Troika Marks : Pottery

Artist	Mark	Artist	Mark
Mary Baker - 1970's		Sally Bart - 1970's
John Bedding - 1967 to 1968		Roland Bence - 1965 to 1968 1970 to 1981
Stella Benjamin - 1963 to 1967		Avril Bennet - 1973 to 1979
Teo Bernatowitz - c1974		Penny Black - 1960's to 1976
Sue Bladen - 1975		David Bridge - 1969 to 1970
Alison Brigden - 1977 to 1983		Penny Broadribb - 1975 to 1976
Honor Curtis - 1969 to 1973		Tina Doubleday - 1977 to 1979
Vicky Drew - 1980		Beverley Ellwood - late 1970's
Jane Fitzgerald - 1976 to 1983		Louise Graham - 1970's
Julian Greenwood-Penny - 1977-1983		Linda Hazel - early 1970's
Judith Illsey - 1980		Leslie Illsey - 1963 to 1983
Holly Jackson - 1977 to 1978		Louise Jinks - 1976 to 1981
Anne Jones - 1976 to 1977		Simone Killburn - 1975 to 1977
Anne Lewis - 1966 to 1972		Sue Lowe - 1976 to 1977
Marilyn Pascoe - 1960's to 1974		Honor Perkins - 1968 to 1973
Tasmin Ruhrmund - 1978		Benny Sirota - 1963 to 1980
Linda Taylor - 1965 to 1975		Sylvia Vallence - 1967 to 1969
Annette Walters - late 1970's		Shirley Wharf - 1979 to 1981
Unknown		Unknown
Unknown		Unknown

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Benny Sirota and Jan Thomspon along with Leslie illsley each put up £1,000 to lease the Wells Pottery at Wheal Dream in St Ives, Cornwall, they were given three months for the company to succeed.

Originally being a Russian word 'Troika' referred to a carriage drawn by three horses, with three partners and just the sound of the word 'Troika' which they felt sounded like a sharp, angular ceramic which they were planning to produce. Which was in contrast to the current trend (at the time) of soft, functional shapes that was all the rage in the UK.

Surprisingly of the three ,only Benny Sirota had previous experience of working in a pottery. Leslie illsley worked as a sculptor. Jan Thomspon was only a sleeping partner and withdrew two years later in 1965.

It was Leslie illsley's White pieces that showed his background as a sculpture,

and these Early White pieces are very sort over and fetch high prices.
Within a year of starting up, pots from Troika were on sale in two London Departmental stores, namely Liberty and Heal's, by 1968 their items were displayed in some top exhibitions in London and New York.

In September 1970 after the local council terminated their lease of the Wheal Dream pottery, Troika Pottery moved to Fradgan Place, Newlyn. Benny Sirota stayed in St Ives to run the shop and only made the occassional visit to the new pottery. Wheal Dream Pottery is now the site of The St Ives Museum

1976 saw the demand dropping for Troika ceramics and the decline of the company began, 1978 Heal's stopped selling craft pottery, along with the recession and the government increasing VAT in 1979 all went to help Troika as a company struggle.

The two remaining founders Benny Sirota and Leslie illsley dissolved their partnership in 1980, Benny kept the shop while Leslie had the pottery.

1983 saw the bank call in the loans and Illsley even had to sell his home. Troika was finally closed in December 1983 by Illsley, the assets being virtually worthless.

Leslie Illsley was diagnosed with cancer and died on 20th March 1989.

Benny Sirota owns an art supply store somewhere in the West Country.

In the 1990s, there was apparently an effort to restart the pottery, headed by Roland Bence, a former decorator. However, the rights to the name are owned by Illsley's widow, Judith, who declined the offer.

Troika Pottery Pieces

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Roger made hand-thrown ware that sold to tourists who visited the pottery town. They expanded and by the 1970s was operating three locations. Production changed from hand-thrown to moulded wares, and Roger and Doreen saw a good market for collectables. They made people, boats, animals, and buildings. This gave collectors and invitation to acquire the whole set. They could get the whole set of dinner ware, small animals, different vintage cars, almost anything a collector would want. Also available is that wine glasses that match the dinnerware. A collector has to have the set.

The middle 1980s, several economic factors caused the end of the company. Tremar pottery came to an end when a kiln exploded causing extreme damage. It would cost more to rebuild than to let go. This caused Tremar Pottery to come to an end. Tremar pottery can still be bought to this day.

Tremar pottery had its hay-day from the sixty’s to the eighty’s, but like everything else all good things must come to an end. Tremar pottery will always be popular to the collector.

Another pottery called Shelf Pottery which is based in Yorkshire produced pieces that are virtually identical to the ones made by Tremar, but the Tremar Pottery items are distinctly marked ‘Tremar’.

If you are a collector of Tremar Pottery then check out the store page where we have listed pieces of Tremar Pottery that is currently available.

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In 1904 William Moorcroft while he was working at James MacIntyre & Co. designed his first range of pottery ware which became so much a success that it won him the gold medal at the St. Louis International Exhibition, he called this ware Florian ware.

