Know your Moorcroft

As a reaction to mass production, 'art pottery' enjoyed wide popularity at the end of the 19th century. Names like Carter (Poole), Pilkingtons (Salford), Linthorpe (Middlesborough), William De Morgan (London) and Ruskin (Smethwick) all emerged in this period. Among the most successful and enduring was the Moorcroft pottery in Cobridge, Staffordshire.

Prices for Moorcroft begin at £20 for a piece of Powder Blue or a post-War pin tray and climb to the five-figure sums paid at auction for the largest pieces from the Florian range.

Early patterns in the Art Nouveau/Arts and Crafts taste are typically the most highly regarded, the later Walter Moorcroft designs generally less so. At the top of the pile are rarities such as the Yacht vase sold by Bonhams in 2010 as part of the Wright collection for £10,000, a lustre Carp vase sold for £16,000 at Bonhams in 2009, or the Bamboo and Orchids vase sold for £10,000 at Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury in November 2011.