A brief bit of McCoy Pottery history
McCoy was a family business, started by J.W. McCoy in Roseville, Ohio in 1899. In 1911, it merged with other companies and became the Brush-McCoy Pottery Co. In 1925, the McCoys sold their interest in the business and Brush-McCoy became Brush Pottery. However, during this time – in 1910 – Nelson McCoy started his Nelson McCoy Stoneware Company. In 1933 the company was renamed the Nelson McCoy Pottery Company.
in 1967, the company was sold to David Chase of the Mount Clemens Pottery Company, which was sold in 1974 to Lancaster Colony Corporation – Nelson McCoy, Jr. was President of the company during this time and all the pottery continued to carry the McCoy name.
In 1985, the company was again sold but eventually closed in 1990.
All of this history is reflected in the various marks on the pieces. I will try to point them out as we go.
My history with McCoy
I’ve always been aware of McCoy, especially in the form of the ubiquitous flower pots I used to see when I was growing up. But in about 2002, I started to noticing it in a different way. We were renting a little cottage in Westchester County, after having moved East. One of our neighbors, a young couple, asked us to feed their dogs while they were away. Because I had to go in their house, I noticed all these gorgeous pieces of pottery, some of them rather large, on the cabinets and furniture in the living room. It was McCoy.
Around the same time, there were several articles published about Martha Stewart’s extensive collection of McCoy. I became entranced with the designs and the glazes and the colors. And I ventured into the world of collecting McCoy Pottery.
In the beginning, I got a lot of my pieces on eBay. It was simply easier to find them there and I started to gather together a nice collection. I found I was drawn to the sherbet-like colors, rather than the darker pieces. In fact, those colors inspired a lot of the decorating choices in the cottage.
By the way, McCoy made lots of pottery, lots of cookie jars (there are some people who collect only the cookie jar; the most famous collector was Andy Warhol) and lots of utilitarian pieces made in the seventies that were…how do I say it?….less than attractive. I concentrate on what I consider to be the prettier pieces.
So. I decided to start with the McCoy pieces that are in the china cabinet in the den. Here we go.
Two vases, a planting dish, and a bulb bowl.
The McCoy reference book calls this one Novelty Dish with Bird. Made around 1950, it also comes in a yellow-green combination, but you know I had to go with this one. I have two of these dishes – one is on my dresser upstairs. McCoy’s use of birds in designs is one of my favorite things about the line. This one was a gift from my friend Heidi.
One of the very first pieces I purchased on eBay. Love this soft shade of green and the shape of the vase. The handles have a leaf and berry design. From around 1950.
Coral double-handled vase. From 1948. A very graceful vase, I think – quite lovely. I can’t remember where or how I got it! Sorry.
Another early acquisition – I was taken by the design of this bulb bowl; the diagonal lines and the circle and vine-like design running along the bottom. From 1947. Purchased on eBay.
The mark on the bottom of this bulb bowl is the most common McCoy mark; sometimes it is accompanied by Made in the USA, or USA.
Three vases and a planting dish.
The design of this vase is not unlike the previous green vase I showed you. This one has birds and berries on it – a frequent theme of McCoy Pottery. This is one side of the vase.
And on the other side: cherries. This vase dates from the 1940s. I have two of them. One lives in the china cabinet and one lives on top of the white cabinet in the living room. Another early acquisition via eBay.
A variation on the mark, this time with Made in USA.
I love this planting bowl. I have two of them, one is in cream. You’ll see that later. Very Art Deco in style. I’m searching for more information, but I can’t seem to find it in my reference books. I’ll update this when I learn more. Found on eBay.
One of my very favorite pieces, found on eBay. These are called Arcature vases. The two sides are open at the top, ready for water and a flower. Although, looking at this one, I think the design is enough and no flowers are needed! More of the McCoy three-dimensional birds. Let’s look more closely:
Sigh.
And from the back. These vases came in three different sizes – this one is the largest. From 1951.
I found this leaves and berries fan vase in a local shop a year or so ago. It is in great shape – such great shape that I worried it was a knock-off. It isn’t. It has one of my favorite marks on the bottom:
From the 1940s.
There’s the beginning of our tour, my friends. I’ll probably post this series every other day or so. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments.
