Vintage Shawnee Pottery

Founded in 1937 in the land of Roseville and McCoy, the Shawnee Pottery Company of Zanesville, Ohio, was well known for its figural salt-and-pepper shakers, whimsical cookie jars, and Corn King line of dinnerware. During World War II, most of the company's work ended up on the mess tables of aircrews and pilots serving in what was then known as the Army Air Force. After the war, though, the country was in the mood for decorative pottery in the home that was cheerful and fun. Shawnee and other American potteries filled that cultural need. Indeed, Shawnee was already there. Consider the Valencia dinnerware the company produced for Sears from 1938 to 1940. Similar in color and design to the Fiesta line introduced by Homer Laughlin in 1936, Valencia offered nested mixing bowls, vases and carafes, salt-and-pepper shakers, coffee cups, and three sizes of plates. A limited, seven-piece Corn King line came next in 1941. Originally produced with white kernels and green husks, the sugar bowls, creamers, jugs, and teapots got yellow kernels in 1946, while the line itself expanded to include mugs, cereal bowls, relish trays, butter dishes, and lidded casseroles. There was even a seven-piece Polly Ann's TV Time Pop Corn Set, which included four Corn King bowls, a pitcher for melted butter, a shaker for salt, and a canister of Betty Zane brand pop corn. But by 1954, Corn King was dethroned by Corn Queen, whose kernels got lighter as its husks got darker. There was also a Pennsylvania Dutch dinnerware line. Vintage Shawnee cookie jars run the gamut from a pair of pigs named Smiley (always bald-headed) and Winnie (always wearing a hat), decorated in cold-painted applications of green clovers or pink flowers, to name but two of the numerous designs. Naturally there were Corn King cookie jars, too, as well as cookie jars shaped like sailor boys, little Dutch boys and girls (named Jack and Jill, of course), a smiling dog named Muggsy, a kitten named Puss N' Boots, a winking owl, and a rearing elephant. Smaller than cookie jars, and thus easier to collect for those with limited space, are vintage Shawnee figural planters, which appear designed to hold a small cactus that you might purchase at a five-and-dime store rather than a plant that will actually grow. Their diminutive size may be why these planters are sometimes labeled as toothpick holders. Naturally there are lots of cats, dogs, elephants, and pigs, but Shawnee planters were also made in the forms of children from China and South America dressed in their stereotypical native costumes. Shawnee designers also created planters featuring deer and ducks, seashells and squirrels, and wagons and automobiles.