Albert Potteries Ltd .....

Albert Potteries Ltd (Wyatt's Company) : 1931-1938



Alberta Potteries was established by Jesse Wyatt in 1931 in Redcliff with the financial help of local area ranchers.  In the short time Alberta Potteries was in production they produced chicken fountains, spittoons, bean pots, pudding bowls, meat pie pans, casseroles, custard cups, barrel shaped cookie jars and at least six different pitchers, two ashtrays, three styles of teapots and over six different styles of mixing bowls.

By 1936, with the tough times of the depression, Jesse Wyatt had enough and sold Alberta Potteries and returned to Eastern Canada.

Alberta Potteries Ltd (Yuill's Company): 1941-1966

The Alberta Potteries under Yuill's ownership started making jiggered mixing bowls in several sizes.  In time they started to produce crocks, and an artware line that included four or more styles of vases, a bulb bowl, a rabbit shaped planter a rectangular shaped planter and set of log shaped planters.  They also produced housewares such as baking dishes, bowls, casseroles, ashtray, baking dishes and even colored dishes.  Malcolm McArthur joined Alberta Potteries to manage the pottery, during his time there he developed the "Birch Bark" pattern bar-be-que set.  It is not know when Yuill gave up Alberta Potteries but Malcolm McArthur left in early 1958 to start his open his own pottery.





This webpage has illustrations of the stamps used by Alberta Potteries:  https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/17142/22847

We use books written by Ron Getty:  The Kilns of South Eastern Alberta, Know Your Medalta: Stamps and Other Markings A Guide to Dating Products and Know Your Medalta Vases, all the books have notes in them to help us remember anything extra we have seen or pieces that we have.  We also use Medalta Stoneware & Pottery For Collectors by Richard & Jean Symonds. We have several others but use these books the most, almost on a daily basis, they are always close at hand and travel with us all over the country.

The Kilns of South Eastern Alberta has information and timeline about all the kilns in south eastern Alberta.  It is very interesting to read how the people in the different companies moved around and the products they produced.  We were lucky and when we bought our reference books two of them were available at the Medalta Museum and the other one we found on eBay.

Talking to other collectors, touring the museum in Medicine Hat and looking at other collections and handling pieces is the best way I have found to actually learn about what it is we are collecting.  We have found other collectors very willing to share their knowledge and stories with us.






The history of the pottery companies in Alberta is interesting as are the varied products they made.  It is easy to imagine the more utilitarian products like crocks, butter churns and pitchers in our grandparents homes, but through those tough years of the depression I am sure it was a hard sell to get some of the artware products into peoples homes.  Perhaps that is why different businesses gave away decorated pieces, so that everyone has a beautiful piece of pottery to look and bring cheer to their homes.

And the Search Continues.........

Do it NOW.....

We started collecting Medalta pottery about 8 or 9 years ago and have amassed a collection of hundreds of pieces.  We started off with crocks and butter churns of all sizes and many different stamps.  Then we moved on to just collecting the 1 gallon crocks with all the different stamps we could find and the larger crocks and butter churns all went to new homes.  At one point we had over a dozen 1 gallon crocks all with different stamps, then we found a beautiful matte green lamp at an auction sale and soon the colorful pieces took over and even the 1 gallon crocks found new homes, except the one on the kitchen counter holding my spoons and whisks.  Soon we had many colorful, painted pieces everywhere in the house and although we spent many hours enjoying them I never did get them photographed one piece at a time.

I started off with good intentions of taking photos of every piece before it got put away, but like all good intentions it by the wayside.  Fast forward several years and there were hundreds or pieces and on the advice and gentle prodding of a wise man I decided one day that I better just get it done.  So on a day off, one by one the hundreds of pieces were taken down form the shelves, cupboards and cases and I got on with the job of getting the photos done. 






The advice I would give to people is - don't put it off but do photograph each piece as you get it before it gets put away.




So on with the day of my camera being used overtime......I am luck in that I have a really good digital camera, a tripod and a remote shutter release so once I got the camera set up it was pretty easy.  I used a plastic type board for the background on some pieces and the door of our Hoosier cupboard for others.




Advice on the photos themselves:  Use a clean background as it will showcase your pottery better.  Use a measuring stick, ruler or some other device to record the size, I have a yardstick that I taped up behind each piece, it is bright yellow so does not blend in with the pottery.  Take many photos because then you can choose the best one.  Try not to get too much background in the photo make the pottery the true subject and have it centered in the frame as it allows you to enlarge for better reference.  Also take photos of the stamps on the bottom or any advertising or damage on the piece, it will make for better reference later.






So after I spent a good 8 hours photographing pottery it was time to look at getting the photos printed.  The most economical place to get prints made where we live was at Costco and since we were going to be there in a few days anyway, I started the upload process.  With over 500 photos in total it took most of the night to finish the upload but Costco still had them ready for me by noon the next day.  Then it was time to get them all into albums in some kind of order so I sorted by vases, cookie jars, teapots, etc.  That is how it started anyway but as time has gone on the photos are just put into the empty spaces of the next album. 