I also have a post you might be interested in Collecting McCoy Pottery: Some Tips From a McCoy Lover. Maybe I can entice you to start your own collection!
Happy Tuesday.
Good Morning Claudia. Still crazy/busy at work with barely time to read or comment on blogs, but wanted to let you know I enjoyed your McCoy tour and post this morning. Love, love, love the birds on McCoy pottery. I’ve never seen the Arcature Vase – very interesting. Also love your little bowl with the bird perched on it. Thank you for sharing.
The birds are one of my favorite things! Glad you’re enjoying the posts, Vera.
What lovely pieces.
The planting bowl is my favourite – do you ever use it for bulbs?
Do you ever write for magazines? Your writing style is so informative, yet “friendly”. Loved this post – can’t wait to read (and see) more!
I tend to NOT use my McCoy for anything other than display, though I do have a plant in one of my flower pots.
No, I haven’t ever written for a magazine, Barbara, though it would be fun!
Claudia, I am so excited that you have started this series. You have inspired me to buy a few McCoy pieces. After finding my sugar bowl I bought one of the ‘novelty dish with bird’ in the brown/green/yellow colors. It arrived yesterday and is gorgeous. I do prefer your pastels but this one goes in my living room nicely. I’ll share some photos as soon as the other pieces I purchased arrive. Waiting on baby has gotten expensive as I try to keep myself busy :) Love the bulb dishes also and the vases, well I love all of it!
hugs,
Linda
I just saw a photo of the novelty dish with bird in your colors, Linda. It’s really pretty! I wouldn’t mind having it in those colors – very soft and subtle. Congratulations!
Wonder when that baby is going to come? Come on, little Scout!
So pretty. Thanks for sharing.
You’re most welcome, Shanna.
I had never heard of McCoy pottery until I started reading your blog. When I was helping a cousin clean out her mother’s house I saw a pottery bowl and thought, “I wonder if this is the stuff Claudia talks about”. It was! I was so exited and the bowl now sits on the mantle.
Yay for you, Missy! I bet that bowl is awfully pretty.
I love the Arcature vase…so unusual…never seen that before! I spent a good amount of time searching out McCoy last week…such a variance in design, markings and price. I’m hoping to learn a lot from this series…no pressure Claudia! ;)
Gulp! I’m feeling the pressure, Donnamae!
Thanks for part 1 of the McCoy Pottery tour, Claudia. I really like the Arcature vase because it’s unusual, and, of course, because of the birds. I love birds.
I know – isn’t that vase fantastic? I really love it.
I’m drooling all over my iPad! Love all the great photos and information.
Judy
Thanks, my friend! You are also a McCoy aficionado…
Love seeing your McCoy collection, Claudia. My mother and other women in my family had McCoy pieces, especially the flower pots and vases. Beautiful!
I think they bring back a lot of good memories for many of us. My grandmother had the violet pots for her African Violets. How I wish I had them now!
I have the fan and berry vase in white but with the first mark you showed. Found it in a thrift shop as I have most of my McCoy, thrift shops and estate sales. My sister has quite a few pieces too. This is fun and I’m eager to see the rest if your collection.
Oh, I bet that vase looks gorgeous in white. I have several pieces in that color – Judy, my friend, only collects that color – and I like them very much!
I love old stuff, so I’m looking forward to seeing more of your McCoy pieces. Yours are such pretty colors. My Mom collected Depression glass, but casually. Just as we’d come across some in our travels. She never actively looked for pieces. The Internet helps a lot now with research for sure, but I wish I’d thought to get her a basic guidebook to Depression glass back in the day. I’m sure it would have been helpful. PS – it’s nice to see “Made in USA” so much. Hope we begin to see it on a lot more, and soon. I’m all for foreign workers working, but I gotta admit, I want American workers working first. End of soapbox – LOL.
Me too, Janet. Made in the USA is seen all too rarely nowadays!
You have almost enticed me to start a collection of McCoy. except for the fact that I have so many (collections) now, that I keep adding to, that the dear husband would be enticed to get rid of me.. After 50 years of marriage, and collecting, I don’t have room for more. (Oh, I do have two McCoy vases that were my Mother’s, but I know 2 is not really a collection…well….. maybe a start. (grin)
Oh, boy….you may be adding to that collection, Bonnie!
