer's commission that makes it £11,700. 6% Internet charge if you are using the Saleroom. Plus Artists  Rights at 4%.

I think that at a total of around £12600 this was a fair price considering that the item was a major piece of Maltby's work and probably a 'unique' piece.

Great price for something the owner said they’d bought off eBay just a few weeks before as an unknown stoneware chess set

Given how well perused Ebay is nowadays that would be a great find. If true of course. It reminds one of those stories from Antiques Roadshow of the valuable piece bought off an 'Internet Site' or when clearing out Grannies house.

Not worth £350 a piece. I mean two or three years ago that would have got you a fair sized piece. Silly

Maltby pieces are over £1000 on ebay now, so I shouldn't really be surprised it went for that amount. If there had been a piece missing I suspect it would have gone for considerably less.