Unknown pottery 13, TJM 2.

I have a giant backlog of photos readers have sent to me. Life has been very busy lately and we're just settling back down to normal. In the past month or so, we've bought a house (moving in Sept or Oct probably), been out of town twice, and went several days without power due to some storms that moved through a couple weeks ago.

For the record, the pottery I collect is mostly made in the midwestern USA, and is mostly from larger factories like McCoy, Brush, Shawnee, Red Wing, Haeger, Morton, etc. Doug and I can usually do pretty well with that type of pottery, but are pretty clueless when you get outside of those parameters. Evidently we got mentioned on a message board on Ebay and we have received a lot of inquiries, many of them way outside of what we collect. We've given them all a shot, but have come up pretty short. Unfortunately, there are some that DO look like stuff we would collect, but we've been unable to find them in our books, either. I'll post the pics anyway, on the off chance that someone else might know.

Jim sent in photos of this pink vase. We were thinking Camark or Niloak, but couldn't find it in either book. Unknowns 1, The Junky Monkey 0.
UPDATE: Chris wrote in with the following information:
"I have a piece that is the same shape and size. It has a different treatment but I recognized it. I believe it is made by Rocky Mountain Pottery of Loveland Colorado. Here is a link to an Ebay auction of the same item I have."




Karen sent me these pictures of a mug. The thing that bugs me is that I'm almost certain I've seen it in a book before but can't for the life of me remember where. Unknowns 2, TJM 0.



Greg sent a pic of this beautiful egret vase. The only think I'm pretty sure of is that it wasn't made in Ohio (like most of the stuff I collect): it looks European to me but I can't be sure, since it's way far from what I collect. Unknowns 3, TJM 0.



Donna sent this picture of a Haeger... um, a Haeger... um... thing. She already knew it was Haeger because of the sticker, but the question was: what the heck is it? I have two Haeger books and didn't find it in either one. If I had to guess I'd say the holes are for candles. But that's just a guess. Unknowns 4, TJM 0.



Karen sent in a picture of this blue jar. It has a mold number 1A11 and USA but that doesn't help much. I'm not used to seeing a copyright sign on a piece. Unknowns 5, TJM 0. *sigh*



Cheryl sent this cow pitcher. I have a couple places I'll look for it but am not hopeful. Unknowns 6, TJM 0.



Greg sent in this beautiful brown vase, signed by the artist, and I have no clue who that artist might be. Unknowns 7, TJM 0.



Chris sent pics of yellow vases and an elephant. I actually have that elephant and have looked and looked, but have been unable to find out who made it. The yellow vases do appear to be Brush (Chris already knows they might be)... I agree that the elongated "S" in "USA" usually points to Brush. I'm not used to seeing the mark vertically instead of horizontally and I couldn't find the vases in either of the Sanford books or the Huxford one. Doug thinks it might be Brush as well, but says there are other potteries with an elongated S. Unless he shows me a photo, I'm going to accuse him of smoking crack. But anyway, since he's not convinced, I won't consider this to be a positive ID. Unknowns 9, TJM 0.
UPDATE: Chris has identified the elephant as a Cronin Pottery "Novelty" with the help of the Vintage Colorware group on Yahoo.




Elizabeth sent photos of a beautiful Morton vase. Identification isn't the issue here (it has an American Art Potteries sticker), but she was wondering if I could find any more information about it. I do have the Morton Potteries: 99 Years book it's not in there. Because it's American Art Potteries sticker instead of one of the other Morton Potteries, that narrows down when it was made to between 1947 and 1963. Most other vases in the book are valued between $18-25 or so. I'm going to take credit for knowing this one, since by now I'm getting desperate for a point. :-) Unknowns 9, TJM 1.



Melody sent in a photo of this sugar bowl. It looks a lot like Shawnee, but is not in my Shawnee books. I don't have a photo of the bottom, but if it's completely glazed then I'm stumped. Usually the Shawnee pieces are marked with a U.S.A. I've run across Japanese pieces that I could swear from the glaze were Shawnee so without being able to handle it I just can't say for sure. Unknowns 10, TJM 1.




Terri sent photos of three pieces. I couldn't find the frog or the white vase (I suspected Brush on the vase but can't find it), but Doug found the blue vase. It's a Robinson Ransbottom. Unknowns 12, TJM 2.








Last, but not least, Doreen sent in a photo of a cute cat made in California. We looked through our two California books and didn't find them. There are so many different California potteries that I didn't hold out much hope. Final score: Unknowns 13, TJM 2.

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out.....

I've been wanting to vermicompost (worm compost) for awhile. Since we're moving again in September I didn't want to do one outside, so I started an indoor worm bin. You can purchase indoor vermicomposting kits, but if you want to save some money you can easily make your own.

I started out with two Rubbermaid bins. I have removed the labels long ago so I can't tell you how many gallons they are, but they are approximately 16" x 20" x 9" deep.

I drilled three large holes in each side near the top of one of the bins, and stapled window screen material over the holes. If I had to do it over again I'd bond the screening on using some silicone caulking material. If you do that, make sure you let the caulking cure for awhile (I'd give it a week) until it no longer smells like vinegar.




Punch several holes in the bottom of the same bin that has the other holes so any excess water can drain.



You will end up stacking the bin with the holes on top of the second bin. However, you will probably need to put something in the bottom of the intact bin so they don't nest too tightly together: you don't want to block the screened holes from the first bin. I found a small dish shelf, but you could just as easily line the bottom with a few rocks. Don't make it too heavy or your bin won't be very portable.



Stack the two bins together and lay some screening material in the bottom of the top bin to keep the worms from falling out of the drain holes.



Now it's time to fill up your bin. I used coir (expanded in water to the consistency of a moist sponge) as my main bedding material. I usually keep some of this material around to make potting soil (I hate potting soil with peat moss), so it was handy. I made that initial layer several inches deep, then buried some of my kitchen scraps in it. Don't use meat or dairy, but fruit & vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, etc. are ok. I also added a little bit (~1/2 a trowel full) of compost from my pile outside to help the kitchen scraps break down more easily. Then dump your worms on top. I used 500 red wigglers I bought from a bait shop. If they have two different types of red wigglers, get the small ones: they are cheaper, and they are supposed to be better for composting.



I shredded some newspaper on top of the coir, and sprayed it with water. That seems to keep the coir from drying out too fast, and it's more material for the worms to work on. You may want to keep the lid off for a couple hours in a brighly lit room to make sure the worms dig down into the coir instead of trying to crawl out of the bin. They seem to get confused when they're first put in there, and if the bin is in the dark right away they are just as likely to crawl up the side of the container -- or out the screened holes -- as they are to dig down. Once they made it into the coir I haven't had any problems with escapees.

How much do you feed your worms? I have yet to measure anything so I can't give you a precise answer. You want to make sure whatever you add can be buried within your bedding material because you don't want to stink up the place or overwhelm the worms. I've been checking the bin every few days and if what I put there before has been mostly broken down then I'll add a little more.

Getting the bin cat-scanned is optional -- for the worms. Maybe not for the cat.

The lights didn't come on. Doh!

Interesting timing on my post on Ameren's latest ad campaign, where they pat themselves on the back for being "reliable." Doug & I are among the 1/2 million who lost power during the recent storms, and the 365,000 households who are still without power three days later. The latest ETA we've heard for getting electricity back on is Tuesday. An article in the Post Dispatch says as many as 1.1 million customers had lost power at some time during the storm. I wonder if Ameren is still airing the ads.

I suppose it doesn't really matter: it's not like we could see them anyway.

Thank goodness for free WiFi at St. Louis Bread Company.

Birthday Party!

Last week Doug and I went up to Wisconsin to visit my family. This was the first time I got to see my newest nephew Lucas, who just turned 1. And what is a 1-year-old's birthday party without a cake-all-over-everything photo?

Nothing moves fast

My husband coined a new phrase at work. It probably applies to any large corporation:
"Nothing moves fast around here except blame."

The lights came on. Well, DUH!

I've been bugged by the latest commercials from Ameren, our electric company here in St. Louis. The ads are all about how reliable they are: essentially patting themselves on the back because the lights come on when we flip the switch.

Sadly, there are countries where this might be a valid ad, but here in the USA there are relatively few places where one would expect to flip a switch and not have the lights come on. Choices in electric companies are limited, and there are valid benefits that can differentiate one from another: generating energy from greener sources, superior customer service, lower prices, stepping up to your mistakes and fixing them... The Ameren commercials just leave me thinking "Is that the best thing you can say about your company?"

Yesterday I read an entry on the LunaMetrics blog about product features one may wish to withold in advertising, and one of their points applies to Ameren's current ad campaign:

"When you buy a car, you expect it to come with four tires and a steering wheel. If the tires aren't there, it's a deal breaker, but it's not a selling feature."

Miss you guys!

Well, this was the first year in a long time that I've been unable to attend the Natural Urban Living Garden Show, put on by the Arlington Organic Garden Club. For the past 10 years our work would start in January, contacting vendors, attending other garden shows to help publicize ours, printing flyers, making posters, designing ads, and lots and lots of fretting: Are we going to have enough vendors this year? Will anyone show up? Will we have enough food? Did we make enough signs? Should we have publicized more?

After 10 years helping out (first, as the webmaster [webmistress??] and later as the club's president), I moved to St. Louis. Strangely, I still feel like a slacker for not helping out for this year's show. I'm 700 miles away so I have an excuse, but it still feels weird: I know how much work goes into one of those shows, and it's all done by volunteers. Most of all I miss the chance to spend the day with a lot of really great people.

After 10 years, it was hard not to meddle but I knew the show was in good hands, as it has been for the past 10 years (right, David?). And there's one thing that corporate life has taught me: everyone can be replaced. Throughout the years I've watched people at work leave for greener pastures, went through the "this place is gonna collapse without them" phase, only to find that life goes on and everyone survives just fine after all. The AOGC is no different: everybody kept doing what they're good at and the show went on, just as has in years past.

After a long day showing some friends the sights in St. Louis (but that's another post), I came home to find an email from Bob, one of our friends from the club. Attached were several pictures from the show, and by the time-stamp I see he sent them while the show was still taking place. The email ended with "Miss you guys." I know how much work goes into one of those shows (it's all volunteer, by the way), so the fact that he took time out from all that to send pictures to Doug and me really meant a lot.



This is Maggie -- a talented gardener and writer and a good friend of AOGC's -- and David, talented horticulturist, horologist, club president, and a good friend.



This is Bob -- talented photographer, gardener, woodworker, and an all-around neat guy.



This is the AOGC gang, talented gardeners and. . . umm. . . show-putter-onners.

I miss you guys!

Creatures of Habit

It's been a long time since I've blogged... I've been traveling a lot in the last 6 weeks: New York, Montreal, Washington DC, and Austin. Now that this round of customer visits is done, it looks like I'll be in town for awhile. Whew!

After going to bed last night, I got up to investigate a noise. Not a scary noise, just some sort of mechanical noise that I would swear was a far-away train, although we've lived in the house since November and would probably have noticed a train by now. I was trying to tell whether it was inside the house or out so I opened the back door for a listen. The noise was indeed coming from outside, so I went to bed knowing that I didn't have to worry about the air-conditioning or washing machine blowing into a thousand little pieces while Doug and I slept.

This morning Sienna woke me up just before 5. That's not unusual: cats are creatures of habit. Sienna's mission in life is to open closet doors, and she takes her job seriously. She doesn't want to sit on the shoes or anything, she just needs to open the door. Like clockwork, once in the wee morning hours, then again mid-afternoon, she opens the closet doors in the hallway and in the bedroom. The doors are solid and somewhat heavy, so she takes great pride in her accomplishment.

The morning routine is "scratch-scratch-scratch" and when I wake up to shush her, Sienna jumps on the bed all purry and wants to be petted since she completed her very important task, and at this time of the morning the boys are asleep and she doesn't have to worry about getting pounced on. After doling out the obligatory pets, I realized I wasn't pinned to the bed by any other cats, so I got up and stumbled into the bathroom.

Did I mention that cats are creatures of habit? We've had Felix for less than a year, but already he has established that I am not allowed to go to the bathroom by myself. I mean, I am capable -- it's been more than 35 years since I had to hold on to my big sister for fear of falling in and getting flushed. But if I get up in the middle of the night, it is only a matter of moments before I hear THUNK (Felix weighs 14+ pounds, and he usually sleeps on the desk in the den)... thwup-thwup-thwup-thwup-thwup-thwup-thwup-thwup (yes, 14 pounds of cat moving along hardwood floors does make a noise)... "URD?"

Although Felix is capable of meowing, he prefers to say "Urd?" It's the same noise many cats make if you wake them up from a sound sleep... a feline version of "WTF?" But instead of reserving "Urd?" for a surprise wakeup, Felix uses it in his everyday communication. He has learned many other tricks from Sienna and Casper, but he has not yet learned to open doors, so in this case "Urd?" meant "I have noticed you are in the bathroom all by yourself. I feel duty-bound to jump on the edge of the bathtub, rub my face on the shower door, jump back down, walk around the room, and fall over at your feet. I can not do this if the door is closed, kindly open it." Falling over is another one of Felix's peculiar habits... I thought he had a neurological disorder when we first found him, but he is surprisingly agile for a cat that in profile looks somewhat like a pot-bellied pig.

Only this morning there was no THUNK, no thwup-thwup-thwup, and no "URD?" On leaving the bathroom I heard a faint meowing off in the distance. A quick sweep of the house turned up Casper, but no Felix. It was then I noticed the shadow in the back door: Felix spent the night stuck between the back door and the screen, having snuck out when I opened it to investigate the noise last night. Funny thing is, he wasn't traumatized by the incident. When I opened the door he didn't scramble out as though he'd spent the night being tortured by Satan's minions: I'm fairly certain that would have been Casper's reaction (but then again, Casper would have screamed so loudly that this would never have happened). But Felix's morning routine continued as though nothing ever happened: he made one "Urd?," circled around my legs, fell over, then ambled off to the food dish.

First Harvest

Because we haven't bought a house here yet (we're renting), my garden this year will be in pots. I spent Saturday planting my container garden: I've planted snow peas seeds, lettuce (both seeds and from transplants), mache (from seed), and a whole bunch of herb transplants -- rosemary, basil, marjoram, thyme, parsley, and fennel.

Although I'm just getting started, I've already taken my first harvest from the yard: wild violets. The yard is covered with them, and since we don't use any synthetic products on our lawn they are edible.

The flowers don't have much of a distinctive taste, but they are beautiful and they make an ordinary salad seem like something exotic. The leaves have a very mild, fresh taste and are not the least bit bitter. The dark green leaves and the purple flowers contrast nicely with the yellow-green hearts of butter lettuce or romaine. When I served our salads on Sunday, I think this is the first time in 9 years of marriage that Doug was stunned by the food's presentation -- hey, I'm usually making casserole or some other "gloppy" stuff.

No special preparation is required: just pick, rinse, and eat. Sunday was such a beautiful day that I was looking for any excuse to be outside, so I probably spent 1/2 hour to an hour picking violets. I was surprised how well the leaves and flowers held up after sitting in the sun for that long. I put them in a bowl of water in the refrigerator until dinner, then I dried them in the salad spinner before using them. I refrigerated the leftovers in the salad spinner, and they still look fresh today, two days later. On the other hand, the dandelion flowers I picked the same day (they're edible too, but that's another post) began to close up within an hour, even in water.

I have read on the Web that violets are high in vitamin C, and very high in vitamin A: half a cup of leaves contains well more than a whole day's supply (so don't overdo it).

Brush Mermaid Garden Dish

Gary writes:

Hello I was trying to id this pottery I have, I've seen one in a antique store like it they said it was McCoy, do you know what maker it is? Or is it McCoy? I would appreciate any help you could give me.




Hi Gary, it's not really McCoy, but Brush (a/k/a "Brush-McCoy"). It's not unusual for people to mix up the companies, because there were 4 generations of McCoys working in the pottery business in Ohio. The following information comes from the McCoy Pottery Collector's Reference & Value Guide by Hanson, Nissen, and Hanson, and The Guide to Brush-McCoy Pottery by Martha and Steve Sanford. So here's the story of Nelson, WF, JW, George, Nelson, Nelson, and Nelson.

In 1848, brothers W. Nelson McCoy and W.F. McCoy formed a pottery business in Zanesville, OH. They made stoneware crocks and jars.

In 1899, W. Nelson's son, James William McCoy, started the J.W. McCoy Pottery company in Roseville, OH.

In 1909, George S. Brush (who founded the Brush Pottery Company in 1906 in Zanesville) became J.W. McCoy's general manager.

In 1911, the two potteries merged to become the Brush-McCoy Pottery company. J.W. McCoy continued to be a principal stockholder until 1925, at which point the company was renamed Brush Pottery.

In 1910, Nelson McCoy (J.W.'s son), along with help from his father, formed the Nelson McCoy Sanitary Stoneware Company in Roseville, OH. Nelson McCoy's wares competed directly with those manufactured by Brush-McCoy. In 1933 this company reorganized to become the Nelson McCoy Pottery Company. After Nelson McCoy died in 1945, his nephew Nelson McCoy Melick became president, and remained president until his death in 1954. At that time, Nelson McCoy Jr. became president. In 1967 the pottery was sold to Mount Clemens Pottery Company, and in 1974 it was sold to Lancaster Colony Corporation. Nelson Jr. remained president throughout that entire time and the pottery was still known as "McCoy." Nelson Jr. Left in 1981, the pottery was sold to Designer Accents in 1985, and they were out of business by 1990. Pottery from this NelsonX3 company is what is known to collectors as "McCoy."

So, on to your planter. It is a #912 garden dish that was made in 1956. Brush made a whole line of garden dishes like that in the 1950's: the ones I see most often are a bear, raccoon, or squirrel on a log, but there are others with seahorses, puppies, birds, etc. Not only is the paint style and quality similar throughout the line, but the real give-away is the bottom of the planter: all of the planting dishes I have seen from that line have the same pattern of unglazed rails on the bottom: turn it on edge and it's shaped like an "E" or a "3."

Sanford's Guide to Brush-McCoy Pottery Vol II lists the value as $60-70 (1997 price guide). Their values tend to be a bit high (especially since I live in the Midwest), and I think the greater availability of stuff on eBay has pushed pottery values down even further. The same authors list the bear or raccoon on log from the same line as $50-60, but I see these in antique malls here in the Midwest for around $12-25. There are several of the animal-on-log planting dishes for sale on eBay right now (search for "log" under Brush-McCoy pottery; there's a bear, squirrel, rabbit, and raccoon), so you might want to monitor what they sell for. Your mermaid is probably worth around 20% more than those, because it's prettier and harder to find.

American Art Potteries (Morton) Vase

Tamra writes:
Can you tell me any more about the American Art Potteries vases I have, of which I have included some photos? I bought them at a second hand store several years ago because I loved the color combinations, which remind me of the 1950’s. Luckily, one of the vases had the American Art Potteries Norwood sticker remaining. I really haven’t had much luck finding any information on them except for the basic info and chronology of Morton Pottery/American Art Potteries. Apparently, these pieces would have been made between 1947 and 1963. The stickers on the bottom are original price tags reading “1.25”. There are no other identifying marks on the bottoms. The vases show extensive crazing, as you can see on the photo of the sticker. I have found this to be part of their charm though, I suppose, it affects the value of the pieces. I would appreciate any further information you could give me about these pieces.

Well Tamra, unfortunately your vases are not pictured in the Morton book I have. I have no reason to doubt your ID of them: the sticker is right and the glaze looks right for that pottery, but it looks like I won't be able to give you much more info. In general, vases from the Morton potteries seem to be valued at $15-25 range, more if they're really big or really fancy, so at least that gives you a ballpark figure. I really like their clean lines and their different glazes: they are lovely!

Weller Jardiniere

Christy writes:

This planter is 12" high; the mouth is 12" wide & the base is 7" wide. It belonged to my grandfather. There are no markings on the bottom. Do you know who made it & about how old it is? Thanks!

This beautiful jardiniere is found on page 141 of "The Collector's Guide to Weller Pottery" by Sharon and Bob Huxford. The description is "Colored Glaze Jardiniere, 10", no mark, $150-200" (prices are from 1996). Although you note your piece is 12" across, the picture is identical otherwise.

Weller opened in 1872 and closed in 1948. Based on the coloration, it was probably made sometime between the 1920's and the time the plant closed.

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater Cookie Jar

Wow, two Brush Twin-Winton cookie jars in a row! I got this photo and an e-mail from Dorie:

I have a Cookie Jar made by the Brush-McCoy Pottery Company.
I hope that the attachment works.
It is Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater, with the marking on the bottom "W24" "USA".
It is in excewllent condition, a little crazing on the bottom and the inside bottom, which comes with age.
I have search the internet for information and found nothing.
Finally look in a collectable book and found it, but would like a little more information, can you help me?

Well Dori, it looks like you already have the bulk of the information already, so I can only add a little bit more. Like the Formal Pig described in my last blog entry, Brush's Peter Pumpkin cookie jar was designed by Twin Winton, two brothers who did freelance design for lots of different potteries. It was made in 1959, and in 1996-97 its value was listed at $250-400 (from Sanford's Guide to Brush Pottery Vol I). I haven't found others for sale to be able to verify a more realistic price, but there is currently one up for sale on eBay.

I should probably point out for you and for the last poster that I am not a cookie jar expert, so I don't know which jars have been reproduced and/or how to spot a reproduction. I found on about.com that many Brush cookie jars are known to have been reproduced (including the Formal Pig :( ), but I didn't see this one on the list.

