The Valuable Pottery Brand That's Worth Checking Estate Sales For

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

It's always a pleasant surprise when you realize that the secondhand item you picked up at an estate sale or thrift store is worth some serious cash. Ceramic ware can be especially valuable — vintage pottery brands to be on the lookout for at the thrift store include Hull Pottery, Catalina Clay, and beautiful McCarty pottery. They and makers like them can fetch good prices on the resale market. One such brand is Red Wing Stoneware, a pottery that dates back to the late 1800s in Red Wing, Minnesota, and regularly pops up at estate sales.

In the company's early days, it produced mostly stoneware crocks and jugs for farmers. As the pottery industry evolved and the consumer market broadened, Red Wing moved into making dinnerware, prompting a name change to Red Wing Potteries in 1936. The company ceased production in 1967.

Resale values for this vintage pottery brand that collectors always look for vary widely depending on the rarity of the piece. Red Wing crocks from the early days of the company have fetched $20,000 to $80,000 in the past decade or so, while more commonly found or mass-produced pieces can sell for as little as $40. Collectors should know, however, that a new pottery brand, Red Wing Stoneware Company (RWSC), is producing pieces using what it claims are original Red Wing production techniques. These contemporary pieces are less valuable.

The original Red Wing pottery had roughly three production categories: crocks and jugs, art pottery, and tableware and kitchenware. The company's first tableware line, Gypsy Trail, superficially resembles Fiestaware, another decades-old dinnerware you shouldn't overlook at thrift stores. This inaugural line is celebrated by collectors for its dark blue, orange, turquoise, and yellow glazes. Pieces are generally easy to find at estate sales. On the other hand, the Buds line of dinnerware was likely made only for a trade show and is therefore rare and valuable. Larry Roschen, Board Secretary of the Pottery Museum of Red Wing, told Collector's Weekly in 2010: "The pieces are next to impossible to find. The only piece I've managed to acquire is a single Buds pepper shaker, and I've been looking for 30 years."

Red Wing produced a wide variety of pottery designs — the self-explanatory Boot Vase, the scalloped 892 Vase, and the MCM-pattern adorned Smart Set Pitcher are some of the most popular. Therefore, examining a vintage piece for a Red Wing mark will help you sort the authentic pieces from the copycats. Look for a blue oval or circle ink stamp with "Red Wing Stoneware" and "Union" or "Potteries." Each stamp also includes the words "Red Wing, Minn." Sometimes, the ink stamp is accompanied by a red or orange wing on its own; at other times, dinnerware is stamped with the name of the line. An ink stamp with a wing denotes new production pieces.