A collection of rare Moorcroft was the highlight of the 20th Century Design Sale at Tennants Auctioneers on the 13th June. The top lot of the sale was a circa 1920s Narcissus (Daffodil) Vase, which sold for an astonishing £8,000 against an estimate of £500-800 due to the great rarity of the pattern (all figures exclude buyer’s premium).
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Rare Moorcroft Vase Sells for £8,000
A Moonlit Blue Pattern Landscape Vase, measuring an impressive 38.5cm high and made to display on the Moorcroft stand in the 1924 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, sold for £7,500. It is thought to be one of the four vases displayed in the alcoves recessed into the architectural stand, which held a prominent position in the Palace of Industry. His fifty-foot-long stand was a model of modern exhibition design, created by Edward Maufe, the designer and architect who built Guildford Cathedral, and provided a striking backdrop to his visionary pottery. The showcase captured the visitor’s imagination, and Hilda Brownrigg, who worked on the stand noted that “A tremendous number of people come and say that this is the only really beautiful exhibit at Wembley, and as passers-by stop and look this way, one can see their lips forming the word ‘beautiful’”. The display also attracted the attention of serious collectors from home and abroad, the high-profile stage helping spread his fame around the world and confirmed Moorcroft’s popularity with Queen Mary and other members of the Royal Family, which led to his receipt of a Royal Warrant in 1928. Selling well, too, was a Moorcroft Eventide Landscape Pattern Vase, made circa 1925, which sold for £3,800.
Elsewhere in the sale, strong bidding and high prices were seen for the likes of a Large Stoneware Serving Bowl, made by Dame Lucie Rie in the mid-1950s (sold for £2,000), and an Art and Crafts Silver and Enamel Cigarette Box made in 1922 by Fleetwood Charles Varley for Liberty & Co. (sold for £1,700).
