oorcroft Pottery, founded by William Moorcroft, is based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.  The tradition began when Moorcroft founded a studio in the larger ceramic company he was working for at the time, James Macintyre & Co. Ltd., in 1897.  The pottery produced made use of his designs and each piece was personalised with his own initials and/or signature. In 1904, Moorcroft won a gold medal at the St. Louis International Exhibition and by 1912; his designs had gained worldwide prominence with his glazing technique being kept a closely guarded secret. 

 Queen Mary, an avid collector, granted Moorcroft a royal warrant in 1928.  During this period, the popularity of Moorcroft Pottery was at its height, which has only again been seen in recent years.

On the death of William in 1945, his eldest son, Walter Moorcroft took control of the pottery business and continued to develop it with another royal appointment being awarded in 1946. Walter retired as the director of design in 1987, but continued to contribute several more designs with his last ever being ‘Rock of Ages’ launched in 1999. 

In 1993, Rachel Bishop joined the company and became its lead designer.  She has helped to reinforce the Moorcroft tradition by reproducing some notable and popular designs. 

New Products  

Amongst the new products recently added to the website are various, beautiful Royal Doulton figures.

In general, Doulton figures are not commanding the high prices that they did ten years or so ago.  Everyone uses the Charlton Standard Catalogue by the authorative Jean Dale as their price guide and, whereas in the past, figures were going for more than the price guide at auction, they are now generally lower than the guide.  This is reflected in our prices where you can obtain a sizeable discount on the book value.  Our policy is to always pass on any savings we make to our customers regardless of the true value of an item. 

There are, however, some early Doulton figures that still soar if they come up at auction.  For example, at the Ceramic Design sale held by Bonhams earlier this year, HN 1316, a figure titled ‘Toys’, that was in production from 1929-38, went for £4800 despite having a degree of damage.  This figure is so rare that there is not a photograph or guide price for it in the catalogue.