The Hull Pottery Company
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.