Question About McCoy Pottery "Canyonware"

[rp2813]

A few years ago I scored pieces of McCoy Pottery's "Canyonware" and was able to assemble basic service for ten after two very separate trips to two different thrift stores.

 

Yesterday I found one dinner plate at Goodwill, so I picked it up for a spare.  When I got it home, I discovered it's different from the others.  As you can see in the picture below, the bottom of the "new" plate has two concentric rings that are not glazed.

 

I examined my other pieces and found that bottoms of soup bowls, saucers, mugs, and serving pieces all have unglazed rings, but dinner and bread plates don't. 

 

Could some pieces be older than others?  Which ones?  I think my dinner plates could all be "seconds" but that doesn't matter to me.   I'm just curious about the difference, and any story behind it.

 

[polkanut]

Apparently there are some slight differences in the pieces made in this pattern.  And also quite a few serving pieces were made in this pattern as well.

http://replacements.com/webquote/MCCCAN.htm

 

[rp2813]

Tim, thanks for the link.  My plates are identical (flair edge), so I'm still puzzled.  This seems to be a case of manufacturing dates, and apparently the process, being different.  I don't know how long McCoy produced this pattern, but I think it was only for maybe five to ten years, primarily during the '70s.

 

I noticed the Replacements site doesn't even list the square saucers.  I wonder if they're hard to find.  I left a stack of them behind at Goodwill because they didn't really go with the other round pieces I had.  Considering Replacements charges $29 for a single dinner plate, which is more than I paid for six of them plus as many salad plates and mugs, the square saucers could command a hefty sum.

 

Also, after looking at some of the other Replacements "Canyon" items, it's possible my pieces aren't "seconds" after all.  It's hard for me to believe that just my stack of dinner plates alone could fetch almost $300.  I like the look of "Canyon" but I don't like it so much that I'd ever pay that kind of money for it.

 

[petek]

Like anything they're only worth what someone is desperately willing to pay for a piece which is how Replacements com makes their money.  Everything eventually shows up for pennies on the dollar whether at a flea market, thrift store or garage sale.   I collect McCoy cookie jars for a number of years and never paid anywhere near the price those things were going for.  McCoy went thru a number of ownerships over the years and that could explain the differences,  reissues etc. 

 

[gansky1]

I'd love to see some more pics of your McCoy dinnerware, I have not seen any dinnerware from McCoy "in the wild" before. I have a couple of small plant pots and a vase from McCoy. Did you just happen to find them once, or did you set out on a quest?

Kelly had a Frankoma pattern (wagon wheel-like) that he loved and collected for many years and once I'd seen them, began to find it at sales and thrift stores fairly regularly for him. I'll keep my open for you now as well, you never know. Square saucers...hmmm. Interesting.

Pete, some pics of your collection would be fun to see too, when you have a chance. I have seen a few at sales, etc. over the years but it's one piece of kitchen decor I've never owned. My mother has a couple that are kept in the china hutch and never touched, but I'm not even sure who made them. Haven't even thought about them for years, I'll have to sneak a peek.

 

[polkanut]

Ralph,

<span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Several dinnerware mfrs and distributors over the years have had square pieces in their various pattern families to go along with their traditional round pieces.  Our set of Cunningham & Pickett's "Norway Rose" has square salad plates while everything else is round, go figure.  </span>

 

<span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I say go and grab the square saucers if they're still there.  They would make for a nice contrast on the table.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">And what Pete says about something only being valuable if someone is willing to pay the price is so true.  The salad plates for our Norway Rose are listed on Replacements @ $55.99ea, and the salt & pepper shakers my wife found at a local thrift store last summer for 50 cents are listed for sale @ $169.95/pair.</span>

[this post was last edited: 3/5/2015-07:29]

http://replacements.com/webquote/CUPNOR.htm

 

[rp2813]

Greg, I wasn't even in the market for additional dinnerware, let alone McCoy.  I was at Salvation Army one day and saw the mugs, dinner and bread plates, and some serving pieces arranged on one of the tables in the furniture department.  I liked the chuck wagon look of the mugs.  I didn't know it was McCoy until I checked the bottom of one of the items.  They wanted $50 for everything, which I wasn't going to pay.

 

The following day was 1/2 price Friday, so I got there first thing in the morning as the doors opened and grabbed all the pieces.  I didn't have any competition, btw.

 

Once I had those, I started keeping an eye out for more.   The cereal bowls, larger soup bowls, more bread plates and saucers came from Goodwill about a year later.  I paid around $25 for all of those pieces too.

 

I'll take a shot of all the pieces and post it here for you, Greg.

 

Tim, I know Replacements is all about taking advantage of people in a desperate situation.  I'd never buy anything from them.

 

The square saucers are long gone.  It has been over a year since I made that haul from Goodwill.  I'm trying not to hoard things and instead just buy what I intend to use.  I'm sure the square saucers made someone else as happy as the round ones I chose made me.  I left some mugs behind too, because I had all I needed of those.

 

[rp2813]

OK Greg,

 

Here's a picture with an example of all the pieces I have.

 

I have one of the oblong serving bowls, two of the large round serving bowls, the creamer, sugar bowl which needs a lid, and five of the soup/cereal bowls.

 

In gathering the subject matter, I discovered that I only have eight mugs.  I thought I had ten or twelve.  I do have twelve saucers.  So I'm going to keep an eye out for mugs and bowls.

 

I also have a large round platter, but it was buried in a stack with other types, so it's not pictured.  The lid at lower left belongs, I think, to some kind of bean pot piece.  It was part of my first haul, so it's stored away since it's of no use without its pot.

 

I saw the oblong bowl going for quite a lot on ebay, but then that's ebay, which can often be just as expensive as Replacements.com when you factor in the shipping.

 

 

 

[rp2813]

One more thing

Only the serving pieces appear to have markings.  Note that they all have the unglazed rings like the one dinner plate in my original post.

 

The sugar bowl and creamer share the same catalog number so I suppose they were originally sold as a set.  I don't know if that's a common practice or not.

 

[rp2813]

Check out this pattern -- a must have for the discriminating MCM hostess (and not a bad price for all of those mugs):

 

 

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[polkanut]

Looks like McCoy's take on Homer Laughlin's "Fiesta" ware.