ROSEVILLE POTTERY | ROSEVILLE POTTERY

ROSEVILLE POTTERY
By Leon Carlson of Mister Find IT

The Roseville Pottery company became incorporated in 1892, naming George F. Young as general manager. The Roseville Pottery company was named after the city in which the factory was first located Roseville, Ohio. With the direction of Young, by 1900 he had helped the Roseville Pottery grow to four plants. Two in Roseville and two in Zaneville. Roseville plants made the stoneware and the newer plants in Zanesville produced the Roseville Pottery and art ware. Using the the most modern equipment of the time, they always insisted on the highest quality, even when they converted the hand operations to machines. This helped them become one of the giants then, and possibly the most collected art pottery today - and why so many of the Roseville Pottery pieces still carry high values. Many of the hand decorated Roseville Pottery pieces were phased out by 1920. Most of the Roseville Pottery designs thereafter were either in the mold or even decals under the glaze. Young eventually became principal Roseville Pottery stockholder, and four generations of his family followed him in management of the company which closed in 1954.

As with any article, we try to cover as many pieces or lines as we can. However Roseville Pottery has 132 different product lines, 37 different Roseville Pottery artists, and over 25 different Roseville Pottery marks, so in this article we're only covering the Rozane family of Roseville Pottery. Perhaps sometime in the future we will cover some of the other Roseville Pottery lines.

Rozane - (1900) Roseville Pottery’s first art line named with a blend of their name and new location. It was of a lustrous brown color with a beautiful under glaze, blended with beautiful hand painted animals, birds, nature items, and portraits on pots, vases, mugs, pitchers and other interesting items. Many of these pieces start at $200, while oters start at $2,000. Roseville Pottery pieces with Aurelian like orange streaking are of the rarest from the original Rozane. In later years other Roseville Pottery lines with the name Rozane in them also came out.

These Roseville Pottery pieces would be:
a.) Rozane Art Blue or Azurean (1903) Blue & white landscapes & floral scenes. Most of the larger pieces start at $2,000, while many of the smaller pieces start around $500.

b.) Rozane Egypto (1905) These are matte green, some light some dark, often molded with Celtic, Egyptian, or Roman designs. They will have the Egypto wafer mark (#6 below), sometimes confused with early Roseville Matte Green which did not have the wafer. Smaller pieces can be worth $400 -$600, while larger pieces can bring $1,200 - $1,800.

c.) Rozane Light or Royal Light (1905) A lighter version of Rozane in gray, light brown, ivory & pink.

d.) Rozane Line (1917) Has a dimple spotted background of blue, green, pink, white or yellow, with dark colored embossed roses surrounded by their green leafs. These average $175 apiece.

e.) Rozane Mara (1904) Usually done in dark red color with a blend of rainbow tints of blue, green or yellow, much like an opal shell. Very rare, with most pieces starting at $1,500 and up.

f.) Rozane Mongol Or Mongul (1905) The standard color of these according to the experts is Red, sometimes with molting in black or pink. A rare find would be an orange Mongol, a four inch vase or urn could bring $800.

g.) Rozane Olympic (1905) A red clay color background with a black & white design of Ancient Greek drawings. Of all Roseville's Pottery, the Rozane Olympic line is thought to be the rarest. Smaller pieces average $3,000, and larger pieces average $8,500.

h.) Rozane Pattern (1941) These Roseville Pottery pieces are dark near the bottom, get lighter as you go up the piece, with the rim being ivory or a very light shade of it's base color. They were originally done matte mottled glazes in brown to a burnt orange, dark blue to mountain blue, or green to calla ivory. Most of these pieces start at $100 to $200, and go up from there. Around 1954 this line was reintroduced with glossy glazes in off white, periwinkle blue, rust, and violet.

i.) Rozane Royal (1901) - A very, very dark version of Rozane. Mostly done in Gray or Brown with many of the same features as Rozane but a higher gloss. Most of these Roseville pottery pieces start at over $500.

j.) Rozane Woodland (1905) The main color tone is a foliage color as is the inside color (yellow, light browns & orange) done in floral or conventional designs, on a bisque back ground with little pepper like specks also in the background. Smaller pieces can be worth $400 - $800, while larger pieces can bring $3,000 to $5,000. Almost always had the wafer seal. (mark #6).

Note: Some older Roseville Pottery marks overlapped a newer marks introduction date, Roseville Pottery marks noted in this article are most likely those used on that line. Dates listed, are when that Roseville Pottery line first went into production. If you have any Roseville Pottery pieces you are seeking to sell or looking to buy, we strongly recommend you seek expert advise (we are not experts), as the piece, the color, mold #, the size, the artist and the pottery marks can greatly change it's value. Roseville Pottery prices stated are only a rough guide as of the first writing of this article.

This article is continued in Roseville Pottery Marks.

Recommended Books & Bibliography.
1.) Introducing Roseville Pottery - 2nd Edition, By Mark Bassette - Published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd, © 1999 & 2001.
2.) Collectors Encyclopedia of Roseville Pottery - Volumes 1 & 2 - By Sharon & Bob Huxford, and Mike Nickel - Published by Collector Books, ©2001.
3.) Depression Pottery, By Jeffrey B. Snyder, - Published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd, ©2002
4.) The official price guide to pottery, by the House of Collectibles, ©1984

This article was originally published and is a copyright of Mister Find IT from Newsletter of April 2004, and was modified January 2007, February 2009, and November 2009. You hereby have permission to copy the title and create a brief description of no more then 25 words, (which can be from the article) your description and / or the title must be linked back to the URL of the full article. (http://www.misterfindit.com/roseville_pottery.html) See last newsletter.