Adam Partridge studio ceramics auctions

Next auction of studio pottery on the 30th April.
Some controversy over a bowl purporting to be by Bernard Leach which is probably misattributed. Came from his collection but probably Japanese.

The old adage "buyer beware", which I grew up with when visiting auctions comes to mind. Something that is more relevant today than it was 30 years or so ago when I first began going to auctions.

It can sometimes work in your favour, as it did with a friend of mine. He attended a central London specialist studio pottery auction in the 1990s and bought a small bowl that was described as "Japanese with 2 indistinct seal marks". With commission he paid between £26 and £28. I, like many others, ignored the bowl because I assumed that the specialist would have known what he was looking at. My friend didn't and sold the bowl at another central London specialist auction for a very hefty profit, as the marks were Hamada's personal seal and the St. Ives Leach Pottery seal.

Indeed. Buyer beware. I’ve seen plenty of mistakes by auction houses; very few have experts in studio pottery to identify the Marks.
This particular bowl was sold by Sotheby’s with a second one by Leach. It was then sold by Oxford Gallery as being by Leach, so at some point the other bowl was conveniently forgotten about.

I'll have a look, as I might recognise it from the past.

The original sale at Christies, 2013. 2 bowls with the pagoda pattern. One with both BL and St Ives stamp , and this other one which is listed as having a BL stamp, so Christies made the original mistake.
Then resold at Oxford Ceramics Gallery as part of their Bernard Leach 100 years exhibition.
And now Lot.17 at Partridges.
They originated from Bernard Leach's personal collection, kept at his Barnaloft apartment.

Yes, I looked at the records of the Christie's sale and I assume that the person that bought them kept the one that was right and then passed on this Chinese bowl to someone that would believe what Christie's had stated.

I thought that the Partridge sale had a wide range of pots and looked interesting on the whole.

There are a number of sales coming up in the next week or two with substantial Studio Pottery numbers. Lyon and Turnbull (the leading Scottish auctioneers who now also do auction from London) Chorleys near Cheltenham, Sworders near Bishop Stortford. Generally they are part of Modern Design sales. This covers a wide area and makes for an interesting catalogue browse. Maak February May auction has just come online today.

I see that someone paid nearly £900 for the Chinese bowl that was catalogued as being by Bernie the Leach at Partridge's sale yesterday.

The real surprise for me was the £2673 in total paid for a Geoffrey Fuller slipware Wassail pot and cover. It's height was 40cm. and it looked an impressive piece. However, it was catalogued as "chips to inside rim of cover" and had an estimate of £200 to £300.

studio-pots wrote:I see that someone paid nearly £900 for the Chinese bowl that was catalogued as being by Bernie the Leach at Partridge's sale yesterday.

£720 plus commission (Lot 17).    Despite being tagged by Wendy, Jason Wood never responded to the query over this attribution of the "Bernard Leach" teabowl so a classic case of buyer beware. They’d have a case to claim their money back, imo, but Christies were at fault with the original attribution so a real can of worms.

I had a watchlist but didnt bother bidding in the end. Everything went for a lot more than I'd have bid; I've noticed that on several auctions now; no real bargains unless it's unidentified.

Jason Wood never responded to my comment about the garish supposedly Wallwork thing in their last auction. If the buyer did take action it would be Adam Partridge that would be responsible.

I stopped buying at auctions over 5 years ago, as most things that I would be interested in sell for a figure that I would be too embarrassed to ask for them.

The nitty gritty is all in auctioneers Terms and Conditions. Usually auctioneers state that they are just acting as Agents of the Sellers. Which lets them off the hook to a large extent.
A Christies provenance would probably make it very difficult to advance any claim as to authenticity. It did look a very weird pot to be a Barnard Leach.

I think if you spend just a second to look you will see that all of the major auction houses around the world have made mistakes or just not bothered or had the expertise to care about whether something is what they say it is.

As an example of this, my investigation that took a second.. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/oct/17/christies-forger-art-scam

A Christies provenance is worth nothing. That's the bottom line and Partridge's using that is a reason for saying this is a bowl by Bernard Leach is absolute b*ll*cks. Not they they did that. They just ignored the question.

When your up for 20% buyers and 20% sellers premium they seem to sell + plead innocent if they get caught. What's going to happen to them if they are wrong?

studio-pots wrote:I think if you spend just a second to look you will see that all of the major auction houses around the world have made mistakes or just not bothered or had the expertise to care about whether something is what they say it is.