                                                   

The next piece of advice, again given to me by a wise man, is to put the price paid, the year purchased and where we found it on the back of each photo.  So now I am back to the drawing board because I know I have not done that with any consistency so I think today I will start pulling photos out of the albums and doing that the best that we can remember.

Once again the photos are all from our own collection.  I have posted some good photos and some bad photos just so you can see the difference and decide for yourself which is better.  I have also attached a couple websites that talk about photographing pottery,



And the Search Continues.....


http://www.sanjoaquinpottersguild.org/files/Photographing_Art.pdf

https://photography.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-photograph-ceramics-and-3-dimensional-products-with-one-light--cms-22924

Pitchers Galore.....

We have lots of different pitchers in our collection and several of them are basket weave.  We also have pitchers made by Medicine Hat Potteries and Alberta Potteries, I have shared photos of all the different potteries.  Some of them are decorated, some have advertising and some are just a pitcher.  There are several sizes and a few different shapes.





This blog will feature basket weave pitchers made by Medalta, I will provide information about the basket weave pitchers in this blog and will talk about some of the other pitchers in later blogs.  I have included photos of other pitchers by other companies as well.

The photos are all pieces in our own collection. 

“Basket Weave Pitcher” (1938-ca.1945)  (Copied with permission of the writer)
.5, 1, 1.5 & 2-pints
This is the only pitcher made by Medalta to which a style number was assigned, but even though it was given No. 84 it was more commonly referred to as the B/W Pitcher in the Medalta records.  While we do not have a firm date for the introduction of this product, it was either late 1937 or early 1938 as indicated by a letter dated July 2, 1938.

These pitchers must be as described, that is with the basket weave part in helio, crimson or green and the rest of the pitcher in cane.  ...The original sample which Mr. Cunliffe submitted to us last winter was in two colors and that is the type of article required.”  By March 1938 you start to find orders for the basket weave pitcher, and although the records are skimpy you still find this pitcher being sold in 1945.

As typical for mould-made pitchers of this period, the style number and size are impressed in the bottom of the pitcher. You do find “Medalta” impressed as well but it seems to be quite erratic. You can find many examples in various sized pitchers where the Medalta name is either absent or perhaps just obliterated. On the other hand most pitchers, even the ones with the impressed Medalta name, are well marked with an oxide stamp.

The sizes were not the usual ones but rather the 1/2, 1, 1.5 and 2-pint pitchers. Medalta’s larger 3-pint size for which there was little demand had been dropped while the smaller 1/2-pint size had been added to keep the pitcher as a four piece set. In this style of pitcher the size is usually followed with the pint abbreviation “PT.”

The colours and decorations used on this pitcher were quite varied. The Marshall-Wells catalogue for 1940 advertised the available colours as cane, crimson, helio and green. In a letter dated 20 December 1941, Medalta advised the Hudson’s Bay Company of Winnipeg that the “colours are cane, teapot brown, green and crimson.

The two-tone pitchers as requested in the letter quoted above are also found, as are ones with the stencilled cows and cottage decorations. And you can also find pitchers with a floral decoration around the top of the pitcher.  They must have had a large number of moulds for the making of this pitcher, and in all likelihood they changed through time although I have not yet tried to identify or document these changes. My reasons for saying they exist include the fact that the style number can be found as just the number “84” or as “No. 84”. In one example, a half-pint pitcher, the “4” was backwards. It is hard to imagine how this could have happened but it did!

If you check the heights and/or diameters of any given size of pitcher you will also find great variability, perhaps another indication that the moulds were changed. Also as the handles were applied, you will find a great range in the shape of the handle and where it was applied to the body.  It appears that all sizes of this pitcher were used as advertising premiums, although it was not selected as a premium too often. Only some six or so occurrences have been recorded so far, covering general stores, a dairy and a hotel. In addition, it was used by The Hanna Cooperative Association to advertise Ogilvie’s products, and if used by one store, other stores will undoubtedly show up in time. The advertising is invariably located at the top on the smooth portion of the pitcher.

One request that came Medalta’s way is recorded in letters dating to October 1938. The plant advised the head office in Calgary that “H.H. Schneoder is interested in a basket weave pitcher, with a cow or house decoration and his own name on the other side.” to which the head office replied on October 11th:  “Replying to yours of the 9th in connection with Mr. Schneider requiring some basket weave pitchers, decorated and his name stamped on the side, you will use your decorated prices for this item G38/3, G38/10, and add 2c per article for stamping. The cost of the stamp is to be paid by Mr. Schneider.  If this man intends giving these away in place of Calendars or some such item, it will be in order for you to give him a discount of 50%, and you will have to explain to him that this discount is only given under these circumstances. In other words if the pitchers are for resale the discount rate of 40% will apply.”  This letter illustrates several points. Firstly, I am not sure of the spelling of the Merchant’s name as each letter gives a different spelling. Eventually, that is if an order was even placed, one of these pitchers will show up and hopefully that will give us the merchant’s name and perhaps the location of his store. It also shows that the merchant was charged for the cost of the rubber stamp and extra for the actual stamping. Lastly it shows the discounts that were available depending on whether or not the item was a giveaway.




