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Cidermill Antiques published in the Antiques News March 2001 Yellow ware Fever - What’s Hot - Yellowware! By Marcia DeCillo Just pick up any magazine, watch any cooking show on T.V. or stop in any country antique store and what do you see ? Yellowware. Yellowware came to America from England early in the 19th century. Americans readily made room for yellowware in their households. It was much more durable than redware, and lighter and easier to handle then stoneware. In the beginning, production of this pottery from yellow base clays was very crude, but techniques improved and by mid 19th century many variations could be found among mugs, bowls, molds, rolling pins and other useful kitchen and decorative items. The designs ranged from ornate geometric designs, called sponge, to "mocha" an organic design that resembled seaweed or some form of plant life, to simple, brightly colored stripes. Sometime you’ll find a bowl or pitcher with an unusual or unique design on it, called an "end of the day" piece, this is a one-of-a-kind find. The English produced most of the yellowware bowls with the white interiors and continue to do so today. Yellowware is seldom marked. This is why, if you want to become a serious collector, you have to do your homework. There were literally hundreds of factories spreading all the way from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New England, and New York; even the little village of Tivoli the Hudson valley, right near where I live in Red Hook produced yellowware. California also produced yellowware, which is very plain. If you’re lucky you may come across bowls marked "pacific" on the bottom. Such examples are not easily available so take a second look to make sure it is genuine. Some of the better known manufacturers of the 20th century and earlier were Hull Pottery out of Ohio, Jersey City Pottery out of New Jersey, Morton City pottery from Illinois, and Weller pottery in Zanesville, Ohio. East Liverpool Ohio, was also an important manufacturing area for yellowware, and is today, incidentally the home of an excellent museum of ceramics. I came to yellowware when I exchanged my grandmother’s cut glass bowl for a deep mustard yellowware bowl. This was my sister's and we just swapped. Ever since that trade my love of yellowware has never died, and the selling and dealing of yellowware has made me many friends. I have seen old and new pieces, genuine examples and fakes, which is why I always caution people to do business with a reputable dealer. There are many new pottery companies producing yellowware today. The designs of these bowls and mugs are great ,but you must not mistake them for legitimately old pieces. Study good pieces, and spend the money necessary to obtain the genuine article. The yellowware bowls from 4 1/2 inches to 17 inches remain the most popular of all yellowware. The bands on these bowls come in an almost endless assortment of color, size and configuration. You may collect by size or color, and or can go for nests of bowls in the same color band. Many collectors go specifically for certain decorative elements. Mochaware which is yellowware with “mocha” designs applied to a piece in white, blue, green or brown slip are impossible to keep on the shelves more then ten minutes. They have extremely attractive abstract designs of feathers, seaweed or other designs. The heavy lip or rim bowls are the earlier ones and most desirable. Collectors display these wonderful examples of folk art on their country cupboards, or use the bowls for rising breads. Second on the popularity list in the year 2001 are pie plates. I have a customer who sets his dinner table with yellowware pie plates ranging from 5 to 12 inches. They are very durable-remember they were used for cookware. Canister sets are highly collectible, along with the wonderful Buckeye syrup giveaways from Ohio. The giveaways consisted of a large pitcher and mugs with blue stripes; some are labeled "Buckeye." Advertising also appears on beater bowls or canister sets. In my collection I have one example that says "Dutchess Cheese." I do hope it was from dutchess county N.Y. Market value on yelloware has doubled in the last few years. We all know why the most famous collector is on the t.v. Look for the condition of any piece-this is the utmost importance. Nicks and hairlines in unobtrusive places are usually acceptable in rare pieces. The value is not there on a bowl or other common pieces. The deeper the color mustard usually means an older bowl. People delight in all the different colors and shapes of the bands ,but the large white slip bands are highly collectible especially of the large size. I have a customer that only collects "weller" the brown slip banded bowl and another one that likes the rust two whites and rust. Do not forget that the older bowls have three "points" on the bottom, which look like tiny nubs of clay directly on the underside,base or foot. These points indicate hand firing, and are therefore earlier than many bowls found without the 3 points. The going price for bowls are anywhere from $45 to 300, like the mustard beauty with a wide white band shown on the front page, valued as high as $600. Again depending on the age and condition, the most collectible of bowls in terms of size are the demure 41/2 inch examples and the other end of the scale, the very large ones measuring 17 inches and over. The highly coveted mocha bowls with the wide band and design start at around $500. A good pie plate may range from $50 to $250. When a bowl is marked “ovenware ”it is from the 1940’s and ‘50s. The McCoy yellowware are significantly less yellow in color. The pink stripe is a dead give away, as it first made an appearance in the 1950’s. Pink on pitchers and other items may be earlier. The green yellowware bowls from McCoy, made in the 1950’s are a different collectible all together but have the same yellow clay as their base. They come in all different sizes and designs and have become very popular. Even though I have been collecting and selling yellowware for years, there is always more to know. I use John Gallo’s book on yellowware and you can get it from him or Amazon. Come to Cidermill Antiques 5 Cherry Street Red Hook N.Y. 12571 (845-758-2599) and see yellowware at it’s best. |
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