[Mccoypottery-talk] Intro and Question

[Rick Saaf]

Hello All,
I am new here but I think I may be of some help with Brush and McCoy pottery. I have been collecting McCoy and Brush pottery for about 5 years.  Most of this has copied from McCoy books that I have.
In 1848 W.Nelson McCoy and W.F McCoy started a pottery business in Zanesville, Ohio.They made primarily crocks and jars. Most of these pieces were not marked. Although some carried "W.F.McCoy" stenciled on the side.
In 1899 W.F. McCoy's son, J. W. McCoy organized the J. W. McCoy Pottery company in Roseville, Ohio (which is close to Zanesville. In addition to crockery they produced several line of art pottery. The earliest were marked "Loy-Nel-Art" after his sons Nelson, Lloyd and Arthur. In 1909 George Brush became general manager and in 1911 J. W. McCoy merged with other small pottery companies and formed the Brush-McCoy Pottery Company. W. R. Baker was
the companies president and George Brush remained as general manager. In 1925 the McCoy family sold thier interest in the company and it became the Brush Pottery company.
In 1910 Nelson McCoy started the Nelson McCoy Sanitary Stoneware Company in Roseville, Ohio. The earlier pieces were marked on the side with a clover pattern in a shield and an "M" over it. In the 1920's they starte marking some pieces on the bottom and on the inside of the pottery. Usually with a number inside a shield. In 1933 the company reorganized to become the Nelson McCoy company and introduced more art pottery. Most of the early
pottery was designed by Walter Bauer. In 1934 Mr. Bauer was replaced by Sidney Cope as designer. Cope was the pottery companies designer until his death in 1961. Most of the McCoy marks that we are accustomed to seeing came after 1938. And yes there are pieces of McCoy that are not marked at all.
Getting back to the earlier years, there were some pieces actually marked with both names. One was an oval with "Brush-McCoy & Co." on the top, "Vogue" in the middle an "Zanesville, O" at the bottom. The second was basically the same but instead of "Vogue" it had the word "M-i-t-u-s-a" in the center. These marks appeared between 1915 - 1925.
I hope that helps some of you without getting you totally confused.

Rick Saaf


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