I think Hull Pottery as a collectibile is a sleeper right now.  You can pick up Hull pottery at great prices and I believe the quality is every bit as good as Roseville but right now you can pick up Hull pieces for a song.

Addis Emmet Hull was born in 1862 in Morgan County, Ohio.  His first job was as a travelling salesman.  In his travels he saw a growing demand for stoneware.  In 1901, he founded The Globe Stoneware Company.  It was said that the company had developed a grade of stoneware that was highest quality in the Ohio Valley.  In 1904 Addis sold Globe Pottery.  He founded AE Hull Pottery in 1905 and expanded in 1907 when he purchased Acme Pottery.  (Clearly the buyer of Globe Pottery didn’t ask for a non-compete)

Hull made a lot of pottery.  By the 1920’s hull employed 160 people and produced 7.8M pieces of utilitarian pottery and art ware per year.  Addis died in 1930, and his son Addid Jr. became manager until 1937, when he left to manage the Shawnee Pottery Company.  Gerald F. Watts took over management.

In 1943 the famous Red Riding Hood cookie jar was released.

Based on the success of Red Riding Hood, Hull released a number of novelty shapes. The blanks were produced by Hull and sent to the Regal China and Novelty Co in Chicago to be painted.

During WWII, US demand for German and Japanese pottery waned and Americans looked for domestically produced products. “Buy American” was the national outcry. Hull answered the demand with pastel tinted art pottery in vases, baskets, ewers, rose bowls and console bowls.

In June 1950, there was a massive flood in the Muskingum, Perry, and Morgan COunties. A pottery kiln exploded when covered by water and the Hull pottery company burned to the ground. On January 1, 1952, James Brannon Hull opened a new factory - changing the name from AE Hull Pottery Company to “Hull Pottery Company”. Unfortunately, the lovely pastel matte finish could not be made with the new equipment. The company reworked some of the older patterns using gloss finish. The Woodland molds were turned around from the originals and continued in high gloss. Hull created new patterns before 1960 and using the duo tone finish.

Eventually, Hull discontinued art pottery, turning to produce dinnerware and more utilitarian wares. All production ceased in 1986.

Gustav Stickley was born in Osceola, Wisconsin.  His father was a stone mason.  At the age of 18 (1876) Gustav went to work at his uncle’s furniture factory in Brandt, PA.   He found his passion for wood working.  In 1883, Stickley and his two brothers started Stickley Brothers & Company in Binghamton, NY.  Then (horror) he partnered with Elgin Simonds and started Stickley and Simonds in 1893.  The new company catered to Victorian taste for embellishments and elaborate designs.

At the time John Ruskin started a movement calling for a return to medieval craft guilds and away from mass produced factory furniture. By the 1890’s Arts and Crafts societies were forming all over America and England. They rejected ornate mass produced goods, favoring simple, quality hand-made.

In 1898 the Gustave Stickley Company was formed. In the summer of 1900 Gustave introduced his Craftsman furniture at the Grand Rapids Furniture Exposition. His motto became his logo: “Als ik kan” meaning “If I can” is displayed in a joiners compass.   By 1901, Stickley’s furniture designs were nearly all of the final form that we love - the strong, structural quality that collectors search for today.

In October 1901, Stickey published the first copy of “The Craftsman” magazine. He used the publication to advertise his furniture and craftsman ideals.

Craftsman Ideals:

• Honesty of Materials
• Solidity of Construction
• Utility
• Adaptation to place
• Aesthetic effect
• Proportion
• Color

By 1902, Stickley employed 200 workers in his factory.   He expanded.  He had offices in Manhattan, Syracuse and 650 acres in rural New Jersey known as Craftsman Farms.    Then things went south.  The huge overhead costs, coupled with waning demand caused Stickley to go bankrupt in 1915.   The last copy of “The Craftsman” was published in December 1916.

When Stickley died in 1942, his furniture could be found for nickles at garage sales.  But he has not been forgotten.  His prediction that “Oak furniture that shows plainy what it is, and in which the design and construction harmonize with the wood will in time become valuable and be treasured as heirlooms in this country,” rings true.  If you find a piece of Stickley furniture, you will instantly recognize that you are viewing a treasure.  I have an original Stickley sofa that I found at garage sale.  It was upholstered (thumb tacked) with a grummy white sheet emblazoned with blue anchors.  But the magnificence of the wood was  clear, even in the sad condition it had fallen into.  Don’t worry - the sofa has now been fully restored and the sheet burned.

For those who love antiques, Stickley’s need for quality and simplicity is easy to understand. The difference between a Stickley Morris Chair and and American Furniture Warehouse chair are easy to see. After 5 years of ownership, the words “built to last” only apply to craftsman furniture. There’s nothing like a piece of fine hand crafted furniture made from solid quarter-sawn oak.

Artus Van Briggle was born in 1869 in Felicity, OH.  When he was 17 he moved to Cincinnati where he took his first job painting faces on china dolls at the Arnold Fairyland Store.  He became a student at the Cincinnati School of Art and left the doll factory to become Carl Langenback’s apprentice at Avon Pottery.

