McCoy Pottery in the News

McCoy Pottery has recently been receiving a lot of press in various art pottery publications.  The August 2008 issue of the McCoy Lovers NMXpress features an article about a previously undiscovered and potentially one-of-a-kind Cope designed McCoy butterfly planter.  The rare planter was discovered in July during the annual Pottery Lovers Festival in Zanesville, Ohio.

The unique butterfly planter is significantly different from the pastel butterfly line produced by Nelson McCoy in the 1940s.  The planter is 8 1/2" long by 4" wide and is glazed in a brown matte, bisque wood-tone glaze. NMXpress reports the McCoy planter sold for almost $1,000. 

In other McCoy pottery news, the May/June 2008 issue of the Journal of American Art Pottery Association featured a rare McCoy elephant planter on the cover.  The article, titled " Yes, McCoy is Art" discusses the rare elephant planter purchased by the authors and the fact that McCoy produced many art pottery lines such as Loy-Nel-Art, Rosewood and Olympia. These art pottery patterns produced by McCoy are comparable to those standard glaze and hand-painted patterns produced by Roseville, Weller, Owens and other Ohio art potteries.  The article also points out that while Roseville, Rookwood, Weller and most of the other well known American art potteries employed many artists and decorators, there were only two designers at McCoy from the mid 1930s through the 1960s (Sidney Cope and his son Leslie). Earlier designers were Albert Cusick and Walter Bauer.

To further substantiate the claim that McCoy pottery is no longer just low priced mass produced pottery, the article notes the sale price for the rare elephant plant was an astounding $5,000.  Several other record sale prices for McCoy pottery including a $10,000 McCoy cookie jar sold in 1998 and the prototype McCoy Robin Hood Planter sold at auction for $11,500 in 2006 are also discussed. In addition I have noted several large McCoy sphinx floor vases and sand jars have sold at auction in recent months with most selling in $2,000 to $4,000 range. 

Greg Myroth - Shop for McCoy Pottery

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

McCoy Pottery Collectors' Society

The McCoy Pottery Collectors' Society will be hosting the annual McCoy Pottery collectors reunion from July 15 through July 21, 2007.  The headquarters for the McCoy convention will be the Comfort Inn in Zanesville, Ohio. 

The theme for the 2007 McCoy convention is "The Blues".  Any J.W. McCoy, Nelson McCoy, or Brush-McCoy Pottery in shades of blue is welcome to be added to the display.  Highlights of the reunion include a mixer and pottery auction on July 15, 2007 and Pottery Show and Tell on July 16, 2007.  All pottery for the Show and Tell must be produced by the J.W. McCoy, Nelson McCoy, or Brush-McCoy Pottery.  Another popular event during the covention is the in-room selling which will take place throughout the week. 

Greg Myroth - Shop for McCoy Pottery

McCoy Pottery - Record Price for Planter

A new record sale price for a piece of McCoy pottery was realized at a recent Green Valley Auctions sale.  A McCoy pottery Robin Hood planter was sold at the sale for $11,500.  The McCoy Robin Hood planter was made in the same style as the Hunting Dog, Large Fawn, and Liberty Bell.  Some McCoy experts indicated the piece was one-of-a-kind.  Based on that sale price, it will be interesting to see if more unique Nelson McCoy pieces begin to show up in the market.

Greg Myroth - Shop for McCoy Pottery