monmouth pottery
Monmouth Pottery Company was the typical late 1800s pottery firm. They were founded in 1894 in Monmouth, Illinois, and produced functional stonewares such as butter churns, jars, and crocks.
It wasn’t until 1906 when the company was bought up by the larger Western Stoneware Company, that Monmouth began producing art pottery. Since Western Stoneware had plenty of utility production, Monmouth became the defacto ‘Artware Division’ of the conglomerate.
Monmouth marked its wares with a maple leaf before they were acquired, and they continued to do so until 1930. Pieces before 1906 featured an incised ‘Monmouth CO.’ along the base, and after this year the mark was revised to be the engraved ‘Monmouth Pottery, Monmouth, Ill.’. Some of the Monmouth lines after the 1930s are unmarked but are still recognized as distinct through the glaze and specific kind of clay used during manufacturing. Monmouth lines are celebrated for the mesmerizing salt-glazing technique employed to create matte finishes. Monmouth was one of the last remaining pottery producers out of Stoneware - in 1956 they were one of two manufacturers left. Art pottery production ceased after 1985 when Western Stoneware Company went under, but the pottery was soon purchased and still creates pottery to this day.