Collecting 101: McCoy Pottery! The History, Popularity, Lines, Colors & Value! Episode 13

Hey, what's going on guys? Welcome back to Collecting 101. Today we're going to talk about McCoy pottery. Now we're going to delve into the history, popular lines, products, and colors you should be looking for, as well as the value of your McCoy pottery. So let's start it off today with history. All right, so let's go back to 1899. That is when J.W. McCoy started J.W. McCoy pottery. Now J.W. is known for more of the unilateral pottery all the way up until 1902 when he started producing more art deco pieces. Now in 1910 J.W.'s son Nelson joined the company and they renamed it McCoy Sanitary Stoneware Company out of Roseville, Ohio. Now you might be asking why Roseville, Ohio? Well at that time Roseville is known for one of the best sources of clay which is obviously vital to making any kind of pottery. Now these guys were very successful all the way up until 1918 when them along with 11 other pottery companies formed the American Clay Products Company or ACPO. The ACPO was very successful all the way up until 1926 when they were liquidated which released all of their members to become independent companies again. Now being an independent company again McCoy started producing more of their food and sanitary wares. All the way up until 1933 when the demand decreased so dramatically that McCoy changed their focus back to more art deco pieces. They also changed their name that year to the Nelson McCoy Pottery Company. Now McCoy remained family owned all the way through 1967 until they were sold to the Mount Clements Pottery Company. Now from 1967 until they seized operation in 1982 the McCoy name changed hands multiple times. Now McCoy remained popular throughout all those years and still remains popular to this day. They say they produce so many great product lines as well as having a great quality name to back them as well. Alright guys that's the history of the McCoy Pottery so let's start talking about the popularity. First off I want to highlight some of the colors because man some of those are just really beautiful pieces of pottery they came out with. The next up I want to talk about popular products they came out with. Then after that we're going to end it with the popular pottery lines that they released. So let's start it off with those colors. Now guys this is mainly just showing because this all comes down to preference when you're collecting. So this is mainly just me showing you guys some of these really unique colors that McCoy came out with. Now you guys might know obviously one of the most popular ones is the green that they had. Then after that I want to show you the coral and then they also had a really nice blue that I think really is a one of the most sought-after pieces of McCoy as well color-wise at least. And then the last one I'm going to highlight is a yellow. Now these are just four colors I've seen that I always look for when I look for McCoy because they're just really unique really cool pieces. So definitely ones I wanted you guys to keep your eye out for. Now when we talk about popular products that McCoy produced one of their most popular ones by far is their cookie jars. Now I want to take a second here and show you a bunch of different cookie jars that McCoy came out with that were just absolutely gorgeous. Now after that they also came out with really nice vases. Now these are again I want to take a quick second to highlight some of these vases they came out with because they were really unique and they were just very beautiful and looks great inside of household and I can definitely see why people collect the McCoy pottery vases. And then the last one we're going to talk about is the planters. Now you might see these a lot especially at our shop we have a lot of McCoy planters but again these are just more unique pieces that they came out with that I definitely wanted to make sure I highlighted a few of these because man we always get people asking about McCoy pottery and these are just some of the ones we get requested for quite a bit. All right guys the last thing we're going to talk about in the popularity section is the pottery lines they came out with. Now these are just four of the most popular ones I've come across but obviously McCoy produced you know tens if not I think close to hundreds of these different pottery lines so definitely there's so many more out there you guys could get into but these are just some of the ones I wanted to highlight today. The first one we're going to talk about is the onyx. Now this is a swirled glaze that looks like stone and it's just a really unique piece that they came out with. Now the next one we're going to talk about is blossom time. This is from the 1940s and it depicts more beautiful floral elements to it as well and it's just a really nice piece of pottery that again I know a lot of collectors are out there looking for. After that we're going to talk about the jeweled line of products they came out with. Now this is from the 1950s and they featured gleaming flowers and butterflies with gleaming gems on them. I'm sorry not gleaming flowers and butterflies but the flowers and butterflies on there like I said guys these are just pieces I'm showing you guys these pictures that are just really unique and definitely something that if you're going to start collecting McCoy pottery you want to definitely look into. Now the last one we're going to show you is the strawberry country. Now this is popular because it's one of the last product lines that McCoy came out with and just like anything when you're collecting usually one of the last things produced is one of the most sought afters it kind of you know helps keep the memory alive. So hey guys that's just the popularity section of McCoy that I came up with. I mean like I told you there are so many more pottery lines out there that you guys can be collecting and looking for those are just some of ones I wanted to highlight but man going through all this stuff I can see why so many people are collecting McCoy pottery and I know why it's one of the most popular potteries to collect because there's just so many unique pieces out there and they did such an amazing job of putting out such a quality product. So all right guys let's now delve into the value of your McCoy pottery. All right so last but not least let's talk about the value of your McCoy pottery. You guys know me it always starts with condition. Now with just like with any other kinds of