Question:
I have a coffee cup, plate and cereal/soup bowl that has a clownface pattern on each. It was never sold in public. My grandmother bought it in Red Wing in the late 40′s-50′s. Each is in mint condition.Any idea of the value?

Answer: Without a photo or more thorough description of your set I cannot confirm that it was made by Red Wing Potteries.

In the late 1950s Red Wing made a set of clown-faced dishes named the Harlequin Clown Baby Set. This set is listed in Red Wing’s July 1958 dealer’s price list; to my knowledge this is the only catalog that includes the clown set. The set includes 3 pieces: a cup (looks like a coffee cup), 5" bowl and 8" plate. All pieces have a tan fleck background color and hand painted clown face. The set sold poorly and remaining pieces were soon moved to the Red Wing Pottery Salesroom store, which sold second quality and overstock pieces.

Today this clown set is rare and quite valuable. I haven’t seen any sell recently, but five or six years ago a cup and bowl sold for $700 and a plate sold for around $450.

Larry