HOME
ABOUT OTC
LINKS
POTTERY LINKS
eBay LINKS
FAKE ALERTS
FAKE ALERTS 2
FRAUD FORMS

Free Stuff
CRAFT PAGES
HOUSEHOLD HINTS
COOKING HINTS

• The Abingdon Pottery was started in 1908 by Mr. and Mrs. James Simpson. Originally Abingdon Sanitary Manufacturing Company, then Abingdon Potteries, Inc. and finally Briggs Manufacturing.
• The first 20 years were in the production of quality plumbing fixtures.
  Upon the arrival of the Depression years in 1929, demand for such fixtures dropped.
  They were forced to shut down two vitreous china plumbing fixture manufacturing plants, Situated on opposite sides of Abingdon with the South Plant containing 176,000 square feet and the North Plant 174,000.
• The original South Plant was started in 1908 and was added to at various times with the newest building being constructed in 1923. The North Plant was built in 1926.
• The directors of what was then Abingdon Sanitary Manufacturing Company hired Raymond E. Bidwell as president in 1933, to save the company from possible bankruptcy.
  
• Mr. Bidwell initiated the production of Abingdon Pottery artware and distributing it worldwide, which was the salvation of a company deeply in trouble.
  It was determined that it could be produced in the same facilities, using the same body clays, kilns, glazes, colors and the same production methods used in making the plumbing fixtures. The vitreous china body was far superior to the usual earthenware or non-vitreous bodies used in Art Pottery.
• Ceramic engineer, Lloyd R. Petrie, was an expert in both bodies and glazes. With the bodies he developed delicate handles could be cast and it was also suitable for casting pieces separately and then attaching them together
• Abingdon was among the first to produce colored plumbing fixtures and for years made the standard plumbing fixture colors for the National Bureau of Standards in Washington.
• Glazes of unusual texture were developed such as Matte, crystalline and iridescent glazes and were brought out along with the regular gloss, mottled and crazed effects
• F. Q. Mason of Mason Color and Chemical Works at East Liverpool, Ohio was a consultant with his extensive and unique knowledge of colors and their development. Mr. Mason had supplied the U.S. Treasury Department with chrome oxide for printing the faces of all currency. The same chrome oxide was used for all of Abingdon's many greens.
• 1,000 individual designs were developed with nearly 6,000,000 pieces sold. Of these over 800,000 were lamp bases. With a use of approximately 150 various colors or shades, with new glazes introduced in the Spring and Fall.
• Very few of the lamps were marked, those that were marked have a letter preceding the number, such as V, AL, C or S.
• Most pieces were in a gloss finish, although various matte finishes and semi-gloss finishes are common. Hand painting was done in the Pottery plant.
• The Abingdon Pottery used the same process to make artware that it used to make its plumbing ware. This made for a definite robust appearance created by the industrial strength materials and processes used to make the bodies and glazes. Made of high-fired china, pieces of Abingdon were guaranteed to hold water. Especially selected china clays from England and Georgia, ball clays from England and Tennessee, flint or ground silica sand from points in Illinois, and feldspar from the company's own mines in the Black Hills of South Dakota all went to make this strong china body. The feldspar in this mixture, binds the clays and flint together under intense heat while the china clays provide fast casting and light color and the ball clays give strength in production and in the finished product.

  Designs included vases in small, medium and large sizes, hurricane lamp bases, ash trays, statues, wall decorations, head vases, chess pieces, figurines, urns, jugs, planters, bookends, console bowls, candleholders, cornucopias, cigarette accessories, plates, compotes, pitchers, refrigerator sets, range sets, tea sets, tiles, jam sets, salad and soup bowls, floor vases, sand jars, flower pots, string holders, lamp bases, and cookie, candy and vanity jars.