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Hornsea pages

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A note on "bonbon" dishes. Did the British public really buy little Hornsea dishes so the butler could pass round the bonbons after dinner? Er, no. Certain objects were marketed as 'bonbon dishes' to avoid the sales tax on ashtrays (which is in fact what they really were). Another thing to remember when buying little dishes or trays: people tend to keep coins or keys in them, and so they are very often scratched.

How Hornsea was made

The booklet below contains a lot of useful information about Hornsea and its production techniques.

Promotional Booklet, dating from 1971
Entitled "The Story of Hornsea Pottery". Contains a lot of useful information about the Pottery and its visitors' centre. Possibly sold as a guide for tourists visiting the Pottery. Value: £15-20. For more photos and text from this book, including production techniques:

click here to read the whole document with colour photos

(Warning: LARGE FILE)

Fauna slipware dishes (1955-57)

Mould B4
With an Arp-style yellow and black abstract pattern. In mint condition, looks unused. Rare. Value: £15-35

Impressed B1
With applied yellow slipware trails and spots on a black ground. Mint condition, with only two faint scratches on the upper surface. Otherwise appearing unused. Uncommon. Value: £15-35

Spotted slipware dishes (1955-56)

Among the commonest of the Studio Slipware range, these bonbon dishes or ashtrays often have crazing (although the examples below do not). They were made in heart, kidney or three-pointed forms, with interiors of yellow, blue, green or rarely caramel.

Three-cornered, yellow interior
White body, and black spots in a single row along outer rim, Hornsea backstamp. Value: £5-15

Three-cornered, blue interior
With mustard-colour spots. Value: £5-15

Kidney-shaped, green interior
Mould number 204. With mustard-colour spots. Value: £5-15

Spouted, caramel interior
This piece has a rare colourway (caramel interior and brown spots) and the rare Hornsea backstamp consisting of the word STUDIO inside an artist's palette. See Heckford (1998) p. 135 for further information about this stamp. Value: £5-20 Wall-mounted Hornsea fish sometimes carry the STUDIO stamp.

Other Slipware

3-cornered ashtray with boss (1959)
One of the rarest and most attractive of Hornsea slipware pieces. It has a beautiful cobalt blue glaze inside, with slipware dots and a raised central boss for stubbing out cigarettes. Mint condition. Value: £20-30

Fauna novelty "mushrooms" cruet (1955-56)
With slipware spots and ridges underneath the cap to represent the 'gills'. Also seen in green, yellow or red. A more pointed 'toadstools' version is seen (mould 354) in the same colourways. The mushrooms were always unmarked and have no stamp (and are therefore often wrongly listed in eBay). Dark rubber stopper (split in half on one of them). The tray is possibly matching, but is also unmarked; I am not sure if it belongs. Mint, with no crazing; only a burst bubble on one of the spots. Value: £20-30

Studio Slipware sugar bowl (1954-56)
Mould number 202, in pristine condition, appears unused: a couple of crazing lines and a glazed over flaw on the lower rim. Value: £20-30. A black variant with brown and white spots, and lacking the Hornsea stamp, is sometimes seen.

Modern Slipware mustard pot (1959)
Mould No. 470. In pristine unused condition with only a couple of scratches to the black lid. Same turquoise ground and slip colours as 471 (below). Value: £20-25

Sugar bowl (1959)
Mould number 471. Pristine unused condition. This mould number is not listed in Heckford (1998) but the pattern matches the 1959 "striped flagon cruet" on p. 60. Value: £20-30

Preserve jar (1959)
Marked 472; see Heckford page 60. With yellow ground and cabalt blue polka dots and lid. In virtually pristine condition with no crazing, apart from a minute flea bite on the inner rim. Value: £5-10

Cruet set (1959)
The mustard is backstamped (right); the salt and pepper have rubber bungs but no mark (left, below). It is normal for most factories to apply backstamps to the mustard only (there is no room on the salt and pepper). In mint unused condition with no crazing or damage. There would originally have been a black tray. Value: £25-35

Green Slipware vase (1963)
Impressed 855. No crazing, and the only damage is a tiny flake from the green glaze at the rim. Value: £15-30 (but in December 2004, three vases of this type sold for well over £100 - I think this was a fluke, though).

One of the most attractive slipware ranges, but absolutely cursed: prone to crazing on the slipware trail area, or the interior; and almost impossible to find without small glaze flakes or chips to the rim or lower edge. eBayers, disappointment is almost guaranteed when you open the box.

Mustard Slipware vase (1963)
Impressed 855. No damage, but a couple of crazing lines and an underglaze white patch on the lower margin where the paint hasn't taken. Value: £15-30

Mauve vase
Mint condition except for a pinhead glaze flake to the rim. Value: £20-40

Hornsea pages

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