His next job was at Rookwood Pottery (another of my favorites) and he became a leading decorator.  In 1893, Rookwood sent Artus to Paris to study at the Julian School.  In Paris, he was exposed to Oriental pottery.   After returning from Paris, Artus became obsessed with trying to rediscover the lose Ming glaze.  Then, tragedy struck and Artis was diagnosed with tuberculosis.  He moved to Colorado Springs in 1899 because the dry climate was better for those suffering from the disease.

Like any good patient, Artis listened to his doctor’s orders and took long walks.  On one of these walks he discovered deposits of kaolin and feldspar (elements used in clay mixtures) in an area now known as the Garden of the Gods.  He spent the next year developing designs for his glaze.

Anne Lawrence Gregory together developed the logo for Van Briggle pottery (they’d been engaged since 1895).  Two entwined A’s in a square.  In 1901 Ms. Storer, of Rookwood pottery assisted Artus in starting the Van Briggle pottery plant.  He held his first exhibit with 300 pieces just before Christmas in 1901.  Every piece sold.  Artus  and Anne were married on June 12, 1902.  Artus died on July 4, 1904.  He was only 35.  Fortunately, Artus had passed on his secret glaze formulas and techniques to his wife.  Anne ran the factory through 1912 when she leased the company to Edwin DeForest Curtis.

I’ve been to the Van Briggle factory, and it’s a wonderful experience.

Most Teco vases are stamped at least once with the Teco trademark and many vases are double or triple stamped. Teco was also routinely marked with the shape number.

My first piece of carnival glass was an amethyst Northwood Grape and Cable Banana Boat.  I bought it at a garage sale for $5 and was pretty sure that the lady had swindled me. It was a few years later that I became enamoured with Carnival glass and began building a collection.

Harry & Carl Northwood grew up in England.  They learned the glass trade from their father, John, who carved cameo glass and was art director at the Stevens & Williams firm in West Midlands, England.

Harry worked for Hobbs-Brockunier Glass Co. in Wheeling and at LaBelle Glass Co. in Bridgeport, Ohio in the early 1880s/ He started his own companies during the 1880s and 1890s in Martins Ferry, Ohio; Ellwood City, Pa.; and Indiana, Pa.

The underlined “N” in a circle is the most frequently seen mark in classic era Carnival. Not all Northwood patterns carry the mark:

Northwood produced their first piece of carnival glass in 1908. The firm eventually went bankrupt in 1925 never quite getting back on track after Harry Northwood’s death in 1918.

This Stangl Pottery Base is for a Kingfisher (3406S) , and is signed by artist - VGF - Veta Garrison

Stangl Artists typically signed their pieces with their initials.  This list may be incomplete.  Please comment if you have more information.

AAF       Ann Fitzpatrick Arnity
AL         Alberta Lee Burkhalter
AS         Ann Stone
BBF       Betty Butterfoss or Beth Boyde
CSF       Christl Stangl Bachelor (corrected)
CVF       Colinne Van Arsdale
DBF       Doris Boyd Case
DCF       Dot Cottrell
DDF       Dot Denise
DKF       Doris King Stout
DMF       Dale Moran
DSF        Doris Salter
EBF        Elsa Barrick Miller
EBF        Eunice Boyd
ED ?
EKF        Elizabeth King Suydam
EMS       Edith Morgan Smith
EPF        Eleanor Pedrick Trout
EPF        Eleanor Pyatt
EWF       Emma Waldron Santos
EWF       Edna Witlock
FD           Flo Dunn
FHF        Faith Hommer Droppa
GCF        Grace Crouse Hall
GHF        Grace Hall
HMF       Helen Morton (corrected)
K Kay Kastner Hackett
IFF          Ida French
IHF         Irma Hall
JAF         Jean Allegar
JBF         Jean Britton
JGF         Jean Godley
JGF         Julia Galina Campbell
JHF         Jenny Pedrick Huffman
JJF          Jeanette Jesczwicz Morton (corrected)
JLF         Jean LeBold
JTF         Jean Taylor Polasek
JVF         Josephine Van Roy
JWF       Jane Wurst
LMF       Lucy Mannon Sheetz
LSF         Laura Shaunsy Bailey
MBF       Mary Barrick
MBF       Marion Barry
MDF       Marion Dolter Stone
MG         Meta Garrison
MHF       Margaret Higgins Hall
MHF       Mary G. Hawke
MLF       Mary Lesson
MLF       Mary Longo
MMF      Margery Miles
MMF      Mildred Moody
MPF       Mary Pyatt Villani
MRF       Marion Riddle
MSF       Marion Stenabaugh
MTF       Marion Trimmer
MWF      Margaret Walsh
NTF       Norma Tarantola Rolla
OPF       Olga Polhemus
PHF       Peggy Hughes
RCF       Ruth Curtis
RKF       Ray Killinger
RKF       Rose Kadezabek
RTF        Rose Tedeschi
STF        Shirley Thatcher
VGF       Veta Garrison
VLF        Virginia Lesson
VMF       Verna McPherson
VRF        Viola Reames

Hampshire pottery typically has a white clay bottom.  This mark is incised: HAMPSHIRE POTTERY 18/1 & circled H

This piece is from 1895: