North Carolina Art Pottery 1900-1960: Identification & Value Guide

by A. Everette James Jr.

Pottery from the Catawba Valley, mountain pottery of Western North Carolina, the Coles, Nell Cole Graves, the Cravens, Jugtown, M.L. Owen, and even rare and unusual pieces are discussed. Signs,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1574323083
• ISBN13: 9781574323085
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Collector Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 3.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.7" x 11.4"

Customer Reviews

Super North Carolina Pottery Reference

This is a book for collectors written by a well-known authority and collector, Everette James. An ambitious work, "North Carolina Art Pottery" covers that period of the 20th century which saw the development and growth of a unique artisan-based industry which, over the course of the six decades covered by the book, produced a remarkable output of folk-craft based art pottery notable for its quality, variety, and volume. The remarkable potters who drove this cottage industry competed with the output of mechanized factories in the Ohio Valley and elsewhere; this story, alone, is worth knowing and retelling. The James book covers the early art potteries, such as Jugtown (which still survives), the "transitional" art pottery wares of the 1920s and early 1930s, and the mid-century products of numerous makers. The book is well-illustrated and is particularly strong in pieces from the 1920-1940 era, which are generally scarce and can be hard to identify. There is valuable information on styles, forms, glazes, marks, and identification criteria. The photographs suffer from some inconsistency of quality (backgrounds are often inappropriate and distracting) but on the whole provide a valuable resource for the student and collector.

Impressive Introduction to the Potteries of North Carolina

I own a number of books described as "Collector's Guide"s and "Pottery Identification and Value Guide"s and most of them have a short history section and then some combination of catalog pages and photographs of examples, lines, and marks. Useful but limited. However, this book contains evidence of substantial research into the history and aesthetics of various potteries and potters of North Carolina. He discusses various clay sources and, most important of all, offers numerous photographs of the bottoms of the illustrated pottery pieces. He also discusses the quite striking glazes used. I was surprised to discover that certain unmarked pieces I had bought over the years in the Ohio Pottery area were in fact from North Carolina potteries. Very recommended. Edited just to add that Dr. James (his name is A. Everette James, Jr. not James A. Everette, Jr.) and his wife Dr. Nancy Farmer were awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by the Governor of North Carolina for their service to the state.