Posted 8 years ago
katherines…
(247 items)
This figurine is stamped 971, and has a store label, but that's about all there is to identify it. It was made by California potter, Brad Keeler, from a line called Pryde and Joy.
Brad Keeler (1913 - 1952) was born in Lincoln, California, lived and worked his short life in California as a potter, first as a tile artist, then moving on to build his own factory to produce ceramics. During the war when imports were prohibited, his business increased by leaps and bounds, and he went on to build a much larger factory, unfortunately he suffered a heart attack in 1952, and the business did not survive him. For those of us who love ceramic figurines, however, you might be interested to know that the factory was taken over by Twin Winton pottery, and the mural built by Brad Keeler is still there on the grounds.
Brad Keeler is primarily known for his flamingos, and lobsterware, the bright colors and wet glaze, and in particular the vivid Chinese red glaze he developed and used on his lobsterware.
these are pretty!!!
971 is the design/model number. Erickson's is no more but found this bit of info on eBay:
Erickson's America's Largest Art Pottery Store, Castro Valley, California was probably a distributor or seller of ceramics from the 1940's and 1950's.
Thanks for the love, SEAN68, mikelv85, Nicefice, brunswick, jscott0363, aura, Efesgirl, and vetraio50. :)
Thank you, Sean, they are pretty, aren't they? :)
Bonnie, thank you, so at least we know an era. It has an interesting look, I wouldn't call it Japanese, would you? Perhaps European, but where? Doesn't look German.
Too cute!
Nah, doesn't look Japanese to me. Or German.
I don't know who else to consider :(
Thanks for the love, racer4four, nutsabotas6, kyratango, and Caperkid. :)
Thanks, Karen, and I agree, probably not Japanese or German. I'm clueless, they don't look like any other European. American, do you think? Who made figurines in America?
Ken, you are a genius! Jack and Jill! Of course! Thanks so much! :)
You did it, Ken, thanks so much for solving my mystery!!!
Oh here it is! Love it!