How Do You Identify American Pottery By Clay Color?
Vintage, collectible and antique American pottery can be identified by areas of production and one of the keys to this identification is in the color of clay used. For example, Ohio was an area of much of the pottery production for the first half of the Twentieth Century. If you see a piece of old pottery you don’t recognize, look on the bottom and see the CLAY COLOR. If it is YELLOW clay, it is likely from Ohio, because that was the color of the clay native to that area. Ohio potteries include Zanesville, McCoy, Brush, Robinson-Ransbottom, Roseville and Weller. Of course there were lots more, and some are not well known. FIND a piece of unidentified pottery that you think might be American Pottery, and look on the bottom to see an UNGLAZED area, where the clay color is visible. Sometimes the pottery base is covered with a glaze, too. Look for the firing pins or stilt marks to see the clay color. FEEL the weight of the pottery. American pottery is heavier than Japan or other imports. B
