Hello, everyone! More McCoy today. I’m trying to get the colors of the glazes exactly right as I edit these photos. Light, as you know, or lack of it, can truly change the way a color looks and the subtle differences are tricky. Hopefully, Lightroom (my favorite photo editing tool) has managed to show you the actual colors. But that’s why the wall in the background will look different from photo to photo. The color of the pottery is more important.
Back to the living room today.
As an example: I had to really work on editing these two pieces – a vase and a jardiniere – for the glaze is a very specific shade of aqua. I have these two pieces on top of the white cabinet in the living room, along with a duplicate of the birds and berries vase I showed you in the first part of the series and another green vase with a matte finish that is not McCoy.
I love this vase. It’s 9 inches high and was made around 1948. I believe I got in on eBay. It’s very elegant.
Oh, baby. This is my largest piece – a quilted jardiniere with a leaf and berry design. The opening at the top is 12 inches in diameter. From 1955. These jardinieres often came with matching pedestals. The pedestals are hard to find – if I had one for this jardiniere, the value would soar. But a pedestal in my house? With a dog? And a husband who bumps into things? No.
A bit of detail. By the way, this piece is very heavy.
Two more large pieces – a vase and a jardiniere. They live on the shelf under the dollhouse. I like them there because the table the dollhouse rests upon is a cream color, the dollhouse is white, and the pottery just seems to go there.
This vase is often called the Strap Vase. It is very tall – 12 inches high – and very heavy. From 1947. I’ve also seen it in aqua. You can see the crazing along the top. It’s simply gorgeous.
This jardiniere is in the basket weave pattern, a pattern found in a lot of early McCoy pottery. This is from the 1930’s. Sometimes these pieces are marked with the Nelson McCoy (NM) mark. Mine is unmarked. 8½ inches in diameter. Very heavy. Matte glaze, with leaves and berries at the top of the jardiniere.
This holds (and hides) the glue bottles I use when working on the dollhouse.
Also in the living room, these two vases hold dried hydrangeas from my gardens.
I’ve seen this piece called the Baluster Vase. It is one of my absolute favorites and it was on my Want List for a long time before I finally brought one home to the cottage. Isn’t it gorgeous? It’s from 1950 and it lives on the piano – right next to the singing birds. 12 inches high.
One of my favorite things about McCoy pottery is the kind of thing that happens with the glaze on this handle – it intensifies when it goes into the deeper etched lines on the handle and lightens on the raised portions. I swoon when I see this.
I bought this vase when I was working in San Diego for a six-month stint. That would be almost six years ago. Then, as now, it lived on my coffee table. I can’t find a date for this one, but I imagine it would be from the 1950s. It’s 8½ inches high.
More on Monday.
Happy Saturday.
The dried hydrangeas are the perfect flower in your McCoy vases. Beautiful! Really enjoying your collection, Claudia.
Thank you so much, Susan!
Love seeing your McCoy collection. You have some really beautiful pieces. I collect McCoy as well as many other things…….but McCoy is my favorite collection. Thanks for sharing your collection.
Me too, Jana. Lots of other collections, but McCoy is near and dear to my heart!
I’m really enjoying looking at your McCoy pieces. My favorites are the aqua pieces.
I think they might be mine, as well. I certainly have more aqua pieces than any other color!
Love your collection, Claudia. I started collecting matte white a while back, and would love to find more pieces. The Jardinieres are my favorite! Perfect with the soft colors of hydrangeas!
The matte white is so pretty, Debra. I can see it fitting perfectly in your home!
Beautiful! I too love the glazes and the turquoise is so so pretty. None of my McCoy is turquoise sadly….well none so far! I’m still collecting! OH, baby Scout made her way into the world on Thur night!! Her full name is Rosemary Scout Tabb! She is gorgeous of course!
hugs,
Linda
I saw your earlier comment on her arrival but the name wasn’t known yet. Now we know! Rosemary Scout….absolutely perfect. Congratulations my friend!
Each and every piece is just lovely!! I was in a Thrift yesterday and saw a McCoy cookie jar. It was $35. But it had a few pretty large chips and bits missing. Haven’t seen one in a while. I really am enjoying your tour! Such fun!!
I think a lot of the cookie jars get damaged from all the opening and closing and little hands searching for cookies. I saw an adorable one on eBay that clearly is desirable. In one day the bids went from $40 to $150!