Brush Formal Pig Cookie Jar

Allison sent me some photos of a cookie jar and wrote:

For years I have had a 'ugly' pig cookie jar in my collection. Recently, I decided to start researching to see for sure what it was that I had.

While doing an internet search, I learned about Brush-McCoy Pottery. In looking through pictures of their cookie jars, I found my 'Formal Pig Green' cookie jar. However, the markings on the bottom of my cookie jar does not match up to any of the marking listed for either Brush or McCoy Potteries.

The markings on my cookie jar are : W 7 and USA. The measurements are approximately 12 inches tall, by 8 inches wide.

Any information you might be able to give me would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Allison, I don't really know much about collecting cookie jars but I do have some of the Brush reference books and I see your pig (the one in the book has a black outfit instead of green, but otherwise looks the same) in Sanford's Guide to Brush-McCoy Pottery, Book 1. The book lists the mold number as W7 (same as yours), and they say that it was made in 1954. The reason the mold number begins with a W is because the cookie jar was designed by Twin-Winton (twin brothers Don and Ross Winton). They designed pottery on a free-lance basis for many of the pottery manufacturers of that time.

The latest price guide I have for that book is 1996-1997, where it is listed in the value range of $190-390. I found a recently completed auction for one on eBay that only went for $53 (he had a chip on his nose), and a listing on another site where they were asking $250, so that gives you a range for the values.

St. Louis Style Pizza (a/k/a "Pizztata")

I have been meaning to write about St. Louis style pizza. Ha! I bet you didn't even know St. Louis had a pizza style!

St. Louis style pizza is made with thin crust, cut into squares instead of wedges, and it uses a weird cheesey-food-thing called Provel (yes, capitalized!) instead of mozzarella. Wikipedia says it is almost unknown outside of St. Louis and was invented here specifically for pizza, since someone thought we needed a pizza cheese that melts well without the wonderful stringiness of mozzarella that makes biting into a hot pizza so messy. Other sources say that Provel is kind of like the Velveeta of white cheese: a processed blend of provelone, Swiss and cheddar.

Probably the best-known St. Louis style pizza comes from a local chain called Imo's, but it might not be the best ambassador of St. Louis style pizza. In fact, Doug hates it! Their crust is so thin and crispy that it's more like eating a giant tostata than a pizza, so we have dubbed it the "pizztata." Imo's cooks it until the cheese is a scary brown color. The first time I saw an ad for them I thought maybe they just didn't have an A-level photographer taking a picture of their pizza and that it got burnt or something, but I later figured out that their pizzas actually look like that. How do they taste? They're ok but not very satisfying, even for someone like me who prefers thin crust. It didn't help that the one time I ate at one of their restaurants (the other time we had it delivered), it wasn't exactly a clean and inviting place, and the staff's mood floated somewhere between apathetic and surly. Granted that was only one restaurant, but it didn't impress me.

If you want to try a St. Louis style pizza, I recommend Fortel's. Not only was their pizza filling and good, but offer a wide range of toppings so you can get something interesting (like a Reuben or BBQ chicken). They had sauerkraut! Disgusting, you say? Not at all! Sauerkraut is something I have never liked, and fortunately my German mother didn't think it necessary to force us to eat it. But a long time ago Doug made me try a Canadian bacon and sauerkraut pizza (maybe that's a Kansas City thing, who knows) and I've been hooked ever since. Yum!

Dog & Basket Planter

Marykay sent an email about the green dog planter on my unknown animal pottery page. She has the same planter in a dark red color -- which may provide another clue to its maker -- and was nice enough to send me some pictures.

At least three of potteries I collect used a wine red glaze: Shawnee, Camark, and Morton. I'm sure there are other potteries that used a similar glaze as well (I have several dark red pieces from an unknown pottery), but those are the big three I know of that have a fairly unique glaze color.

If this is one of those three I would probably guess Morton, although it would only be a guess. The Shawnee red glaze is shinier and a bit more transparent, and the red is deeper. The Camark red is deeper yet (and is one of the prettiest colors I've seen). It's hard to tell exact color when viewing a digital picture, but the glaze does seem to have the same characteristics as some Morton flower pots I have packed away somewhere. Or it could have been made by an entirely different pottery, one for whom we haven't found an identification book for yet. The unglazed bottom also makes me less likely to think it's Shawnee or Camark.

Thanks for sending the pictures Marykay!