Dating Dinnerware by Words in Marks

Words found in marks on pottery and porcelain can help tell the date the ceramics could have been made. Some marks give other important information. Dates given here are the earliest printed examples seen on ceramics or the date the mark was first required because of a new law. bone china: c.1915 ©: 1914 cooking […]

Dating Dinnerware By Design

Themes found in movies, books, and television influenced designs on dinnerware, vases, and figurines throughout much of the twentieth century, and they can give a clue to an item’s age. Arts and Crafts ceramics had naturalistic patterns and muted colors. Colonial scenes and figures dressed in period costume were popular in the 1930s because of […]

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 The company originally made salt-glazed stoneware crocks and jugs, then added red clay flowerpots […]

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 It was introduced in 1936, redesigned in 1969, withdrawn in 1973, and reissued in 1986.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 […]

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 […]

American Dinnerware From 1930 To 1970

From about 1930 to the 1970s, American potteries made dinnerware sets that were sold in department stores and other sets of inexpensive everyday dinnerware. They were given as premiums in grocery stores and sold in dime stores and department stores. During the 1970s, many people who had never thought about collecting became interested in buying […]

Copper Craftsmen

Craftsmen made Arts and Crafts–style decorative pieces using copper, a metal that had generally been ignored except for utilitarian pieces. Silver was used with copper, gilt, brass, or stones to make hollow ware in a style called Japonisme. The style reflected a romantic view of Japanese art popular in Europe and the United States at […]

Arts & Crafts Coppersmiths

This table lists coppersmiths with their locations and marks. Dates given are approximate working dates. Birth and death dates for individuals are in parentheses. Coppersmith Location Dates Mark Benedict Manufacturing Company East Syracuse, New York c.1900–1930s Carence Crafters Chicago, Illinois 1908–c.1918 Cellini Shop Chicago, Illinois 1914–1969 Harry Dixon San Francisco, California (1890–1967 ) Active c.1908–1967 […]

Chase Brass & Copper Company

It is a long way from plain copper nails and rivets to internationally famous art deco chrome, copper, and brass giftwares by named designers, but that is how Chase Brass & Copper Company of Waterbury, Connecticut, progressed. It also made buttons and industrial products like copper pipe before it realized, in the 1930s, that money […]