Warren Mackenzie

Warren Mackenzie Pottery Resale Value (Artist Price Guide)

Mackenzie pottery has a number of facets that drive value and should be considered when estimating worth. The factors below are the ones we weight most heavily when valuing a piece for consignment or estate planning.

Form

Tied for the most important driver of value, form is one of the main ways Warren plied his craft and exhibited his unique creativity. The top forms for value currently are his massive platters, followed by boxes and large vases. As the objects become smaller and more utilitarian — dishes, plates, cups, mugs — value drops quickly. Platters into the thousands; mugs under one hundred.

Marks

Marks on Warren Mackenzie ceramics are the easy way to date them, and rarity is reflected in the way the market values them. The market has a clear favorite: the period in which Warren Mackenzie double stamped (Stillwater Studio and Mackenzie). The next is the single-stamped pieces, which are worth about 25–30% less, followed by unmarked pieces, which are worth only about 10% of the double-stamped pieces. There is also a small premium placed on crisp, clear marks over obscured marks.

Decoration

Warren worked in a couple of major decorating styles. Many of the utilitarian pieces are undecorated or finished with the classic simple Yoshino glazes he’s known for. The higher-priced objects among vases and platters are decorated with elaborate patterns of either slashing lines or bold brushstrokes with detail marks; some cases exhibit a splatter decoration. Value tends to track the complexity of the decoration and reflects the amount of effort Warren put into the object himself.

Condition

Condition is very important considering the massive amount of Warren Mackenzie ceramics that were created during his lifetime. Unless a piece is very large, well decorated, and double stamped, if it’s damaged it has only about 10% of its undamaged value.

Size

All things equal, a larger Warren Mackenzie ceramic is more valuable than a smaller one. At the time of writing, the auction record for a Warren Mackenzie ceramic is a large platter — and many of the best results are also for large platters, which happen to be the largest Warren Mackenzie ceramics available.

Rarity

Rarity is a critical factor. A piece that has never been seen in the market before — but is clearly marked, and has an interesting size, shape, or unusual decoration — can bring a great deal more money than other pieces. That said, demand is the real driver of value in this market, so Warren Mackenzie objects that fill the other criteria are generally more valuable.

Provenance and publication

Of significant importance are pieces of historical significance — works that have been exhibited at museums or featured as favorites by the artist, perhaps even owned by the artist in his home during his life. The crown jewel of provenance would be pieces exhibited at A-list museums or owned by A-list celebrities.

Museum quality vs. utilitarian

A fascinating dichotomy has emerged within Warren Mackenzie’s work — his ceramics fall pretty clearly into two categories after his death. The first is utilitarian: often-unmarked works he intended exclusively for use by people in everyday settings — plates, small dishes, cups, mugs. Many of these have had heavy use and are often in poor condition.

The market has come to show a very strong preference for the larger decorative works — platters, vases, boxes — these objects, when double stamped, are very rare and tend to be of the highest quality. They also represent a very early time in his career, when he was much less famous.