John Maltby

As to it being a silly price. Much the same thing has happened to a number pf studio potters in the past few years. John Ward prices went up by a multiple of 3-4 in a few years, ditto Emmanuel Cooper.
Or even more so in the real world. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are having a ridiculous huge bubble market. Tech firms have come to market valued at many £billions, and yet they have never made a profit, and are still making subsantial losses.

Hi NaomiM, I think the chess set that you might be referring to was the very crude one shown on the studio pottery collectors facebook that was 'said' to have been found on Ebay. The one sold today was far superior and had been owned by the vendor for 21 years .Many people claim to have found various rare items , boot fairs are the normal venues for their amazing valuable discoveries .When you consider there were 32 pieces +a chess board in this lot, the breakdown price paid is probably comparable with regular single pieces.

First match for the mark on this small (10cm) unglazed vessel is John Maltby -  does that look right? Clay body seems to fit but his work is very varied and I’m not familiar with it at all.

One more pic

can we see a close up of the mark?

Here you go, with the icing sugar washed off!

Yes, definitely by Maltby. One of his transitional pieces made before he started making his figural pieces that he's better known for.

Thank you! Have to find out a bit more about his work now (he’s like expensive wine, I try not to develop a taste I can’t afford!)

The stoneware and glazes are both typical of John's work from the early to mid 1970s, so much so that even if it was unmarked, I would say that it could be attributed to Maltby. Although in this case the clay body, glazes and mark fit together, it illustrates that it is most important to not just rely on the mark for a positive identification.

For me, the colour and clay type was enough to identify this piece
I have poor recall when it comes to potter's marks but I always remember glazes, clay, production methods, etc and these can be spotted from 4 or 5 yards away so I tend to scan at car boot sales and antique fairs

Thanks both - luckily it’s small enough to keep so I can enjoy it - just need to decide which pot to “bump” from the shelf!

Buying ceramics in the way that you are i.e. in miscellaneous boxes it is perfect way of learning without spending a great deal. Much of the stuff will be of limited value even when fully identified and so my advice would be to keep what you like and dispose of the rest either by donating to a charity shop, putting it back into auction or into your bin. One or two pieces will be worth putting on eBay individually of course.

Stoneshill Teapot with Tenmoku glaze and flower decoration.

Raku Mirror - SP and M mark
Pretty sure this is John Maltby
White, blue and purple glaze
Shame it’s not a more sculptural piece.
Did he do much raku fired work?
And when would this have been made do you reckon? 1980s?

Yes, Maltby. Very nice and unusual.

Looks very similar to Stoneshill Pottery mark. Can anyone clarify? Thanks

He used a number of SP marks. Looks right

A rather nice ash-glazed stoneware teapot, 1970's looking, with a stamped mark STONESHILL.  Anyone know if this is John Maltby's first
 independent pottery? Usually you see an SP mark.  The teapot is good enough to be by the great and late JM.

He did use the Stoneshill impressed mark as well. I had a set of bowls some years back with the mark on. But judging from the quality of the bowls I had, it was used very early in the history of the pottery as they were fairly ordinary.

Maltby is the only potter I know of with a ‘Stoneshill’ pottery. Looks typical of his early standard ware

Do we think his early standard ware prices  will go the same way as Alan Wallwork's early standard ware?

I don't think Wallwork ever made standard table ware. Not much call for Maltby's early table ware.

NaomiM wrote:Maltby is the only potter I know of with a ‘Stoneshill’ pottery. Looks typical of his early standard ware

.............. and "Stonehill" is just a few miscellaneous houses along a road in "the middle of nowhere", as John used to say.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmHoxjMxd5I

A superb near half hour Video by the Yew Tree Gallery as a tribute to John Maltby. It has a lot of loan pieces from collectors and is much more than just a selling exhibition Really well worth viewing as it provides a lot of background and details of John Maltby's work.
There is also a hardback book available from the gallery.
There are some adverts at the beginning which you need to get through first.