Van Briggle Pottery (1901–Present)

Artus Van Briggle worked as a decorator at the Rookwood Pottery in Ohio until he had to move West for his health. He opened the Van Briggle Pottery in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1901. When he died in 1904, his wife, Anne, who had also been a decorator at Rookwood, took over management of the […]

Stangl Birds

Stangl pottery birds have been produced since 1939. The figurines were based on illustrations in James Audubon’s “Birds of America” and Alexander Wilson’s “American Ornithology.“ Bisque birds were made in molds, then hand decorated, glazed, and fired. Nearly all the birds were marked with the Stangl name, the shape number, the initials of the decorator, […]

Teco/Gates (American Terra Cotta and Ceramic Company) (1887–1930)

Teco is the name used today by collectors to refer to the pottery made by William D. Gates. He founded the Spring Valley Tile Works in Terra Cotta, Illinois, in 1881. He renamed it the Terra Cotta Tile Works in 1885, and changed the name again to the American Terra Cotta and Ceramic Company in […]

Tiffany Studios (1904–C.1920)

Louis Comfort Tiffany began experimenting with pottery in 1898 but didn’t sell his creations until 1904. His firm, Tiffany Studios in Corona, New York, made vases and pottery lamp bases for its Favrile glass shades. Very little art pottery was produced. Some pieces were thrown on a wheel, but most were cast in molds. Vases […]

Pisgah Forest Pottery (1926–Present)

Walter B. Stephen first made pottery with his mother in Tennessee. In 1913 he moved to Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, where he founded the Pisgah Forest Pottery in 1926. He made fire-vitrified ware. He was well known for his turquoise and crystalline glazes and his cameo ware, which featured American scenes of Indians and wagon […]

Red Wing Stoneware Company/Red Wing Union Stoneware Company/Red Wing Potteries, Inc. (1878–1967)

The Red Wing Stoneware Company opened in Red Wing, Minnesota, in 1878. The company went through several mergers until 1908, when it reincorporated as Red Wing Union Stoneware Company. At first it made pottery flowerpots and vases with a green stain over a tan background. Red Wing made art pottery from the 1920s. From 1932 […]

Cowan Pottery Studio/Cowan Potters, Inc. (1913–1931)

R. Guy Cowan opened his Cowan Pottery Studio in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1913. Early Cowan pieces were terra-cotta and buff clay that was lead-glazed. The studio closed during World War I, and in 1920 Cowan built a new pottery in Rocky River, Ohio. In 1921 he began large-scale production of artwares. Cowan used a high-fired […]

Paul Revere Pottery (C.1906–1942)

About 1906 librarian Edith Guerrier started offering a pottery class at the Boston Public Library to teach immigrant teenage girls a trade. By 1912 more than 200 girls, members of the Saturday Evening Girls Club, worked at the pottery, named Paul Revere Pottery. It made mostly children’s dishes and tiles. Glazes were solid colors with […]

Pewabic Pottery (C.1904–1969)

Mary Chase Perry and her neighbor Horace James Caulkins began making pottery tiles, vases, and cosmetic jars in 1903. Pewabic Pottery’s famous Persian or Egyptian blue glaze was used by 1911. The pottery moved into a new Tudor-style building in 1907. Mary Chase Perry married the architect of the building, William Stratton, in 1918. The […]

American Pottery Marks

These are the marks from American pottery makers. Weller Pottery Mark (1895-1918)   Fulper Pottery Mark (1922-1928)   Grueby Faience Company Mark (1897-1911)   Rookwood Pottery Mark 1902   George E. Ohr Mark (1899-1906)   Roseville Pottery Company Mark (c.1905)