Lowestoft Porcelain Factory

Two rare documentary Lowestoft lots - both made for a Norfolk farmer - could be reunited after years apart. Both have been consigned to Keys in Aylsham.

A broad mix of English and Continental pottery and porcelain was on offer in the latest dedicated ceramics sale held by Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’s premium) in Salisbury, a fair slice of it contributed by single-owner collections.

Distinctive plaques made to mark births are unique to the Suffolk town’s porcelain factory.

Collecting 18th century English porcelain is still a popular pursuit – but there’s no doubt that the core collecting audience is smaller than it once was.

The most desirable pieces of Lowestoft porcelain are typically the documentary pieces decorated with East Anglian scenes.

Some exceptional pieces of Lowestoft featured in Bonhams’ (27.5/25% buyer’s premium) sale on June 23 – many of them from a single vendor.

Lowestoft porcelain is particularly admired for its sense of place: the close ties the factory on Crown Street (then Bell Lane) enjoyed with its local community in Norfolk and Suffolk between 1757-1802.

Keys’ fine sale on July 24-26 will include more examples of porcelain from the local Lowestoft factory.

While dedicated sales of English and Continental ceramics are rarer beasts in the saleroom calendar these days, the traditional mixed-discipline regional sales are a repository for plenty of material from the main factories of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The March Fine Sale at Keys in Aylsham, the first since a management buyout, includes both a group of Lowestoft rarities and pieces by other factories.

Norfolk auction house Keys has marked the end of its 65th year in business by gaining independence from its estate agency parent company.

Collecting traditional English ceramics is still a popular pursuit on both sides of the Atlantic – but one where purchases are always tailored to fit the purse strings of the core collecting audience.

Despite their small size and often unsophisticated appearance, Lowestoft models of animals are highly collectable.

A pair of white glazed figures of musicians made by the Lowestoft factory c.1770 sold for £4000 at the July 18 sale at Keys (plus 20% buyer’s premium) of Aylsham.

Following a near sell-out auction of Lowestoft in March at Keys of Aylsham, another tranche is poised to go under the saleroom’s hammer.

What Aylsham auction house Keys (20% buyer’s premium) considered one of the largest private collections of Lowestoft ever to come to market was a near sell-out on March 21.