A large 12in (31cm) wide earthenware teapot, with white tin glaze and aquamarine painted abstract designs by Alan Caiger Smith (b.1930), is priced at £580 from Kate Thurlow of London.
Smith, who studied at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts and trained in pottery at the Central School of Art and Design, established the Aldermaston Pottery in 1955. The cooperative workshop in Berkshire, which housed about seven potters, was known for its tin-glaze pottery and lustre ware in the tradition of William de Morgan.
A Second World War para-dummy, known as ‘Rupert’, which was a military deception device intended to imitate a paratrooper drop is guided at £1200-1800 at Cotswold Auction Company in Cheltenham on October 2.
Containing sand and with a small folded cotton parachute attached, these hessian dummies were also designed to explode on contact with the ground.
During the D-Day landings in 1944, some 500 dummies were dropped alongside six SAS soldiers who played recordings of loud battle noises in order to distract German troops from the real invasion.
cotswoldauction.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
On September 30 Wilkinson’s of Doncaster will offer a pair of Hancock & Sons ‘Morris Ware’ vases designed by George Cartlidge (1868-1961).
The 10½in (26.5 cm) pieces, model number C11-2, are decorated with purple chrysanthemums and foliage in raised outlines on a mottled green ground.
Cartlidge specialised in these designs for Sampson Hancock & Sons in Stoke-on-Trent where he worked from the 1890s to the early 20th century.
Estimate £1400-1800.
wilkinsons-auctioneers.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
A pair of 17th century lace christening mittens and a silk and lace bearing cloth, believed to have been gifts from Charles II, are going up for sale at Batemans in Stamford on October 6.
Both the mittens and cloth (detail shown) date from the 1660s and come from the Orlebar family of Hinwick, Bedfordshire, loyal supporters of Charles’ restoration to the throne in 1660. When the grateful monarch visited the family in 1662, he is believed to have bestowed these gifts on the family after seeing Lady Orlebar was pregnant.
The turquoise silk bearing cloth, edged in silver threaded lace, is guided at £1000-1500 while the mittens are estimated at £600-800.