It’s truly hard to choose a favorite. Each has it’s own special charm. You have a beautiful collection. I only have two pieces, yet I love them both equally. What is it about these vintage pieces? They have a charm and grace about them that is timeless and seems to be comfortable in any setting. Your posts always start daydreams.
Big Texas Hugs from Soggy Texas,
Susan and Bentley
You put it perfectly, Susan. A charm and grace about them. They’re timeless!
The vases are elegant…but the jardinieres capture my heart! Lovely collection indeed…and now I’m on the lookout for a piece or two. But, yard work first! Enjoy your day! ;)
I just got back in from doing yard work. It’s unseasonably warm today – about 78 degrees. I’m not complaining! I love the jardinieres too and if I had more space here, I’d collect even more!
Love that creamy white basketweave piece. I collect baskets but if I’d come across that honey at a flea market or antique shop, I’d have snapped it right up. It would look great tucked in with my wood, wicker and rattan baskets. So pretty. Oh, and a dumb question, Claudia – but do you use any of your collected pieces for flowers or whatever? Or are they now too valuable, or maybe too fragile, to actually use? Thanks and have a great sunny weekend!
It would look lovely with your baskets, Janet.
I use some of the vases for flowers. And I have a pothos planted in one of the pots – it’s been photographed frequently on the blog. Since I have a duplicate of the same pot, I figured I could use one for an actual plant. They’re not really fragile – no more so than any pottery – but sometimes vases leak or have slight cracks. I’ve had to try out my vases to find which ones are usable.
Love them all…just beautiful. I especially like the aqua, my favorite color!
That aqua is gorgeous, that’s for sure.
Claudia, you have a wonderful collection of McCoy…their aqua is such a beautiful shade. I had to chuckle about your husband bumping into things…I think I am married to his twin!
He’s always knocking something over. He’s well over 6′ 4″ so I guess it’s to be expected!
Claudia, The pottery you are showing today are beautiful! I have looked on eBay this week and the pieces are sold fast. Enjoy the great weather. Doris
The desirable pieces go pretty quickly. Especially if the price is low, Doris.
I love the jardinieres because of the surface patterns of quilting and basketweave. What are the pedestals made of, also pottery? How tall are they?
The pedestals are made of pottery and are in the exact same design. So the basketweave jardiniere would have a basketweave pedestal. Same glaze, same everything.
I was reading your post and I saw the cream basket weave Jardiniere photo. It looked familiar so I ran out to my shed and there it was full of dirt. Needless to say, I dumped out the dirt, brought it inside and washed it. There is no mark on the bottom. It is aqua. Too bad it has a small crackI had a collection of McCoy and didn’t even know it until you educated me. Thanks for the information.
Doesn’t matter if it has a crack, Kay! Enjoy! You may have even more pieces, who knows?
These are beautiful. I’m enjoying seeing this collection– you certainly have an eye for beautiful pieces.
Oh, thank you, Patricia!
Oh. I love them all. What a wonderful collection. I can’t believe you have so many great pieces. Just beautiful.
Thank you, Barbara!
Claudia, Those pieces are gorgeous. I love that aqua color. I am totally amazed at the how old they are. Wonderful. You do take care of them. Hope you are having some warmer weather. xoxo,Susie
It’s actually too warm today, Susie. Almost 80 degrees!
Oh, my breath caught when I saw the Baluster vase even before I saw your comment of how much you adored it. Don’t you have a magnificent collection of McCoy! Wow! I’ve really enjoyed seeing all the pieces. I love the glazes and your photos as usual are amazing. I appreciate the education about McCoy! Gosh I love the basketweaves, too. Nothing not to love here. I’ve seen those aqua colors paired with yellows and also darker browns of 40s-era fabrics/fashion. Those latter-40s might have been a time I would have loved to live in…of course, my parents did, as newlyweds and they’d be the first to say it was definitely a prosperous and hopeful, freeing time for people to push ahead from life in Depression and War, in that brief period before the whole thing with Korea became a dark cloud and my poor dad, enrolled in college on the G.I. Bill didn’t know if he’d get called up again or not.
I never realized you had so much McCoy in your collection Claudia..I also think I like the jardinieres best too…more please..Wasn’t it a wonderful day to be outside??..We did get to 82 degrees today!!!