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Our America
Spectacular Vintage
Individual 2-Cup Coffee Pot

Maroon Transfer on Off-White
"Ultra" Form

Designed by
Rockwell Kent
for
Vernon Kilns Pottery
Los Angeles, California

ca 1940

This wonderful individual 2-cup coffee pot was designed by Rockwell Kent for Vernon Kilns Pottery. According to Bill Stern (2001), Vernon Kilns was one of the well-known "Big Five" of the Southern California Pottery group (p. 42, California Pottery: From Missions to Modernism).

This coffee pot is part of Rockwell Kent's Our America series.  According to page 234 of Maxine Feek Nelson's book, Collectible Vernon Kilns, 2nd ed., Rockwell Kent "drew over 30 designs to represent American locales and pastimes." Rockwell Kent gained fame illustrating Herman Melville's book, Moby Dick, and other books.

The coffee pot measures about 3 3/4 inches in diameter at its widest point and stands about 4 1/2 inches tall without the lid. It measures almost 6 inches across from the tip of the spout to the edge of the handle. The lid measures 3 inches in diameter. 

The coffee pot is off white on the Ultra shape, and the design is in maroon.  On both sides of the coffee pot, a steam ship sailing down a river is pictured.  Steep bluffs edge the river. The design on the coffee pot is very detailed! In addition, the lid and coffee pot are both trimmed with a wonderful star design. Note the wonderful down-turned handle and lid handle!

Maxine Feek Nelson's book states that the individual 2-cup coffee pot shows a hunting scene from Virginia.  I have looked through all the pictures of Our America pieces in Nelson's book, but I did not see any pictures like the ones on this coffee pot.  I think this scene might the one that illustrates steamers on the Columbia River in Oregon that Nelson states appeared on a pint jug, but I can't find an example of this scene.

The bottom of the coffee pot is marked "Our America, Designed by Rockwell Kent, Vernon Kilns, Made in U.S.A." in maroon under the glaze.  This mark matches Mark 36 as shown in Nelson's book..


 

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