In 1912, James MacIntyre & Co. closed down his studio, so he set up his own company and moved into his own factory. He produced reasonably priced tableware items. Amongst his many fans was Queen Mary. William died in 1945, but Walter Moorcroft (Eldest Son) had at the time was in control of the business.

Producing Moorcroft was a highly labour intensive process, and the with rising labour cost started running into financial difficulties, with some cash injection from the Roper Brothers in 1984, Morrcroft tried to mass produce some pottery items, but this did not turn out successful and the Roper Brothers sold their shares in 1986. These were bought by Hugh Edwards and Richard Dennis. Richard sold his to Edwards in 1992.

Moorcroft pottery was aimed at the luxury end of the collector and gift markets, they are generally in the form of such products as display plates, vases, pin dishes, lamp-bases and jars of varying shape and size. They have a high secondary market value.

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As Clarice Cliff was a very ambitious she soon became skilful in modelling vases,gilding, hand painting pottery pieces, enamelling and banding,.

While working for A.J.Wilkinson of Newport her wide range of skills were recognised and in 1927 she was given her own studio. It was here that Clarice decorated some of the old defective wares in her own freehand patterns. For these she used on-glaze enamel colours, which enabled a brighter palette than underglaze colours. She covered the imperfections in simple patterns of triangles, in a style that she called 'Bizarre'. The earliest examples had just a hand-painted mark, usually in a rust coloured paint, 'Bizarre by Clarice Cliff', sometimes with 'Newport Pottery' underneath. These soon became popular.

In 1928 Clarice produced a simple but clever hand painted pattern of Crocus flowers in orange, blue and purple and with these vibrant colours they became an instant success.

Twenty women painted the Crocus 5 1/2 days a week, for much of the 1930s. Crocus was unusual in that it was produced on both tableware, tea and coffeeware, and novelty items. The pattern had many colour variations, including Purple Crocus (1932) Blue Crocus (1935), Sungleam Crocus (1935) Spring Crocus. It was even produced after the war, the final pieces with Clarice Cliff marks being made in 1963, though Midwinter (who bought the factory) continued to paint it to order until as late as 1968.

The Fantasque range which featured landscapes, cottages and trees sold well from 1930 until 1934. But it was the slightly later and more sophisticated Autumn pattern produced near the end of 1930 that was to prove the most popular. Originally created in red (coral) green and black in 1930, from 1931 many coloured variations appeared. The best selling version at the time was one with the trees in blue green and yellow. All these variations have proven particularly collectable.

World War 2 and under wartime regulations only plain white pottery was permitted, so Clarice Cliff helped with the management of the pottery. After the war the public taste was for a more conservative ware rather than the striking patterns and shapes that had established Cliff's reputation; thus she never to returned to creative work.

A.J.Wilkinson and the Newport Pottery continued to sell ware under Cliff's name until 1963 when the factory was sold to Midwinter, after a chain of mergers and takeovers it was Wedgwood that owned the Clarice Cliff name and reproduced some of the more highly sought after 1930s items.

It is still possible to find examples of Crocus, Cliff's longest produced pattern (1928-1964) for as little as £30-50. The world record price for a piece of Clarice Cliff is held by Christie's, South Kensington, London, who sold an 18-inch wall plaque in the May Avenue pattern for £39,500 in 2004. Shortly after this the same auction house sold an 8-inch vase in Sunspots for £20,000.

In 2008 Cliff's pottery continues to prove both sought after and esteemed. Despite the financial depression collectors still pay high prices for special pieces. In Britain, Bonham's, London sold a 'Triple Bonjour' vase in Blue Firs for £6000, a rare Red Autumn shape 369 vase sold for £4900 at Fielding's auctioneers, Stourbridge in the West Midlands, and Woolley and Wallis auctioneers Salisbury sold a 3-inch high miniature vase in Café (used as a salesman's sample in the 1930s) for a staggering £3000.

Check out the page Clarice Cliff Pottery for details of what Clarice Cliff items are available.

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The company was based at Longton, Stoke-On-Trent and originally made Staffordshire cats and dogs ornaments.In 1921 James Wright Beswick died but the company continued expanding after his death and in 1934 they started to produce some high quality figurines.

1936 saw Beswick producing top quality farm animals, a product that Beswick are renowned for amongst collectors, the company itself continued expanding. It was Lucy Beswick in 1947 that came up with the idea of manufacturing the characters in the famous Beatrix Potter books, and started producing these in 1948 followed 4 years later with a range of Walt Disney characters.

Royal Doulton bought Beswick in 1969 and continued to use the name until 1989, they re-introduced the Beatrix Potter characters in 1998 but for only 4 years when Royal Doulton stopped production of all Beswick products.

2008 : John Sinclair has now bought the Beswick name and he has started to produce and new range under the John Beswick name. Notice that it is without the LTD part as some of the earlier pieces have this.

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