As an example of this, my investigation that took a second.. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/oct/17/christies-forger-art-scam

A Christies provenance is worth nothing. That's the bottom line and Partridge's using that is a reason for saying this is a bowl by Bernard Leach is absolute b*ll*cks. Not they they did that. They just ignored the question.

Trouble is, the nature of who buys at auction has changed over the years. A lot more inexperienced buyers from the general public are buying, who are not aware of the pitfalls of auctions. That type of Buyer - and there are now a lot of them- Provenance from a Major International Auction House would be a cast iron guarantee.

You are quite right, philpot. That's why I think public discussions like this are necessary and important and need to be there to be seen by anyone that wishes to come by and take note.

I think we are actually being a bit unfair on Adam Partridge. They don't make many mistakes.
             However, to auctions in general.
             Most people do not realise that Auctioneers operate under a different set of laws than a Retailer. Historically auctioneers acted as wholesalers, designed to shift things on quickly, and realise money from debts, deaths and the like. So in the Antiques Trade for instance their main customers were Antiques shops and dealers.
            But now the general Public are buying a great deal more from Auctioneers.  But these auctioneers operate under long extsablished laws which do not give the consumer the same rights as when they are buying from a retailer, or Online from Ebay,Amazon and so on.
             Best advice is. READ THE SMALL PRINT. Read it very carefully. Very people seem to do that! Even then be sceptical of condition reports. Which are often not done by experts, and quite often by a porter or such like. Very few Auctioneers offer an examination under UV light, which is really the best way of seeing good restoration.

i think adam partridge auctions and maak are a cut above many other rooms ,they both give excellent photos and condition reports, there is de morgan dish at partridge on line at the moment with approx 30 images and a condition report.Auction houses operate soley in the interest of the vendor with no obligation to the buyer , this not always understood.

Partridges are actually one of the best auctioneers. I myself have bought a fair amount from them and never had any problems. Their Buyer's commission is one of the lowest as well'
Condition reports. Both Mallams of Oxford and Wooley and Wallis have just put up auction catalogues with a fair amount of studio pottery. This copied from Mallams.
'Please note that condition reports are not printed in the catalogue or on our website however we are happy to provide them when requested subject to our terms and conditions of sale.'
Wooley and Wallis ask you to send an e-mail when asking for a condition report.
Now that policy actually works against the seller, as the selling audience will be much more limited. People will just not bid so freely.
Oh and note that dreaded phrase 'Terms and conditions of sale' Condition reports often contain quite a lot of Caveats!

I have viewed mallams and there is a liz fritsch vase which looks very nice and it will be interesting to hear what they have to say about this vase as it was broken in the fas exhibition and withdrawn .lyon and turnbull one photo and a one word condition report ,i did buy and shall have to cross my fingers until it arrives.

I must admit at that sort of level I would need to view it personally. A photo doesn’t tell you everything. Looking at the photo in Mallams it is just not a detailed enough picture to examine it closely.
                I think I remember reading somewhere that Lyon and Turnbull  had obtained the services of the Mallams studio pottery expert. They have certainly upped their game in that area in recent years.

lyon and turnbull are ok but pricey ,the henderson piece i bought cost £850hammer but with premiums etc just over £1200, the ward was cheap but i didn't like it much. Mallams are the same to bid online30% +online + arr+post your looking over40%.

You might want to look at Mallams website. Seemingly they are offering free bidding on Mallams Live.
One does wonder if Auctioneers are stretching it just a little too far. The Buyer's premium has been pushed from relatively low levels when it was introduced in the 80's to touching 30% or more if you include VAT. What with the seller's commission, profits must be looking very healthy. I wonder how much more increases in margins the market will take?

hi, thanks for that i hadn't realised that they have free online bidding.An auctioneer friend now retired said to me a short time ago that he was worried if the market would take it when he raised the premium to 15% a few years ago now its a free for all. Because of the high buyers premium it allows vendors with high value goods to negotiate a lower vendors commission.A year or so ago i negotiated 5% with no other charges .

Often it is getting hold of the good items that is the problem for the upper market auctioneers. Equally with Buyer's premium as it is they can afford the discounts,
Equally that is the kernel of it all. Auctioneers are acting more and more like retailers but operating under a set of laws designed for them to be primarily acting as wholesalers. A member of the General public buying from an Auctioneer does not the full protection of the law that they would get when buying from a shop. Most people are not aware of that.