Topic: Leaper (or not)

[MMorris]

Ummm. Just been looking at a waisted vase on E bay. To the Leaper collectors on the forum - does this piece look right?? 

[Anne]

   A link might be handy. 

[ChimpMad]

If it's this one http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-GLAZED-ERIC-LEAPER-NEWLYN-STUDIO-POTTERY-VASE_W0QQitemZ110372000890QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_PotteryPorcelain_Glass_PotteryPorcelain_China_SM?hash=item110372000890&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318 then I don't see a reason to think it's wrong.
A nice piece too 

[Lustrousstone]

Clay is pink, not white. is that OK?

[MMorris]

Thats the one Chimp mad. I can't help thinking that the signature lacks the fluidity of usual Leaper signatures - in particular look how the tail of the 'R' appears awkward and almost 'stuck on' in appearance rather than the flowing curve typical on his pieces.  there again what do i know 

[ChimpMad]

If you take a look at Leapers pages at studiopottery.com there are several examples of his mark and no two are alike, so I wouldn't be too concerned about that, but Lustrousstone has a good point. I didn't notice the pinkness of the clay which, now I've seen it, does set faint alarm bells ringing, but then again, are Leaper pieces really valuable enough to be worth copying? I think that you have to decide whether it's worth taking a chance at ?15-20, though if you have doubts now then you might be best leaving it alone.

[MMorris]

I understand your take on this chimp mad but art can be very akin to antiques and subtlety within form can indicat a fake. I'm not saying necessarily this is one but the point I am making and if you do look closely at various indicators (ie spelling, formation of subject etc) you can often detect (sometimes by gut feeling or prior knowledge) that a piece is not quite right. Whilst Leaper did sign his work in a different manner it still 'flowed' and all the signatures on studiopottery do flow.

M

[Anne]

I've been looking through the Leaper Gallery on studiopottery.com HERE and can't find another example using pink clay, it's all seeming to be white.

[ChimpMad]

The more I look at it, the more it seems 'wrong'. The signature not only looks too carefully done but the letters themselves are far more thickly incised than any of the examples on the Studio Pottery site, plus the tail of the 'R' doesn't join to the last 'N' of Newlyn, which does seem to be a common feature between most of the 'genuine' signed pieces. All of this plus the pink clay does make the piece look suspect, though I still don't understand why anybody would fake Leaper pieces with the current values being relatively low. Surely the risks involved in forgery would far outweigh the potential profits, unless they were being mass-produced abroad and bought in for pennies.

[studiohunter]

I have a large Leaper collection,it seems that everything about that vase was wrong .
 a rare example of Leaper would have sold for well over ?50.00 so the other buyers agreed that it was a fake

[studiohunter]

the latest chapter

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-GLAZED-ERIC-LEAPER-NEWLYN-STUDIO-POTTERY-VASE_W0QQitemZ120407264764QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_PotteryPorcelain_Glass_PotteryPorcelain_China_SM?hash=item120407264764&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A4%7C65%3A10%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

same seller again,even less like Eric Leaper's style this time.

[Lustrousstone]

He'd either just come back from the pub or had a very bad hangover! Trouble is the signature is not hard to copy.

[studiohunter]

Eric did like a shandy but more pots like this would have turned up by now if thats what it was down to

[Lustrousstone]

I was joking!

[Anne]

At least the clay is sort of white on that one....  I suppose we all have our off days.

[studiohunter]

I suspect foul play but then I am quite a skeptic