The time and place is 1890 in Roseville Ohio, where an American
pottery company officially named the “Roseville Pottery Company” was born.
Founded by J.F. Weaver the company was incorporated in 1892 with a former
Roseville salesman named George Young. Under Young’s direction the company
found great success by first producing practical stoneware pieces, then in 1895
the company expanded purchasing Midland Pottery, and later taking even more
control of the market by purchasing Clark Stoneware Company in Zanesville Ohio
where they eventually moved their headquarters to. Roseville’s roots started
with the production of practical everyday household pottery items, and it wasn’t
until 1900 that Young hired Ross C. Purdy to create the company’s first art
pottery line, according to Wikipedia.
Feel free to view this video, courtesy youtube, which provides multiple examples of Roseville Pottery!
The first art line was called “Rozane,” which was designed
to compete against rival pottery company’s art lines. According to Wikipedia,
the name “Rozane” was created as a contraction of the two cities “Roseville”
and “Zanesville.” George Young had brought great success to the company and by
1901 they owned and operated four plants and employed 325 people, according to Wikipedia.
Some of the company’s most popular designs were created by a
man named Frank Ferrell who became the art director in 1917. Amongst some of
the most popular designs were “Blackberry,” “Sunflower,” and “Pinecone.” But
like all great things Roseville Pottery came to an end, they produced their
final designs in 1953 and closed their facilities in 1954. Ironically Roseville
was bought by another company called the “Mosaic Tile Company,” according to Wikipedia.
Rosville pottery had many popular designs, which explains why
so many others have replicated their work with multiple reproduction pieces. So
you have to be careful when purchasing as too make sure it’s the real deal!
Like most everything some Roseville pieces can be worth a couple hundred
dollars or many up in the thousands!! For example an 18 inch tall vase from the
“Freesia” line introduced in 1945 is worth approximately $1,400.00, according
to appraisers. For the full article and photo on this appraisal feel free to
visit http://www.countryliving.com/antiques/appraisals/roseville-pottery-vase-0605.
I hope you have enjoyed and learned something new about a
great and well known American Pottery company, and the next time someone offers
to give you a piece of stoneware that resembles these pieces, TAKE IT!! And say
thank you for it could be worth thousands!!!
Do you collect any of this pottery? There were some lovely pieces in the youtube video that you provided. I love the title of this post, because it is nice to know that we still produce lovely art in the U.S..
ReplyDeleteI also love the title of your post! It made me interested to read it right off the bat. So often I only hear and know of things produced outside of the U.S.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this post because I actually used to be really interested in pottery as a child. I even took some classes! I haven't done anything with it since middle school and I really was probably never very good, but this brought back some fun childhood memories! Are there any pottery stores you like to go to?
Kara, No I wish I did collect this pottery, but currently I don't have hundreds to spend on these items. My parents however do and it's one of their favorite items they collect "together." Glad you enjoyed the title..I know, kinda cheesy, but wanted to try and make it more interesting. Thanks for reading :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Emily! Glad you too enjoyed my title. That's neat that you enjoyed pottery as a child. There are not any stores in particular that I look for pottery. When it comes to Roseville you just never know where you might find it. So I'm always looking! Thanks for reading :)
ReplyDeleteHahahaha the title of your post made me laugh so much! I really enjoyed reading this post. The youtube video was also really interesting.
ReplyDelete