Question:
I found a yellow bowl with a basketweave pattern at an estate sale here in Minnesota. The rim is wavy but inconsistent. There are three tiny green pinmarks. It is stamped ‘RED WING USA’ but the initials ‘BE’ are inscribed by hand on top of the stamp. Thanks. If you’d like to see more photos, see http://s265.photobucket.com/albums/ii220/sabarry/20101017/red%20wing%20bowl/?start=all

Answer: This bowl was made from an old Red Wing mold but it was not made by Red Wing Potteries. When the pottery closed in 1967 the company’s assets were sold, including the molds used to form dinnerware and art pottery items. Because the company was no longer in business there was no attempt to rub out the Red Wing name from the molds. Many of these molds were obtained by art schools and hobby potters. This mold was originally used to make bowls for the Anniversary dinnerware line. Red Wing made these bowls in several colors but yellow was not among them. The B E initials were scratched into the wet clay, which indicates it was almost certainly made by an art school student or a hobby shop potter. Some collectors are mildly interested in them as curiosities but generally they have little value.

Larry