Pottery Help, Raku?

Nabbed this little guy for peanuts. Estate had a very impressive, very high end collection of many things including good pottery. So this could be a turd, or could be a silver turd (not quite golden). Is it Raku? Looks to maybe be missing a lid. Anyways I would think just a student/project mess at first glance but it feels more intentional the more I look at it, even though messyish. I like it though. Just trying to decide if it’s worth more than a couple peanuts. Gotta be careful at places that have really good stuff. Sometimes that turd may be silver in disguise.

 

I'm voting for student.

 

That it one ugly thing.

 

That’s the thing. It’s so ugly and ridiculously shaped that it almost seems like it was meant to be that way. It doesn’t resemble all the student and hobby pottery you see at thrift stores IMO. That stuff tries to be good and isn’t. This almost seems like it’s good trying to be bad to me. Then again maybe it’s just a stinky turd and the fantastic sale it came from has me overthinking it.

 

True. It’s so ugly/weird it must be planned or deliberate (one would think) But does it take a certain level of ‘real’ skill to create this? I agree better do some more research maybe it’s a very well hidden gem.. It does look vintage to me.. But it also looks like a alien queen egg!

 

I like weird. And it's definitely intentionally weird. Not Raku in my opinion, and I would not say it's a student piece, but could be. What are the dimensions? Is there a hidden sig somewhere among all those "scars?"
If this comes from a estate that had a very impressive, very high end collection of many things including good pottery, I'd wonder and not rush discarding it. May well be that the collector also just liked weird and ugly (brutalist comes to mind,) but I'd keep it (and will take it off your hands if you don't like it ☺️)

 

organic abstract comes to mind; clearly focused images straight on side elevations with a neutral background might help...