Warren Mackenzie’s UK marks

Warren Mackenzie was a well known US studio potter and one of the exponents of the Mingei movement of Anglo-Japanese studio pottery. During 1950s-60s he spend several years traversing between his studio in Stillwater, Minnesota, USA, and Devon and Cornwall in England. And in later years he spent several sabbaticals at the Leach Pottery in St Ives.
Looking through the Yates-Owen & Fournier BSPM archive, and comparing his marks in 2nd and 3rd editions of the BSPM books, there seems to be some confusion over the horseshoe shaped stamp, which was dropped from the 3rd edition. This was a personal mark that Warren and his wife Alix used – Alix decorated his pots until her untimely death in 1962. It seems clear that Warren used it both in the UK and in the US, as it’s found paired with the Longlands Pottery stamp and on it’s own.
Prior to his marriage to Alix, Warren Mackenzie used a square MW stamp. This has been found on it’s own and paired with a Leach St Ives Pottery stamp. The latter doesn’t have the addition of dots below the m, inside the W.

The BSPM archive also includes mention of an early MW stamp in a circle, used while he was training at the Leach Pottery. I’ve never seen an example of this mark, and I believe this entry is a mistake, and he actually used the square stamp, without the dots, mentioned above. It’s always possible he used such a stamp early on at Stillwater Pottery, but the US collectors don’t have an example.

The archive also includes mention of an early incised MW mark used at the Leach Pottery, but, to date, no examples exist.
Recently another mark has come to light: A curved rectangle with a line down the middle, paired with Warren and Alix’s horseshoe shaped stamp. It’s been suggested this is from Warren’s time potting at Dartington (1963-64), however this was after Alix’s death. Maybe he continued using the horseshoe shaped stamp in memory of her before devising his MA monogram stamp when he returned to the US, and which he used for the rest of his life.

See 20thCenturyForum for photos of the BSPM archive.