Two years ago in March I was wondering what could I do to try and start a dialogue with other collectors of Western Canadian pottery.  I was unsure of exactly what to but I thought a blog to share some of what we have found and the stories behind the pieces might be a place to start.  I was never sure how to reach people and so after many months of writing a blog with just a hand full of people reading it I tried several things to reach more people, now there are anywhere from 50-300 people reading each blog, I think it may depend on the subject and if the pictures create an interest.  Mostly the blog has been good for me as it has caused me to read more, do more research and talk to more people about what is out there.

Thank you for reading the blog and please let me know if there is a subject or specific pieces you would like to know more about.  I am not an expert but I will do my best to find whatever information I can and share it with you.

The Search Continues....... 

Plates, plates and more plates.......

We picked up an entire collection last summer and it included many plates made by Hycroft.  What to do with so many plates???  Why use then of course!

These links will take you to some interesting history on Hycroft China:

https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Details.aspx?DeptID=1&ObjectID=4665-0490

https://albertaonrecord.ca/hycroft-china

So we did decide that the plates were very pretty, too pretty to stack away in storage so we put them into the cupboard and use them every day.  There is quite a mixture of patterns so we use different ones almost everyday.

  Custom made plates with names or initials in gold.

Plain colored ring around the edge of the plate and a bear with a forest scene and the plate s rimmed in gold trim.

Fifth Avenue Untied Church, Medicine Hat, Alberta and

Fort Garry Hotel, gold and blue rimmed plate.

FLAMINGO - No 506   Flamingo is found on the Balmorla or swirl edge style of dishes, and this is the main difference that separates it from its sister pattern Everglades. It was assigned pattern number 506 and Hycroft’s invoices indicate that sets were sold from 1955 to 1964. I have only seen it in one colour to date, that being a red hibiscus flower with leaves in several shades of green against                a  white background. The rim of the dishes is finished with a speckled gold band

Daizy: No Pattern Number The Daizy pattern is listed in
t h e  Hycroft Records  from 1964-1970, and on the invoices it is usually listed as Daisy not Daizy as on the Hycroft backstamp. Even though it was sold for some seven years, it apparently was not that popular a pattern judging by the number of times you find it listed in the Hycroft invoices; and, furthermore, you do not find it in the marketplace very often. (they are also handpainted)




Game Birds in Flight 
Holiday shape Commercial # ---, center spray, cut geese and partridge size for cups and saucers.  Hycroft China Backstamp. 1955-1979
(Copied from the original with the permission of the writer)
(All photos form our private collection)



Lots of photos of plates most of which are in our cupboard so each evening is a surprise which plate you get.  I must admit I do have a preference but I will never tell which one it is.  There are several photos that do not have the pattern name, I wonder if you have more information could you please name the plate on this page so I can put the names in a comment.


And the Search Continues....

Marked or Not....

Like all collectors we have a number of pieces that are not marked but it is very apparent who made them.  Once we find a piece that is not marked it just makes us look harder to find one that is marked, and that is fun.

CARNOTT Art Wares  (copied with permission of the writer)
The Origin of the Name Solved
On page 16 of the booklet “Know Your Medalta: Vases” where I discussed CarNott 
artwares, I suggested that while the origin of this name was likely lost to us, it may 
have referred to a coloured lacquer finish; but, now thanks to an astute reader, we 
probably have the origin solved.   John Shairp put two and two together noting that  
the new owners of the plant in 1929, just before Medalta introduced its artwares, 
were named Reginald C. Carlisle and O. Clair Arnott. What could be simpler than 
the origin of CarNott as coming from “Car” in Carlisle and “Nott” in Arnott? Thank
you John for not only spotting the association that was not obvious to me but also
 for bringing it to my attention. 

The birds we have are not marked but you can see them in a photo in Ron Getty's "Know Your Medalta: Vase" on page 19.  There is a photo of a display of CarNott ArtWare and the bird is on the bottom right hand corner.  As yet we have not seen one that is marked, I am not sure if anyone else has had the pleasure of finding one that is marked in any way.

The birds were made in two different ways - some had holes in the base to make a flower frog and others did not and were just figurines.  One of our birds came with a bowl that appears like it was meant to be the bowl the flower frog bird sat in. 






There is a different bird in the same photo and as of yet we have not seen that one outside of the collection at the Medalta site in Medicine Hat.  The following photo is one that was taken at the Medalta Museum in Medicine Hat.








The same photo of the display also shows the polar bear and on the next page it looks like there is a photo of the same bear in brown.








I am adding a couple of links to internet pages that we have used and they have some great information.  We also use the books written by Ron Getty, they are an invaluable source of information for Medalta collectors.  There are several others but we tend to use Ron Getty's the most and often have them with us when we travel.

https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/17142/22847

https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/17156/22857

https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/17062/22922

http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/histoires_de_chez_nous-community_memories/pm_v2.php?id=story_line&lg=English&fl=0&ex=00000494&sl=4287&pos=1

And the Search Continues.......