Hans Coper? Yours for £150!

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/harper-field/catalogue-id-srstr10139/lot-cec978cd-8ca7-402f-ad0b-b0fc01202e0f?queryId=5ec819f91247f65c3086445b9ad79ffe

Hans Coper with a £150 -£300 estimate. It does have signature. They also have a 'Nicholas Vergette. A vast 1000+ sale at Stone, a village just off the M5 not too far from Bristol. They do actually have some interesting pottery in it. But the Hans Coper? Your guess!

The tiny Coper appears to have had a very unloved rough life ,the Vergette looks about right but with no mark or provenance a bit of a gamble.

croker wrote:The tiny Coper appears to have had a very unloved rough life ,the Vergette  looks about right but with no mark  or provenance a bit of a gamble.

The "Vergette" and its label look as if someone has just cobbled a few things together and decided that the vase was by Nicholas Vergette because it looks as if it could be. The label to me seems to suggests that it was made in the States in 1952 to give it provenance, which is doesn't, as Vergette didn't go to teach in Illinois until 1958.

Likewise the Heber Matthews attribution is complete b*llocks, as Naomi would have told the person who previously owned it, if they had submitted it to the Forum. I am sure that she would have been more polite than what I have just written.

Heber Mathews as a little girl?

The H.C. vase went for 2100 hammer, does that mean its kosher.

It looks kosher, but the poor condition means they've paid over 2 grand for a stamp

Many Copers on the market, I suspect, have some restoration. Many years ago I was offered 2 Cycladic forms by Coper that were both in 2 pieces. I turned them down and the next time I saw them they were in a central London auction with no indication that they were restored. I suspect the auction house knew that they had been damaged, as I know that they had a restorer that they used themselves.

i must admit i was tempted at first but after some thought i decided i couldn't live with damage.

Selling price for a good example like that. £6000-£8000? Or perhaps slightly more? Add buying cost to that hammer price of 30% or so? £2700 cost or so. The good restoration? £300-£500? Not that I really know how much that restoration cost is!
A restored piece for £3300? Or such like? Would would it be marketed as unrestored? All hypothetical of course!

Hi Philpot, I think with restoration there would still be a profit in it for someone .