Van Briggle Pottery
The Van Briggle Pottery was established in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1900 by Artus Van Briggle and his wife Anne Gregory and was producing art wares by 1901. Artus Van Briggle had been a leading decorator at the Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati and had studied abroad before his poor health forced the move to Colorado.
The early pieces were modeled by Artus and Anne and a mold was made to produce a limited number of signed and dated pieces. The molded wares were finished by hand and were then fired and glazed with added coloring. The Van Briggle work won several awards at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition bringing wide-spread attention to the fledgling pottery. Unfortunately Artus died the same year and Anne struggled to keep the pottery open until 1913 when it was sold at sheriff’s auction. During this period the emphasis shifted toward cast work and commercial forms were introduced; in all Anne created more than 400 known patterns at the pottery before it closed.
The Van Briggle pottery continued under new ownership into the 1980′s and to the present, primarily mass-producing artwares. According to the Pottery, the earliest and most collectible of the Van Briggle output (1901 to 1914) was dated and usually had a pattern number as well (pattern numbers up to 899 are pre-1912); after 1914 the marking practice began to vary and no dates were used post-1920. Another clue to early pieces is also found on the object’s bottom as all work from 1901 to 1920 were glazed on the bottom in the same color as used in the design; after 1921 the bottoms were either unglazed, white (after 1930) or had a clear glaze.