Before I move on to the next section of McCoy Pottery, I want to take a moment to thank you for your kind words on the anniversary of my mother’s passing yesterday. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you. It was an emotional day, with tears and memories and conversations with my husband, my sister, and my father. In the middle of the afternoon, Don took me out and we walked around some antique shops and had some of our favorite donuts. That helped a little. As did your words of sympathy.

Back to the McCoy. There’s a bit more to share with you from the kitchen. And an interesting McCoy ‘mistake.’ Let’s start with two questionable finds:

This vase sits on top of the cupboards. I’ve never seen it in any McCoy reference book (that in itself doesn’t mean anything – plenty of pieces are not in those books) but I have seen it being offered for sale for years as ‘unmarked McCoy.’ There seems to be some sort of consensus that it’s McCoy. It has the USA mark on the bottom. Some McCoy had only the USA mark. For some reason, I couldn’t get a very good picture of it, the glaze looks more uneven than it is. It matches the standard yellow McCoy glaze. I’m going to assume it’s McCoy.

But it might be something else.

This one. I love it, it looked an awful lot like a McCoy design, but it turns out it’s slightly different. It’s not McCoy. Maybe Shawnee? Maybe Haeger? Nevertheless, I love it and it lives with its McCoy friends on top of the cupboards, where it seems to fit right in.

These, I assure you, are  McCoy.

On the left: I bought this one early on in my collecting days. More modern in look, the style and the chartreuse color sold me. It’s from the 1950s. (I wasn’t happy with the individual photo of this piece, so I’m going to stick with this shot.)

This is the peacock vase. I think it’s gorgeous. The design is on both sides of the vase.

It’s from 1948.

I’m not usually a fan of the dark green glaze McCoy used, but I fell in love with this vase many years ago. I love the vaguely Art Deco design; the handles, the flowers and stems which seem to be blowing in the wind that are on the front of the vase. It’s called the Modern Vase in one of my books. I’ve seen it since I purchased it in other colors as well. It’s from 1951.

This is a McCoy wall pocket, in the form of a cuckoo clock. It was made in a few different color combinations, with both standard numbers and roman numerals. Because it was a wall pocket, it was easily damaged. If this was in pristine condition, it would be worth over $100. But it’s damaged. You can see where the top right edge has been glued together. A nicely done repair. And the little bird has a chip on the edge of his left wing. I probably wouldn’t have seriously considered buying this, but my friend Heidi was out shopping for her now-defunct shop and saw it. She called me on the phone and talked me into it and I’m happy she did. We’ve come to love it. It lives on the side of one of the kitchen cupboards, right by the sink. From the mid-1950s.

More McCoy – from upstairs – on Monday.

I leave again for Hartford this evening and have another all day long rehearsal tomorrow. I won’t get back until 9 or 10 Sunday night. I’m happy for the work, but it’s tiring, this driving back and forth. I’m used to staying there and not having to commute.

Happy Saturday.

We’re hanging out in the kitchen, where McCoy pottery is in the china cabinet, on shelves, and on top of the cupboards. When we first looked at this house and saw the kitchen, I immediately knew that I would be displaying McCoy on top of the cupboards. In fact, one of the first things I did – even before the move here – was to pack up some of my larger pieces and bring them to the house. There was nothing else in here, but there was  McCoy.

A stoneware console bowl, from the 1930s. This lives on a little shelf below the kitchen cupboards.

I love this detail on the inside.

A double cache pot and a bookend.

This double cache pot is one of the first pieces I purchased. What’s not to love about this beauty? It’s in great condition and the bird, the bird just kills me. It’s from 1949. It comes in this color combination and also in a yellow and green combination – the cache pots being yellow. It lives next to the console bowl on that little shelf.

McCoy made several styles of bookends. This is one of them. I only have one. Sob. But I’ll get another some day. It’s a planter bookend and it’s from 1953. It lives on the windowsill over the sink.

A vase and a flower pot. They live above the cupboards.

This vase is from the 1940s. Such a sunny yellow color!

Here’s the mark on the bottom.

This is called the Sand Dollar flower pot and it’s one of my favorites. It’s rather large and beautifully designed. I have two of them. The other is on the sideboard in the living room and has an actual plant – a pothos – in it. From the 1940s.

This piece, which my friend Heidi gave to me, has in interesting history. During WWII, the bulk of McCoy’s production was given over to ceramic land mines. Though the resources available to McCoy were scarce in wartime, they had permission to use any clay left from the production of land mines to create a dinnerware line – the Oven Serve line. This casserole is from that line.

The interior. Lots of crazing. I like that.

A very basic mark on the bottom, with McCoy etched into the clay.

Oh yes, my friends, I have more. A few more pieces from the kitchen and then some pieces that live upstairs. We’ll have more McCoy on Saturday.

Happy Wednesday.

Today? A lot of photos. Hope you don’t mind! I’m going to start with one more living room group.

The singing bird planters. Oh, how I love these. They’ve been photographed frequently for the blog, as they live on the piano. Of course they do. They’re singing!

They also used to be part of one of my headers when I was still on Blogger.

The birds came in two sizes – 7 inches tall and 4½ inches tall. These are 7 inches tall. You can see how the glaze varies from piece to piece. I absolutely adore these birds. They’re from the 1940s.

The mark – USA – is at the base of the bird.

I bought the aqua birds individually. First one, then I had to get another. Then, I felt they needed another companion, so I bought this little one:

She is 4½ inches tall and is lovely. The books all describe this color as white, but it’s more of a cream to me. More of a matte look. Same USA mark on the base.

Now we move on to the kitchen china cabinet, where I display a lot of the smaller McCoy pieces. Here we go.

Two planting pots and a pitcher.

A flowerpot in the Hobnail with leaves pattern. From the 1940s.

A quilted flowerpot with leaves around the upper rim and on the saucer. From the 1950s.

Very old pitcher in a water lily pattern from 1935. This is from the early Nelson McCoy stoneware line. I found this when I was on a coaching job in Owensboro Kentucky. Wandering through an antique shop, my eyes lit on this one and I grabbed it. I think I’ve only seen this one other time. Hard to find out in the wild! It’s gorgeous.

Marked with the number 124.

More smalls: Three vases and a planting dish. Are you starting to see the wide range of blue and blue-greens that McCoy used?

I particularly love this little vase and I often use it for little bouquet; rose buds, for instance. I don’t have any info on the date (checking on that.)

From the Rustic line – in blue. The line was first produced in 1945 and was made for many years. I don’t like the multi-colored Rustic pieces, but I do like the solid colored ones.

A very small cornucopia vase, with leaves and berries. From 1956.

An aqua planting dish. From 1948. Or 1952. Depending on the McCoy book.

And the last group of smalls from the cabinet:

A planter, a bulb bowl, and a vase.

This is a ball planter. From the 1940s. A present from Don.

It’s marked with the Nelson McCoy  (NM) mark:

Interlocking NM and USA.

A pretty yellow bulb bowl, from 1957.

And a lovely little yellow vase, from the 1940s. This is 5¾ inches high and is part of a small group of vases that are now called the 5″ vases – considered harder to find nowadays and, therefore, a desirable collecting group. I believe this was also a gift from Don. One birthday or Christmas, he set out to find some McCoy for me and ended up with three pieces in the yellow glaze. What a guy!

That concludes the contents of the kitchen china cabinet. Whew!

More on Wednesday. As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

Happy Monday.