Andy Warhol’s Cookie Jars

Pop artist Andy Warhol was an avid collector of cookie jars—and just about everything else. A 1987 auction of more than 125 of his ceramic cookie jars brought $250,000! After a brief spike in cookie jar prices as a result of this sale, collectors were disappointed that interest in and prices for most jars soon […]

Cookie Jars

The 1930s and after saw manufacturers producing modeled, colorful cookie jars. Nelson McCoy Pottery made the best-known jars, including covered wagons, log cabins, antique autos, locomotives, clowns, and animals. Two-faced cookie jars, many picturing Disney characters, were made by the Leeds China Company of Chicago. Cookie jars made by Shawnee Pottery included a sitting elephant, […]

Holt Howard (1949-1990)

Holt Howard was a New York City importing company started in 1949 by John and Robert Howard and Grant Holt, who met as college students. Holt Howard’s first products were Christmas items made and sold in the United States. The Santa Claus mugs were so popular the company designed other mugs. By the 1950s, Holt […]

Lady Head Vases

Lady head vases, or head vases, are just what the name implies: vases shaped like a woman’s head. Most vases are the head of an attractive young woman, sometimes with added hands, a pearl necklace, or even a parasol. Others are heads of babies, clowns, animals, or religious figures. A few are heads of men. […]

Inexpensive Decorative Ceramics

There has always been a market for inexpensive giftware, dime-store pottery, grocery-store premiums, kitchen sets, florist ware, and other inexpensive decorative pieces. During the twentieth century, some were made in the United States, some in other countries. Many of the more collectible pieces today—especially figural vases, bottles, and containers—were designed by importers in the United […]

Watt Pottery Company

William J. Watt and his three sons started Watt Pottery Company in Crooksville, Ohio, in 1922. It made jars, jugs, tableware, and mixing bowls. In 1935 Watt began making pieces with bold, hand-painted underglaze decorations that are popular with collectors. Apple, Starflower, Rooster, Tulip, and Autumn Foliage are the best-known patterns. Apple, the most popular […]

Calendar Plates

Calendar plates were giveaways for stores, banks, and other businesses. Although they are still being made, they were most popular from 1906 to 1929. A calendar and the name of the business are printed on the plate. A few of the plates were made in England before 1906, but no American calendar plate has been […]

Hull Pottery

The A. E. Hull Pottery Company, established in 1905 in Crooksville, Ohio, made art pottery and commercial wares. It is Hull’s three-dimensional Little Red Riding Hood accessories like cookie jars and sugars and creamers, made from 1943 to 1957, that excite collectors. Other favorites are the matte vases and artwares of the 1940s, and the […]

Royal Hickman

Designer Royal Hickman left Haeger Potteries in 1944, and in 1949 he started his own pottery in Tampa, Florida. He marked his pieces Royal Hickman Florida. A fire destroyed the pottery in 1952, and Hickman retired to Mexico where he designed for Haeger until his death in 1969.

Haeger Potteries

Haeger Potteries of Dundee, Illinois, started making art pottery in 1914. The business prospered, and Haeger added another pottery in Macomb, Illinois, in 1939. In addition to artware, Haeger made dinnerware, lamps, and florist ware. The most popular line, Royal Haeger, was introduced in 1938. It was designed by Royal Hickman, who worked at the […]