I enjoyed the history of McCoy pottery and your collection is so pretty. I really love the bird theme in their pottery pieces. The soft greens and turquoise colors really appeal to me and your vases are all so interesting, especially with the birds and cherries on the reverse side. I didn’t know that the frame with the bird inside was a vase, I thought it was a decorative frame to display on your table top. Now I have to get one and start a McCoy collection too. Very charming pieces, love what I’ve seen so far.
It does rather look like a frame, Diane. It’s very fifties to me, which is when it was designed. It’s just funky enough to enchant me!
I have always loved these vases and never knew the name or the story behind them. I’m really enjoying learning about this.
So happy to hear that, Barbara, thank you!
Beautiful pieces – this may end up being a favorite of any series you’ve ever done! Oh wait … AFTER all dollhouse posts of course :)
My mom collected cookie jars for many years, with several of them being McCoy. I believe the only McCoy jar I ended up with is one that makes me think of YOU each time I dust it – McCoy and birds, so Claudia! Here’s a link to one on eBay that’s like the one I have: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BIRDHOUSE-COOKIE-JAR-VINTAGE-MCCOY-CARDINAL-BIRD-GREEN-LEAVVES-/171751207032?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27fd2b7078
Oh my goodness! I love this! You’re right, Debbie, it sure is me! I’m glad you have that piece that your mom loved.
Thanks for sharing your collection Claudia..I love old pottery too..I have a Brush McCoy “Cow Jumped Over The Moon” cookie jar here..it is a pretty medium blue color and the moon has rosy cheeks..Looking forward to seeing more!
I think I’ve seen that piece – how cool, Nancy! (I love anything ‘cow jumped over the moon” – there have been several things I’ve seen over the years with that theme.)
I collected McCoy like crazy until I ran out of room…even in my attic! It has been a great hobby for me with the reference books and the thrill of the hunt! It is sculptural art to me and so much more affordable than Roseville. My husband found me a huge antique display case in a thrift store. I also have them on top of my kitchen cupboards. I am fortunate to have a great husband like you, Claudia! I enjoy seeing your McCoy so much. I’ve decided to downsize and sell my pink pieces. I use my flower pots with plastic pots inside for plants. I think your McCoy gives Mockingbird Hill Cottage a very special charm. Thanks for sharing.
Darn! I wish I HAD an attic! But maybe it’s a good thing I don’t! It sounds like you have a great collection, Beth. Now I want to come to your house and see it all!
I was never aware of McCoy pottery until I started reading your blog years ago. Your pieces are gorgeous. I’m afraid that if I started collecting it, I’d need a bigger house! I’m glad you like the McCoy planter that my mom bought (re. the private email I sent to you)…the birds on McCoy pottery are so beautiful and perfect, aren’t they?
They are. I’m a wee bit jealous of your mom’s new acquisition, Melanie!
I love that you are doing a McCoy series. I have an extensive collection of McCoy, as well. Lots of yellow, green and white pieces. Plus, a few turquoise pieces. I display most of them, but also do not hesitate to put plants in them when needed.
I have a plant in one of my pots – it’s been pictured on the blog several times. Why not? I’d love to see your collection.
All I can think of is that I wish my mom was alive so I could ask her about McCoy because I know she’d know about it; she studied books about antiques and was very drawn to pottery/ceramics, particularly loving the things of her youth and young adulthood in the early 40s. I have a lot of her stuff yet to go thru…she just died two years ago and I’m overly-slow at it for a variety of reasons…and I’m hoping, 1) that I find egg cups for you, and 2) that I find a piece of McCoy because she was crazy about anything with birds. She wouldn’t buy much for herself once she had kids, but she would pick up little things (not a big spender!) at garage sales/yard sales within walking distance of our home…oh, at least I’d say, in the 35 years prior to her death. She learned to spot value in items that either a owner didn’t much care about, or perhaps their family didn’t even know if the person had passed…she was so honest about it, that sometimes she would take the person aside and say, “This is worth something; you shouldn’t just give it away.” Usually they’d say, “Here, you take it.” They knew she’d treasure it. I still have and use some turquoise Pyrex she gave to me from a yard sale she’d visited in the mid-70s when I was trying to put together my first apartment away from home.
