After Purdy was hired, he created the Rozane line which was glossy brown-black or ivory-pastel glazed pottery ware. Roseville artists such as Mae Timberlake, W. Myers, and H. Dunlavy decorated these wares with hand-painted portraits of people, animals and florals. Other artistic designers whose artist marks show up on Rozane ware are William Hall, Claude Leffler, C. Neff and an obscure artist only known by his initials M.N.

In 1904, Frederick Rhead was hired by Roseville as artistic director. He designed the rare lines of Olympic, In 1904, Frederick Rhead was hired by Roseville as artistic director. He designed the rare lines of Olympic, Cremo, Crocus and Della Robbia ware in 1905.  Some of these pieces were signed with artist initials; however, many of those artists remain unknown.  Other notable artists in Roseville’s artistic handcrafted period include John Herold, who created Roseville’s Rozane Mongol line for the 1904 St. Louis Exposition and Gazo Fujiyama who designed the Fujiyama/Woodland and Fudji lines in 1905-1906.

Freelance artists also worked for Roseville, as well as for other pottery companies. They included Elizabeth Ayers, Virginia Adams, A.F. Best, Mignon Martineau, C. Mitchell, Lilly Mitchell, Grace Neff, Harry Rhead, Lois Rhead, Helen Smith, Fred Steele, Hester Pillsbury, Arthur Williams and Charles Chilcote among others.

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We Buy Roseville Pottery

It is reported that Kendrick designed all early Grueby vases.  Kendrick stayed with Grueby until around 1902.  At that time, Addison Le Boutillier took over as the director of design for the pottery.  In addition to responsibility for the design of Grueby vases, Le Boutillier is credited with development of Grueby tiles. 

By 1906, Le Boutillier was replaced by Julia Harvey Bradley.  Even though there was relatively consistent turnover in the leadership, it is commonly recognized by collectors and historians that throughout the history of Grueby Pottery there was a consistency in the arts and crafts style of the vases produced by the company.   This consistency and commitment to the American Arts and Crafts Movement can only be attributed to the presence and overriding leadership of William Grueby. 

The modelers and potters who made the vases and tiles were given little public credit for their craftsmanship.  While historic documents make it clear that Grueby valued their skill and the handmade and handcrafted art pottery, the company did not promote or seek recognition for individual modelers and decorators. As such, many Grueby Pottery modelers and artists have gone unidentified.    

In addition to the Grueby trademarks often seen on the pottery, it is not unusual to find Grueby vases and bowls signed by the craftsman or modeler who created the artwork.  In a random survey of approximately 500 examples of Grueby pottery, approximately 100 of the pieces were artist signed or initialed.  Many of these initials have never been identified. 

Some of the identified modelers or decorators at Grueby are listed in Marks of American Potters, 1904 and included the following:

Ellen Farrington, Florence Liley, Annie Lingley, Wilhelmina Post, Lillian Newman, Gertrude Priest, Maria Seaman, and Norma Peirce.  

Many more Grueby vases have been signed by unidentified modelers.  After all these years it is very unlikely the identities of these unknown craftsmen will ever be identified. 

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This collection was hand selected by the previous owner who attended many Ephraim holiday events and shows in order to assemble this collection of one of a kind, non-catalog examples of Ephraim art pottery vases.  The majority of the collection consists of marked experimental vases, bowls and tiles that are highly sought after by Ephraim pottery collectors. 

The collection contains many animal themed examples of Ephraim includes cats, birds, beetles, locust and bat vases and jardinieres.  There are also many holiday series examples as well as a nice variety of floral and berry themed designs as well as arts and crafts pieces. 

There are also many non-production, glaze variation examples as well as many oversized, non-production, non-cataloged samples including some of Ephraim’s most innovative pottery designs.  All of which are in mint condition and without damage or repair.  This collection will start listing on JustArtPottery.com early next week. 

We are continuing to purchase Ephraim Faience pottery as well as other antique and contemporary art pottery and ceramics.  We are actively buying single pieces of art pottery as well as large estate collections.  So, if you are interested in selling your Ephraim Pottery or other antique and contemporary art pottery and ceramics, we would be interested in talking with you and hearing more about your collection.  We are able to offer competitive prices and nationwide pick up services.  We can also fully coordinate shipping of your collection.    

We Buy Ephraim Pottery

Today we will look at examples of marks used by Ephraim from its start in 1996 to the year 2000. The early period of Ephraim production is the hardest to date because starting in the year 2000 the company began a marking system using a clock-face system of tick marks around the Ephraim logo to easily allow collectors to identify the age of their vase. 

In Ephraim’s first year of production, 1996 and in 1997 the stamp trademark was simply the logo with the words Ephraim Faience Pottery stamped inside the logo.  Unlike later years of production, Ephraim did not stamp the artist’s signature on the base of the pottery.  In addition, experimental vases were not yet consistently marked with an E as the company has typically done throughout its later years of existence. 

In 1998, Ephraim modified the early trademark logo slightly by adding U.S.A to the bottom of the logo.  Similar to 1996 and 1997 Ephraim vases are typically not found with the artist stamp mark and experimental designs are not consistently marked with an E. 

Starting in 1999 Ephraim Faience added the initials SD and KH in the 9:00 position of the trademark logo in recognition of company founders Scott Draves and Kevin Hicks.  The U.S.A addition at the 6:00 position of the logo was also present in 1999.  Ephraim vases and other designs were still not consistently stamped with the artist or decorators signature. Although many pieces designed by Kevin Hicks in 1999 can be found with his stamped signature. The second photo below shows an example of Kevin’s stamp signature from 1999. Experimental and one of a kind examples of Ephraim were still not routinely marked with the incised E now used by the company. 

Just Art Pottery maintains a large selection of experimental, show vases, one of a kind examples, and retired designs of Ephraim Faience Pottery.  We offer examples of Ephraim in all prices ranges and scarcity for the beginner to the most advanced collector.  All pottery is vintage, fully guaranteed and we offer same day shipment. 

A few photos of the collection and links to select pieces are below.  Don’t forget to give us a call if you are interested in selling your Rookwood or other American art pottery collection.  We are buying complete pottery collections as well as select individual examples of quality art pottery.

We want to announce our first “you choose sale”.  You are invited to take 15% off or save 10% and free shipping on everything including new additions and sale items now for the next 96 hours!

If you have pottery to sell, please contact us. We are buying complete collections and select individual pieces at competitive prices.

Look for these pieces coming soon to JustArtPottery.com.  And keep us in mind if you have art pottery to sell.  We are paying competitive prices for art pottery collections as well as quality individual pieces.  In most cases, we are able to travel to pick up your collection and or coordinate the pickup or shipment of the art pottery.   Not only are we buying Grueby, Teco, Newcomb and George Ohr we are also looking for Roseville, Rookwood, Van Briggle, Weller, Marblehead, Hampshire, Pillin, Niloak, Owens, University of North Dakota, Fulper, Saturday Evening Girl, Frankoma, and more. We are also actively buying contemporary pottery makers such as Ephraim, Stephanie Young, Jemerick, and Door Pottery.