Pottery & Porcelain maker
Red Wing Potteries, Inc. marks
The Red Wing stoneware firm began making glazed art pottery in the 1920s, starting with Brushed Ware.
- Active
- art pottery c. 1926–1967; dinnerware 1935–1967
- Based in
- Red Wing, Minnesota, United States
- Marks listed
- 4
- Typical pieces
- vases, planters, bowls, dinnerware
The marks, by date
Each mark’s wording is written out as a transcription: the words and line breaks, not a picture of the mark. Where a source describes a mark instead of quoting it, the description is shown in italics.
Where: base, with molded form number
Early glazed art pottery usually has a circular blue ink mark and a form number in the mold. The mark's wording isn't quoted in the sources consulted.
Where: base, with shape number
Pieces made for George Rumrill. Red Wing's RumRill pieces almost always have a three-digit shape number (exceptions: #50, 52, 53, 54). RumRill pieces with a letter-plus-digits number were made later by another firm, Florence.
Where: side or base
When Red Wing took over the RumRill line in December 1937, it sold identical shapes with only the shape number in the clay and a Red Wing sticker on the piece. Collector references show 'wing labels'; the label wording isn't quoted in the sources consulted.
Where: base
The Red Wing name appears on the base of art pottery and dinnerware sold under the company's own name after 1937. Sources describe many different ink-stamped, impressed and hand-painted marks, so this is only one common form.
History
From 1932 to 1937 it made art pottery for distributor George Rumrill under his name, then began selling the same kind of ware as Red Wing. Dinnerware started with Gypsy Trail in 1935. The company became Red Wing Potteries, Inc. in 1936, and hand-painted dinnerware was its main product until the plant stopped production in 1967 after a strike. This entry covers art pottery and dinnerware only, not stoneware crocks.
Dating clues
- A 'RumRill' mark with a three-digit shape number means Red Wing made it between August 1932 and December 1937.
- The same shapes with only a number and a Red Wing sticker or name date from after 1937.
- Dinnerware runs from 1935 (Gypsy Trail) to 1967. Some line dates from the Red Wing Collectors Society: Concord shape 1941–1957, Town and Country 1947–1956, Village Green introduced 1952, Anniversary line 1953, Bob White 1954.
- Pieces marked 'sample', or with color swatches or code numbers on the back, were factory trials.
- Pieces signed and dated after 1967 were made from Red Wing molds after the closing.
Look-alikes and reproductions
- RumRill pottery made by Florence Pottery (letter-plus-digits shape numbers) and by other Ohio makers after 1937 is not Red Wing.
Other names on the marks
Red Wing Union Stoneware Co. (to 1936); Red Wing Pottery; RumRill (pieces made for George Rumrill)
Where sources disagree: Free online sources give few dated mark variants for Red Wing art pottery and dinnerware. The detailed charts are in printed guides (Reiss; Dollen) that I couldn't consult. The RumRill period is 1932–1937 in the Red Wing Collectors Society and 1933–1937 in Wikipedia. How the RumRill mark was applied varies by source: incised, impressed or raised. Sources say Red Wing marked pieces with its own name after 1937, but none give an end date for the 'RED WING USA' wording.
Sources
Marks help identify a maker and a date range, but they can’t prove a piece is genuine. Reproductions and later reissues can carry old marks. This entry isn’t an appraisal.