Fake Grueby Trademark on McCoy Pottery Vase

We were recently contacted by a fellow art pottery collector who was trying to find out about the history and value of her Grueby pottery vase.  When the collector emailed us photos of her vase, I recognized the piece as being a 1930s McCoy matte glaze vase.  At first I thought the collector had simply mixed up the photos and sent me images of her McCoy pottery vase instead of the piece of Grueby.

However, after a closer look at the photo of the bottom I noticed it was stamped with a fake mark which included words Grueby Pottery, Boston and the lotus flower trademark. 

Thankfully the mark is not at all close to authentic Grueby pottery trademarks and would likely not fool anyone other than the most novice pottery collectors. Since it was a fake Grueby trademark I had not seen previously I thought readers might find it interesting to see photos of the vase and stamp.

Greg Myroth - Selling Authenic McCoy and Grueby Pottery

Grueby Pottery Marks

Yesterday I received an email from a potential Grueby Pottery customer who was told by an alleged "pottery expert" that the impressed Grueby stamp mark was not authentic and was a mark that was used on "fake Grueby Pottery". 

I recognize that fakes and reproductions of Grueby, Roseville, Weller, Van Briggle and many other art pottery makers are becoming more and more of a concern to pottery collectors.  As such, I thought it might be helpful to provide some visual ads of original Grueby pottery marks. 

1.  Circular Grueby Boston USA Stamp

Below is an example of the circular Grueby stamp mark.   This is the most commonly seen Grueby pottery mark and is present on probably 70% of the pieces.  In addition to the circular Grueby stamp, the second photo also has the original Grueby Pottery paper label which is not commonly seen. 

2.  Impressed GRUEBY BOSTON. MASS mark

Another somewhat common Grueby mark is the impressed stamp mark.  I believe the impressed Grueby Boston. Mass as shown below is a later mark used by the company. 

3.  Other authentic Grueby Pottery marks

Grueby pottery also used a few variations of the stamp mark including: 

• GRUEBY
• ATWOOD & GRUEBY
• GRUEBY POTTERY BOSTON USA

While I don't have visual examples of these particular stamp marks, they are documented in The Ceramics of William H. Grueby by Susan Montgomery.

4.  Unmarked examples of Grueby Pottery

It is important to note that not all Grueby was marked so it is not uncommon to find unmarked examples of Grueby. 

Greg Myroth - Buying and Selling Grueby Pottery!