pottery you want no chips no cracks and no repairs. You want this thing in peak condition to have peak value. So when you guys are you know out there hunting for your McCoy pottery always make sure you're looking you know putting your fingers across the edges making sure there's no chips always looking for repairs and make sure there's no even even hairline cracks can cause a distinct you know difference in value. So always something you should be out there looking for. Now next question how do you value your McCoy? All right so let's run through a few things I do when I'm trying to figure out the value of my McCoy. Now first things first you want to identify the maker's mark at the bottom. Now as I'm showing you guys here these are some of the early marks of McCoy pottery. It's going to help you distinguish what age your pottery is from. Is it from the 30s or the 70s 60s? This is going to give you a great you know head start in finding out the value of your McCoy. Now next up you want to find out what pottery line is it. Is it the onyx or is it strawberry country? Whatever it is make sure you hunt down find out what pottery line your product is. Next up is what type of product is it? Obviously probably the easiest out of all of them. Obviously if it's a cookie jar it's a vase it's a planter you know pretty pretty straightforward. Now after that here's what you're going to want to do. You want to either get a reference book which is you know which is possible too not a big deal you don't have to always go online. But you guys know me I always like going on eBay looking up those online sales. That just gives you the best market to find out what your McCoy is worth. Now if you don't want to go about that and you want to just say hey I have this piece of pottery here it is what is my monetary value on it? Now most pieces of McCoy that we sell in our shop can be anywhere from $10 up to $75 to hundreds of dollars depending on the rareness of it. So I mean it really does come down to doing that research and just like anything we talk about when we collect guys you have to put some time into it. It's not just oh it's McCoy I can put it in my collection. You have to do your research on it figure out those pottery lines when it was made. The more information you can have about your products the more you know the more obviously the more you're going to know but the more you're going to know to how to value it correctly. So always make sure you're doing all of that due diligence to make sure you have the best possible collection you can have. All right guys you know this it's my favorite part of the video. This is the top three most expensive McCoy pottery pieces I've seen sold. So let's start it off with number three. Now this is a McCoy blue dandelion bowl that sold for over $785. I mean that is just a gorgeous piece and man that's a that's a pretty high price for just a pottery bowl. All right next up number two on the list is a McCoy RB white vase. Now this is a very rare piece to come across and it sold for over $870. I mean some of these McCoy pieces are just absolutely gorgeous but the number one really takes the cake guys. This is a 1902 McCoy pitcher vase with handle and it sold for over $1,425. I mean that is just amazing and as you see from the pictures you guys can tell it's a very unique piece and you know if you were to come across something like that I mean that's really the holy grail for McCoy pottery. So all right guys that's the video today on McCoy pottery. I mean the history of McCoy was very slim honestly when we were doing a bunch as much research as we can I mean rather than identifying each product line I mean that you know it's really a family-owned company it was it was oh you know through many generations of McCoys to you know that ran the company. So the history of McCoy is really interesting and it was definitely something I liked reading about but there wasn't a ton of history on it. Now the popularity like we always talk about that comes down to preference guys. Do you like the onyx? Do you like greens? Blues? I mean you have so many great options and that's what we wanted to highlight in the popularity section is all these different options we have for you guys that you can use and start collecting McCoy pottery. And then the value I mean right now pottery is down but McCoy always is one of the most popular products out there so even if you have some or you come across some I think the value always is going to stay steady and I think it's going to come up faster than some of those other pottery lines that you see out there. So I think McCoy is definitely a great thing to get into as well as something that looks really good in the collection with all the different varieties of McCoy pottery that's out there. All right guys that's it so if you guys have time you want to like this video and you want to comment below your history with McCoy pottery because I mean I know a lot of people are out there collecting because we sell it all the time at our shops. So what is your history with it? Would you collect McCoy pottery? Do you know somebody that collects it? What exactly do they look for? I mean there's a lot of great stuff out there to be you know to talk about so let's talk about that in the comment section. And of course if you guys get some time and you like the content hit that subscribe button and show your support. I mean we appreciate everybody that's subscribing to our channel I mean it's amazing and of course if you guys didn't know before we had a little hiccup with our recording sessions our phone went down and whatnot so back up back up and running and thank you guys for being patient with us as we were getting through that. So and then last but not least I want to do something fun for next week. Now in the comment section below I'm going to pick the most the most requested video to do a collecting 101 on next week. So I'm not going to pick a collecting 101 you guys are going to click or pick next week's video. So I'm going to give it a couple days pick whatever one you guys in there and just fill that comment section with as many suggestions as you guys have and you want to see because that is what I'm here for. I want to make the content that you guys want to see. So if you guys have an idea for a collecting 101 video put it in the comment section and that might be the one we do next week. So stay tuned for that and you guys know we always talk about collecting it's always about your memories over money. See you guys later.