More Salisbury for gallery - and Bond's Ceramic Art sticker

Here we have an interesting label on what looks like a Salisbury vase.  Bond's Ceramic Art. Who are they? The vase has a clear impressed number 8 on the base. Thanks to the wonderful retro shop Industry in Waipu for allowing me to photograph this and the next item.



Here is a Salisbury wall vase with the (blurry) Mattone label. Also at Industry in Waipu.



And here is my latest acquisition, courtesy of my friend Pene who found it in Nelson and brought it back in her cabin luggage! This vase has impressed marks 21-4 on the base. It is Crown Lynn shape 21 but they only made one size to my knowledge.

Brilliant Val!!!!
That 8 vase may possibly be Glen Afton, or Rancich & Co.  Love all of these pieces and I will check out the 21 tomorrow.

Maryr below is a photo of three vases.One has impressed marks 21-4 on the base the other two have no markings.

Good to see Ev. They must have made truckLoads of that shape. (correction the post above is from Oakpot)

That was an oakpot post Val

This listing shows 2 sizes in this shape however and I've never noticed this before !!

https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=1409373544

Well there you go - there are two sizes.

Oakpot, thanks for the pics of the three vases. Do you have any commments on that Bond's Ceramic Art label? I have never come across it before.

Kind regards from Val.

Maryr, I don't believe i have seen or heard about BOND'S CERAMICS,or seen that shape vase before? There is a label which reads "NZ SUNSET WARE", it has the SALISBURY, MATTONE image. Have you any thoughts about its origin  Oakpot

This is based on nothing more than the name Bond:

In Auckland in the late 1940s to 1950s there was a man named Charles Bond-Smith. You find traces of him everywhere in both the Auckland semi-commercial and studio fields of this period, but only traces.

When Moyra Elliott and Damian Skinner were researching the great book "Cone Ten Down", they interviewed a number of people who mentioned Bond-Smith, including a woman in Hamilton who stated she was employed as a slip-caster by him. This was tantalizing for me because it suggested an unknown commercial or semi commercial operation. My only information at the time concerned firstly, his own home-studio operation which had an influential and inspirational effect on potters such as Barry Brickell and Frank Finan in the early-mid 1950s; and secondly the joint art pottery studio he founded and ran with the eminent artist of the period Denis Knight Turner, which they called "the Terra Lucida Studio". So we find at least three possible separate early potting enterprises created by the one man, all now lost in the mists of obscurity.

Can you find anything published about this important early potter? No. Moyra and Damian Skinner decided to exclude him from Cone Ten Down, it seems for a number of reasons, including the idea that slip casting suggested something dangerously approaching commercial ceramics (and therefore ineligible for inclusion in a book about studio ceramics); the paucity of published information about him (his golden period peaked before we had the New Zealand Potter magazine); and, an inability to shoe-horn him into any sort of Anglo-orientalist framework model of early studio ceramic ethos, practice and style in New Zealand.

Charles Bond-Smith remains the great enigma, the abiding man of mystery in the New Zealand pottery story. The above pot might just about relate to one of his operations. The inverted lip form would be right for someone who was seeking to pitch his wares at a post-war market freshly appraised of the virtues and delights of good design. See the following photos from the Helen Hitchings gallery in Wellington (1948-51). This was our first modern art, design and craft shop, in the sense we are familiar with today:
http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/457161
http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/457177
http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/513967
This pots in these picture are probably from the Fulfords' Te Mata Pottery, but they illustrate ceramic vase forms considered 'artistic' and worth selling for a premium at this time.

I would love to hear from ANYONE who has ANYTHING to add to the Bond-Smith story. Please, please, please...

Having said all of that, are we sure the impressed '8' on the base is not a Wally Silva mark?

Hello again Oakpot, here is a Sunset Ware vase that I own.  It is definitely a Crown Lynn shape.  I had assumed that it was one of the Salisbury brands but I have absolutely no documentation to support that theory. I have not seen a reference to it anywhere.  I have also posted a pic of a Sunset Ware sticker which Heather Thorburn posted on this site. Unfortunately it only shows part of the vase. I hope you can shed some light!!!

Maryr, after careful consideration i believe these four labels were created by Owen Salisbury.

"Hand made SALISBURY ware"
"British SALISBURY Ware"
"MATTONE"
"NZ SUNSET Ware"

Thanks very much for that information Oakpot. Now we 'only' have to find a decorator for that Bond's ware and also the mysterious Flambeau ware - examples on the link below.   Flambeu is very different from anything I recognise as Salisbury.
https://www.newzealandpottery.net/t1866-wally-silva-vase-with-a-flambeau-pottery-sticker?highlight=flambeau
Oakpot, if you have a look at this link, is there any more ware that you recognise as being decorated by your father or you? There is a floral vase that looks a bit like Owen's style. (Forgive me if I have asked this before!)