Thank you for this education about McCoy. I know it sounds odd, but I’m new to thrifting…going to the thrift stores and antique stores. I’m only just lately developing the appreciation for a lot of older things that my mom tried to foster an interest in me for her whole life. Things change! Currently, I’m having difficulty training myself from going out every day to our one decent thrift store in town although I’m getting drawn further out, to less economically-depressed (small) cities in our county who I understand have a better inventory of stuff than my poverty-stricken town, although I’m going to try to edit myself since I, as you, have a small house and what the heck do I need? I guess I’m hoping (getting the thrill) of finding that special something. I don’t dare get started on eBay, but I know it’s coming. I feel like a ‘rescuer.’ A couple of days ago, tucked back (carelessly!) behind a lot of mish-mash on a thrift store shelf, I found the most adorable salt and pepper shakers (kitties) which probably aren’t from any known maker; in fact, I think they’re handpainted, maybe by an ‘everyday’ person like me; extremely fragile and highly-breakable, so how have they survived! I figure they probably sat in a hutch for decades, protected, and perhaps the person recently passed away. They’re on top of my bread box and I absolutely LOVE seeing them every morning. I wish the person who made them could know that they’re living a second life with me and that I think they’re very special.
What I love about your house and collections is that you don’t just jam everything in a cabinet. Instead, you have things artfully arranged here and there, out where you can touch them and see them better; living with them, loving them…which is how it should be. I don’t know if you were in SoCal when the Northridge quake occurred but, after that, I knew of more than one collector who started ‘glue-ing’ everything down with museum wax, inside of bolted-to-the-wall (studs) cabinets (I’ve done that with mine for the last 20 years for safety), or just putting the best things away entirely (Mom did a lot of that), which was sad. My mom’s cousin lived in Northridge; lots of damage to her home. She had an exquisite, extensive collection of Waterford crystal and lost every single piece. They weren’t home when the quake happened and it was a shock to open the front door and see the living room littered in a sea of broken glass, which included the glass doors and shelves from the large china closets. A lifetime’s collection, just gone.
Looking forward to Part Two. Thanks, again.
The salt and pepper shakers sound lovely, Vicki. I like the idea of rescuing things, too. Most often, that’s what attracts me to a piece, even more so if it’s something I love to collect. When I lived in California, every piece of pottery I owned, including my Fiesta collection, was kept in place by museum wax.
You know, I think I’m starting to love McCoy more and more. I bought a few pieces incidentally when I bought my cabin over 23 yrs ago. They came with the cabin…lol. And there they stayed and just held summer wild flowers and winter Santa candles for about 15 years until I ran across a similar piece at the local thrift, and I thought, Hmm, that might look nice at the cabin, and brought it home. While it was at home, a friend dropped by and said…”where did you get that beautiful piece of McCoy?” And I said, “huh?” Well, I’m not a serious collector or anything, but really love the quirky nature of my few pieces, and they look terrific at the cabin. :D
They are both elegant and wonderfully quirky, depending on the design. I like that. I bet they look lovely in your cabin, Veronica.
Hi Claudia- I’m jumping in late on the McCoy tour–I’m having technical difficulties. more on the later.
I just wanted to say- I enjoyed the history and the benefit of your homework. Thank you for that.
Since blogging and since meeting you I’ve acquired a few McCoy pieces. One of them I’m uncertain about– but leaning toward McCoy. I’ve read some of the earlier history that you’ve stated., I was hoping to see more MARKS there are so many!
One thing I’ve learned about my piece is that as the glaze would cake on the stamp… It became difficult to see the mark. This is on the impressed pieces not those with hand inscribed or raised. Is this something you’ve seen for yourself?? I’ve tried making a rubbing but it won’t work. I don’t even think a photo would prove any better.
I think your collection I’ve seen so far is beautiful!
Thank you for sharing them.
You’ll see more marks as the series goes on. But most of the marks were raised, so you should be able to get a rubbing, I would think. Do you want to send me a photo of it – or put the photo on IG? Maybe I could identify it.