We’ve come to the finale, my friends. I brought all the pieces I have upstairs to the den in order to photograph them for you. However, I think I will do one more post that shows you where and how I display the pottery and where I will also address any questions you might have. So ask away, and I’ll also go back in the comments for the series to pull any questions you asked in that space.

Somehow, I’ve ended up displaying cream-colored McCoy upstairs. It just evolved that way. Some have been displayed in the cupboard in my studio and I’m now redoing the shelves to highlight them. More on that later.

A vase, and two planters.

This pot is from the 1930s and has a matte glaze. It’s unmarked. I’m pretty sure I found this one in Heidi’s shop.

This planter was one of my earliest discoveries. I love the look of it. That repair you see in the back? I did it. This little piece fell to the floor at some point and I glued it back together. I don’t have an exact date, but I think it’s from the 1950s.

This is called the shell planting dish. It’s been sitting on the bookshelves in my bedroom – holding pennies. It’s still holding pennies, but I’ve now moved it to the cupboard. It’s from 1941. Also found at Heidi’s shop. I used to work there, so I grabbed these pieces as soon as I saw them!

Two pots, a pitcher, and a vase.

This is a violet pot – not unlike the african violet pots my grandmother used to have on her window sills. It has a greek key/hobnail design. From 1954.

This is the pitcher I shared with you last week, a present from my dear friend Kay. From the 1940s.

Another violet pot – this one a hobnail with leaves pattern. From 1950.

And this vase, with all its wonderful crazing. I always assumed this one was McCoy because it looks very much like one I’ve seen in the reference books. It’s unmarked. But it isn’t McCoy. The crazing and the weight of the piece seems more like a piece of ironstone, perhaps even older than McCoy. I don’t know. But I include it in my group of McCoy pieces and I also include it here to show you that sometimes I’m mistaken when I think “McCoy.”

Okay, I take that back. I just saw it in pink on eBay with the McCoy mark. I was right, darn it!

I love it, no matter what.

And two new pieces I picked up the other day when Don and I went for a little drive on the anniversary of my mother’s death.

This is from the 1940s and it has the interlocking NM mark on the bottom. It’s called a jardiniere in the reference books. This has a matte glaze. The inside tells me it was definitely used and loved. This was a great buy at $5.

A much smaller version of the sand dollar pot – also called the Necco pot, by the way, because of the resemblance to Necco candy. This is obviously damaged. The edge of the base is glued together in a couple of places. I bought it because I love the sand dollar design and I’ve never seen it in yellow. And it was $1, which made it a no-brainer. I’m going to plant a little something in this sweet pot.

Ta dah!

We’re finished. Well…almost. I have another piece arriving today. And I’m going to do a post about display here at the cottage. If you have more questions, fire away and I’ll answer them in that post, as well as offer any tips I have for collecting this wonderful, wonderful pottery line. It certainly has brought a great deal of pleasure to my life. Plus, I get to look at it every day!

Everyone: I disabled comments for a while to give WP time to update the current version to address a security issue. All is fixed!

Happy Monday.

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.