Winchcombe Pottery

Not seen a mark with two dots before. It’s standard ware so it wouldn’t normally have a personal stamp unless Ray made it. I suspect it was just a flaw in the stamp or a couple of dry bits of grogg stuck to it

Picked up this lovely little vase today in the same antique shop as the Abuja tankard I posted earlier, am I correct in thinking that the inclusion of the dot on the mark means this was thrown by Ray Finch? It certainly has a Finchy feel to it.

Yes, although the dot mark is normally somewhat more prominent and a little further down. But he did lots of slight variations.

I think there’s some doubt. Finch’s P extends further above the W, and the dot is clearer. This might just be a bit of clay or glaze on the surface.

NaomiM wrote:I think there’s some doubt. Finch’s P extends further above the W, and the dot is clearer. This might just be a bit of clay or glaze on the surface.

I tend to agree. The dot is usually more obvious, and further down from the W. Compare with the many examples here:

https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t12595-ray-finch

Notwithstanding, it's still a lovely vase.

A stoneware covered jar By Eddie Hopkins.

via Phil Oliver's website

Tragically, Eddie Hopkins died from complications after injuries received during the flooding of Winchcombe earlier in 2007. He will be greatly missed.

A goblet with an unusual internal sprigged mark.

Edited: made by Neil Alcock,

.

Neil Alcock was also at Winchcombe (1985-93) and has a very similar mark to the one often attributed to Nina Davis (who was there in the 70s). I'll email Alcock and see if he can clarify the issue.

Just had a reply back from Neil Alcock to say it's his ND mark on the Winchcombe pots, not Nina Davis. And he's still using the same stamp (which probably accounts for the bit of rounding at the edges of the letters).

A good well potted vase probably by a talented student

Lovely salt pig

Winchcombe Pottery at the Oxford Ceramics Fair. Two apprentice made pieces stamped JF. Closest I can find is Joseph Fuller who started at Winchcombe in 2016, but it's not the same JF stamp that he's got on his instagram account.

Another one of those casseroles, with a partly obscured mark.

A large terracotta tankard with wheatears.

A small oil bottle.

Here is a gorgeous 8" Winchcombe jug with a super glaze. It only has the Winchcombe mark so who made it is anyone's guess but it so reminds me of a Ray Finch jug which is a full 12" tall and marked with Finch's dot.





Ad here is the Ray Finch jug this so reminds me of....

Nice piece. But then that is exactly the secret of Winchcombe's continuing success over near 100 years. Their remarkable level of very high quality sustained over a long period. Because of that quality it is nice to think that it might be by Ray Finch. But he was a smart business man, and knew the value of his personal imprimatur. The idea that he 'forgot, to sign pieces seem a but tenuous.

The Winchcombe Pottery is and was fundamentally a pottery that by and large produced functional pots in a limited number of patterns for use, this being one of them.

Most of the pots that Ray made during his many years at the pottery would have just had the pottery mark and sold as such.

This might or might not have been made by Ray and no one is ever going to know.

Thanks for your input Philpot & Studio Pots. Whoever made the 8" jug was clearly heavily influenced by Ray Finch as the similarity in style & pattern to the 12" jug is plain to see.

I appreciate I'm never going to know who actually threw the jug but that does not lessen my appreciation of the piece, I think it's a stunner.

Regards,

Jay.

All the potters at this time would have either trained under Ray or his son, who trained under Ray. They were making standard ranges of wares that were all the same shapes but this a small number of surface decorations. This decoration is one of the glaze/decoration ranges and so there would have been thousands of jugs of this size and with this decoration made over the years, long with all of other function wares with the same pattern.

I just picked up these 4 slightly speckled sage green Sidney Tustin cups from a well known auction site.

At only 8cm tall they're a little smaller than I'd prefer but for a matching set of pretty much identical cups, they were quite the bargain I think. Each cup is marked with both the Winchcombe mark and the Sidney Tustin 'S.T' mark.  For £36 (including p+p) I think I got a pretty good deal.

From what I can gather, Sidney retired in 1978 (which happens to be the year I left school) but as for when he made them, I wouldn't have a clue.




Regards,

Jay.

A Sidney Tustin stoneware lidded pot.

There is a lot more about Sid Tustin on our Winchcombe thread.
https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t7608-winchcombe-pottery?highlight=TUSTIN

Generally the more popular Sid Tustin stuff are the Earthenware slip decorated pieces.