The Leach Pottery. St Ives

Update with new grey one, all ENGLAND

Those two end ones still look quite odd to me. The theme that runs through nearly all Leach standard ware is consistency of quality. The form, shape and quality of glaze was pretty much the same quality over 40 years. You knew what you were getting. Those two look just completely out of left field.

I assumed they were seconds. N was saying they did have problems with the glaze mix. I find them interesting and value them more than the normal ones or the same period. Would like more.

philpot wrote:


An earthenware jug with a type of decoration I have never seen on any other early St Ives pieces.

philpot wrote:


The base of the above jug

Are you sure this is Leach Pottery? Looks totally wrong to me, is it marked? (Old post, but I only just saw it )

Yes it did. But long gone now I'm afraid. The interesting point is how little we actually know about the earthenware St Ives pieces.There is very little of it around, and most of what there is tends to come from the 1930's.

Bernard Leach auctioned at Newmarket (Tattershalls the venue is an experience in itself!). 15 cms stoneware vase with very unusual Japanese views decoration. An old maybe 1920's Bernard Leach mark. Sold at hammer price of £2,200 to a buyer from Japan.

The marks on the above vase.

The auctioneers were based in Ely.The provenance story being that it had been given to a relative directly by Bernard Leach. More likely to be true than not one suspects, because if it was for sale at one of the high end London auctioneers like Sothebys it might well have got a higher price.

N is this a newish piece? Base looks clean? Can you tell from the mark?

Its the style. The celadon and Oak Leaf decoration is classic Leach standard ware style a few years either side of 1950. They are very well made, and a lot were just never used.

Just picked up two pieces of standardware and trying to tie them down to a rough date range. The question I have is when was the impressed ENGLAND added to the mark?

After 1956 when Janet Leach joined. Safest assumption is late 50's and the 60's.

Thanks for that philpot. These are the two pieces. Haven't been able find the jug in the catalogues yet.

The large one looks pretty much standard coffee pot type. Back in thise days of course 'Coffee' was a jug of Instant Nescafe!
There are several jugs and a full scale coffee set coming at W.H.Lane in St Ives on 28 June. The estimates look at tad optimistic!

lindylou08 wrote:Thanks for that philpot. These are the two pieces. Haven't been able find the jug in the catalogues yet.

The jug is a little taller than usual and the handle slightly adapted and it is likely to be more of a trial that might not have become part of the Standard Ware range. It looks mid to late 1960s and, if we assume that there are people that collected examples of Leach Pottery domestic ware to show the range, then it would make this a little more collectable/valuable than more standard versions. Not valuable enough to retire on though.

Didn't think for one moment that I could studio!! Don't think that is ever likely to happen and anyway I'm retired already Thanks for your help.

Janet Leach in black mood.

Hi everyone, don't we all love a bargain. I spied this little beauty on the counter of a shop in Cornwall literally 30 miles from St Ives - I wont say how much I paid for it but you could buy a few penny chews for the same price!

This type of dish produced by the Leach pottery is straight standard ware, with some slightly better decoration. No way is it by Janet herself. The small dishes she actually did were nearly always square, and the decoration was a lot more powerful than on this one. The complete giveaway of course is -as Naomi says- the Impressed ENGLAND mark, which was used on Standard ware alone, and never on individual pieces by the Leach big name potters.

This type of small standard ware dish is fairly common, and not collected as much as it used to be. I just hope you did not pay a substantial sum for it!

That's a shame, still as I only paid £1 for it I cant complain really!