Stoneware maker
Union Stoneware Company marks
After the Panic of 1893 the Red Wing potteries formed Union Stoneware as a joint sales and marketing company.
- Active
- 1894–1906
- Based in
- Red Wing, Minnesota, United States
- Marks listed
- 2
- Typical pieces
- crocks, jugs, churns, water coolers
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: side of white-glazed crock or jug
Rubber-stamped oval used once the switch to white glaze was complete.
Where: side, flanking or below the capacity number
'Elephant ear' leaves, dropped by 1906; tapered 'birch' leaves also appear. Both styles are found on some salt-glazed pieces.
History
It sold the output of the member plants until they merged outright in 1906 as the Red Wing Union Stoneware Co.
Dating clues
- Stamped Union Stoneware ovals date from about 1900, when white glaze had fully replaced salt glaze, to the 1906 merger.
- Elephant-ear leaf stamps had fallen out of use by 1906.
Look-alikes and reproductions
- Red Wing Union Stoneware Co. ovals (1906 on), which add 'RED WING' to the company name.
Other names on the marks
Union Stoneware Co., Red Wing
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.