Art Pottery of America

by Lucile Henzke

(Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1999, 368 pp., hardbound, $45 from Schiffer Publishing, 4880 Lower Valley Rd., Atglen, PA 19310; (610) 593-1777; Web site; include $3.95 S/H, Pennsylvania residents add sales tax).

For a new collector of old art pottery, this overview makes a good beginning source book. Not comprehensive enough to qualify as a connoisseur's handbook for any one pottery, it serves well to introduce a reader to the abundance of offerings encountered regularly at auctions, antiques shops, and sometimes even tag sales.

Henzke researched thoroughly the histories of potteries such as Abingdon, Dedham, Cowan, Jugtown, Weller, and Roseville and presents them in this revised edition with clarity. She includes the significant lists of product lines, when appropriate, and the potters' marks for identification. Her main strength is not technical but in her good descriptions of the wares and interesting asides. For example, in her page-long entry for Grueby Pottery she states, "...[T]he L.C. Tiffany Studios purchased some Grueby pottery, prior to the manufacturing of Tiffany pottery, to be used for lamp bases or to be further embellished by metals to form tea tiles, ink stands and other useful items." With an accompanying illustration, the price for a Tiffany-mounted Grueby tile is given as $1500. These tidbits, of course, are helpful to collectors and provide inspiration to scour the yard and tag sales thoroughly. Knowledge always pays.

In addition to a general index, this book includes a bibliography, a helpful list of lines and patterns, and an index of pottery locations.

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