Three things to remember when buying Moorcroft pottery
When it comes to British ceramics, few names are more illustrious than Moorcroft. The brilliantly coloured vases, jugs, pots, tea sets and cutlery produced from the early 20th century onwards remain a vibrant collecting area of the auction market.
A example of Moorcroft from the early 1920s. This glazed earthenware ‘Claremont’ vase sold for £1700 at Bonhams in December 2020.
Whatever their age, these items not only have a timeless look but also add a touch of something different that will brighten your home and become quite a talking point. They are also highly collectable and many examples are available to buy throughout the year at auctions on thesaleroom.com.
Whether you’re seeking that Art Nouveau look, a particularly rare pattern, a piece of pottery to enliven a shelf or a special vase to use and enjoy, you can always find plenty of Moorcroft to browse through on this website. Here are three main factors that can affect the value of these pieces.
1. Background
Based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the Moorcroft factory is still active today, producing fine art pottery in both new and established favourite styles.
William Moorcroft for Liberty & Co. Florian ware vase - £550 at Sworder, Stansted Mountfitchet, July 2022.
The company’s name comes from its founder, William Moorcroft (1872-1945), an art school graduate and the son of a china painter. He was first employed in 1897 as a 24-year-old designer for the commercial pottery and porcelain firm of James Macintyre & Co.
An early success came in 1904 when his Art Nouveau-influenced Florian Ware won him a gold medal at the St Louis International Exhibition. He later opened up on his own in nearby Cobridge in 1912 where his business flourished at making both artistic and everyday times.
He was granted a royal warrant in 1928 and provided wares for famous shops including Liberty of London, Harrods and Tiffany & Co.
2. Unique styles
Moorcroft is highly recognisable thanks to the techniques used in its creation. The use of slip trailing known as ‘tube-lining’ (where lines of slip – thinner more ‘liquid’ forms of clay – were applied to the surface using a fine-pointed dispenser) is what distinguishes it along with the enamelled decoration or flambé glaze in bold colours.
A modern piece: this Moorcroft pottery slender baluster vase with the ‘Menconopsis’ pattern dates from 2004. It sold for £190 at Richard Winterton in March 2021.
After Moorcroft’s son Walter became the firm’s designer in 1945, the colours became even more vibrant and patterns such as exotic flowers were added to the ranges. From 1986, Sally Tuffin took over design and introduced patterns based on animals, birds and geometric shapes.
3. Range and price
Works by Moorcroft were made in a variety of forms and command a wide range of prices, in part due to the fact that the firm produced its highly desirable hand-painted pottery alongside more affordable and more widely circulated domestic pieces. This means that at auctions you’re sure to find something to suit your budget.
Items are generally valued by their date, pattern, shape, size, ground colours, glaze type and the quality of execution, so look carefully at the catalogue description and images provided by the auction house. As with all ceramics, rarity and condition are key factors too.
A large Moorcroft pottery ‘Hazledene’ vase designed by William Moorcroft and retailed by Liberty & Co – it sold for £1200 at Woolley & Wallis in October 2020.
Examples from early production lines tend to cost more money and many of the patterns from 1910-30 remain the most sought after. In terms of style and colours, they reflect the Art Nouveau or Arts & Crafts taste of the day such as Pomegranate (1910), Wisteria (1910), Eventide (1923) and Dawn (1926).
Some of Moorcroft’s patterns that date from even earlier during his Macintyre period include Poppy (1898), the Hazeldene landscapes (1902), Claremont with its toadstool motif (1903) and Tudor Rose (1904). Rare examples from these early ranges can fetch £10,000 or more.
Further down the rung, prices can start at just £20 for a piece of Powder Blue (the blue-glazed domestic tableware used in Liberty’s subterranean cafe from 1913-63, or a post-war pin tray. Plenty of recent ranges, still using the trademark tube-lining technique, come to the secondary market priced below £100.
At the lower end of the Moorcroft price range, this small 1950s pottery squat bulbous vase decorated in colours with anemones on a dark blue ground, measuring 7.5 cm high, sold for £32 at Mitchells in February 2021.
What to do next
Decide how much you’d like to spend and use the search facility on thesaleroom.com to find Moorcroft pottery coming up for sale.
You can filter your search by, among other things, price and by location of the auction house to narrow down your selection.
To research recent prices at auction and see how much different clocks items sold for you can also try out the Price Guide.
If you are new to bidding check out our guides to buying at auction – it’s easy once you know how.