After reading NEW ZEALAND POTTERY by Gail Henry i found on

P 243 There is a" BOND'S CERAMIC ART" label.

P 235" PARTRIDGE POTTERY" label.  This has the same layout as the oval "Flambeau POTTERY"  label.

The "HARWYN" Vase below which is now in the Portage Museum has a painted red base.

The Bond vase at the top and the Harwyn vase just above, while very similar, appear to be different shapes? Am I seeing things? Is the Bond vase a CL shape and the Harwyn a Partridge pottery shape? I don't know this stuff well enough.

T&C the Bond vase has an 8 stamped on the base. It is not a Crown Lynn shape.
The Harwyn vase above is a known Crown Lynn shape. Harwyn was another trade name for Partridge Pottery and they dealt with Crown Lynn as did Salisbury's.

I'm very excited by oakpot's findings and want to let it all sink in properly before I do anything.

T&C  You earlier felt that Bond, cast and decorated his own ware.

There seems to be a connection between Wally Silva potter,
A.S.& G.A. Partridge hand painted HARWYN vases with a red base,
the Partridge label is similar to the Flambeau Pottery label.

Maybe Partridge decorated and sold " FLAMBEAU POTTERY"?

These companies decorated high fired bisque ware.  

Salisbury's / Royal Oak and

Partridge Pottery / Harwyn.

Bond's Ceramic Art

Art Windsor Pottery

L. D. Nathan Ltd

These potteries supplied the pots:

Ambrico / Crown Lynn
Sherwood
Spartan
Rancich /Silva
Glen Afton
Norman Stevens (ex Spartan)

Are there any more?

I think Bond-Smith is worth keeping in mind. Perhaps if you get the chance, ask Moira Elliot what she remembers about what she heard about him.

I will add Bond - Smith to the list T&C, but I'm not sure if they were makers or just decorators.
I haven't bumped into Moyra Elliot since her book launch in 2009, but may try to contact her about this sticker.
The decoration on the Bond's vase looks very familiar with it's speckled effect.
Not sure if this is a sign of the times, but want to keep it in mind.

I've been searching on the Auckland Museum Collections Online valuable resource.
 
Harwyn: https://goo.gl/th3xaL (A very strong connection to Flambeau here.)

Partridge: https://goo.gl/h2QFCv (There is a strong connection to Flambeau here.)

Salisbury Ware: https://goo.gl/T45auW (only one hit, but it's the angled vase with fish and bubbles and plants!)

Royal Oak: https://goo,gl/rUDzSe

Sherwood Pottery: https://goo.gl/f2rde3 (No photos, but descriptions are good)

Spartan: https://goo.gl/Waco3V (in amongst other related Spartan items)

Rancich/Silva: https://goo.gl/N9bTg5

I will continue searching and adding links ....

Re the decorators & suppliers list.

Page7-- Douglas Lloyd Jenkins book-

RANCICH supplied L D NATHAN with blanks.

After Spartan Pottery closed one partner NORMAN STEVENS supplied SALISBURY with blanks for 2 to 3 years.

Page 177--Gail Henry's book-

There is a Rancich vase with a silver&black oval label  "Art WINDSOR Pottery"

This word POTTERY is printed on the Partridge,Flambeau,Windsor,labels.

Wow thank you so much oakpot.
I have updated the list.

I don't appear to have the Douglas Lloyd Jenkins book that you refer to.
Could you give me the title name please.

Ev its,
 "Jovan Ranich and Wally Silva"(PIONEER POTTERS)   OAKPOT

Thanks oakpot and I have a copy of that booklet

I'm going to add the Bond Ceramic Art piece to the Rancich/Silva Gallery as it is stamped with an 8 in the same way as their work. I realise that we have an 8 shape in the Gallery already.

Of course there is a possibility that it could have been made by Glen Afton who used the same metal number stamps as Rancich/Silva.

Have you see this beautiful piece?  Very similar style to the one you donated to the museum, Oakpot. (But is the one on TradeMe hand potted?)
https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=1417217015

Maryr  Thank you for the Trademe link. Returning to your query on Mon 11 Sept,there is in the Auckland Museum, listed under Partridge, 2 Flambeau vases Nos K5319 & K4578.
oakpot