Search The Thrift Store For This Valuable Pottery Brand That Makes Stunning Vases

When pottery collectors scouring thrift stores spot a particular shade of green and an uncommon sculptural design, they know they might have made a valuable find. But casual pottery lovers needn't feel elbowed aside by experts. A simple but elegant architectural form influenced by the Prairie School's emphasis on natural elements and a matte glaze make Teco pottery stand out on a thrift store shelf flooded with awkward homemade pots and modern vases from the florist shop. The Teco line of pottery is collected for its striking form, but it wasn't in production for long. Its scarcity adds to its value. When you're on the lookout for vintage pottery brands like Teco, color and form should be your guide.

Teco, shortened from the words terra cotta, was an offshoot of a company founded in Illinois in 1886 that produced fireproof tiles and bricks for construction. The owner, William Day Gates, started offering terra cotta pottery inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement in 1902. He chose an understated matte green glaze that may have been inspired by another highly collectible pottery line, Grueby Faience. The glaze, dubbed Teco Green, was followed by other matte colors including red, yellow, blue, brown, and gray. One high-gloss glaze, called Aventurine, had gradient colors. Over 500 designs, one believed to have been created by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, were created before Teco stopped pottery production in 1922.

There are a couple of ways to identify authentic vintage pottery at the thrift store. Teco did not favor a particular size; pieces range from a few inches in height to a remarkable seven feet tall. Teco pottery wasn't thrown, it was molded, so expect a uniform finish without the irregularities you find in hand-thrown pottery. If you're trying to determine if the vase you picked up at the thrift store is authentic, and the glaze and form seem right, check the base for a maker's mark. Teco stamped its pieces with the letter T and the letters ECO vertically under the top of the T on the right side. Very early, hard-to-find pieces have a paper label. Toward the end of the line's production, the maker's mark changed to a rectangle with the word TECO inside.

On a 2018 episode of Antiques Roadshow, an appraiser valued a large Teco rose vase with unusual floral embellishments for $20,000 to $30,000, but suggested that the final price at auction could be as high as $40,000. Phillips auction house realized a final price of $75,000 on an early Teco Green vase with a design of swirling leaves in 2013, but not all Teco commands astronomical prices. On eBay, prices realized range from $15.00 for a small vase to $2200.00 for a matte green handled vase. If you decide to sell your Teco pottery thrift store find, you'll realize the highest price by leaving the sale to experts rather than running a do-it-yourself auction at a site like eBay. A professional will determine which artist created it, describe the condition accurately, and reach a wide audience of avid pottery collectors.