Vernon Kilns

Vernon Kilns opened in 1931 in Vernon, California. It made dinnerware and figurines until it went out of business in 1958. The molds were bought by Metlox Potteries, which continued to make some Vernon patterns. Collectors look for Vernon’s plaid patterns and solid-color dinnerware and the special plates and figurines designed by Rockwell Kent and […]

Shawnee Pottery

The Shawnee Pottery Company was founded in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1937. The company made dinnerware, art pottery, vases, flowerpots, florist wares, lamps, cookie jars, and novelty ware. Corn King and Corn Queen were its most popular dinnerware lines. These yellow and green pieces were molded and colored to resemble three-dimensional ears of corn, with kernels […]

Pfaltzgraff Company

Pfaltzgraff is the oldest pottery in America. Since its founding in York, Pennsylvania, in 1811 by German immigrant George Pfaltzgraff, it has been operated by five generations of the Pfaltzgraff family. The name Pfaltzgraff Pottery Company was first used in 1896. The company originally made salt-glazed stoneware crocks and jugs, then added red clay flowerpots […]

Metlox Potteries

Metlox Potteries in Manhattan Beach, California, was founded by Theodore C. Prouty and his son Willis in 1927. The company made ceramic fittings for neon signs. In 1931 it started manufacturing dinnerware; by the mid-1940s, some dishes were hand-painted. Ownership changed when Evan K. Shaw bought the firm in 1946. Metlox bought molds and the […]

Knowles, Taylor And Knowles

East Liverpool, Ohio—home to Hall China Company, Harker Pottery Company, Homer Laughlin China Company, Standard Pottery, Sebring Pottery Company, Sterling China Company, and C. C. Thompson Pottery Company—was once a center of the United States pottery industry. Knowles, Taylor and Knowles was founded there in 1870. The pottery made hotel china, dinnerware, and other useful […]

Fiesta, Harlequin, And Riviera Dinnerware

Fiesta ware, a solid-color pattern, was designed by Frederick Hürten Rhead. It was introduced in 1936, redesigned in 1969, withdrawn in 1973, and reissued in 1986. The plates have a band of concentric circles beginning at the rim. Cups had full-circle handles until 1969, when partial-circle handles were introduced. The original Fiesta colors were light […]

Homer Laughlin China Company

The Laughlin brothers, with the unusual literary names Homer and Shakespeare, opened the Laughlin Brothers Pottery in East Liverpool, Ohio, in 1873. Shakespeare later withdrew from the business, and in 1896 the Homer Laughlin China Company was incorporated. In 1897 Homer sold the company to the Aaron and Wells families. A second plant was built […]

Hall China Company

Hall China Company in East Liverpool, Ohio, was founded by Robert T. Hall in 1903. Over the years, it has made semiporcelain dinnerware, hotel and restaurant ware, cookware, teapots, decal-decorated dinnerware, and kitchen items. Hall continued to make many of these ceramic wares until it closed in 2021. Its most popular dinnerware lines were the […]

Franciscan

Franciscan is a trademark that appeared on pottery made by Gladding, McBean and Company, a producer of clay products founded in Los Angeles in 1875. Gladding, McBean made its first dinnerware in 1928, and in 1934 it began using the trade name Franciscan. China and cream-colored decorated earthenware were also made. The name used in […]

Frankoma Pottery

John Frank established the ceramics department at the University of Oklahoma in Norman in 1927, then in 1933 he started his own Frank Potteries. Frank changed the name to Frankoma Potteries in 1934, then four years later moved the pottery to Sapulpa and renamed it Frankoma Pottery. Early Frankoma ware was made of cream-colored clay, […]