Question:

Hello Experts,

My question is-

How many King of Tarts were made total in each of the colors?

and are these all the colors?

multi colored

dusty blue

speckled blue green with black

cinnamon

pink with black

wheat

chartreuse

Thanks- Angela

Answer:

Sorry but I have no idea how many King of Tart cookie jars were produced in each of the colors.  I don’t have access to production numbers and to my knowledge no such documentation exists.

We do not have thorough documentation on the King of Tarts cookie jar.  I have brochures from 1955 and 1956 that list the available colors as Fleck Blue and Fleck Pink.  Production of the multicolor jar began in the 1940s as evidenced by jars with an ink stamp that was not used after 1949.  The other colors were likely produced in the early 1950s but we have no documentation of dates or available colors.

My list of available colors would include multicolored, fleck blue with black trim, fleck pink with black trim, dusty blue, rust, and yellow.  Most likely rust = cinnamon and yellow = chartreuse.  I am not aware of a “wheat” colored King of Tarts jar, but would not be surprised to learn there are additional colors that I’ve not seen.

Larry

Question:

I received these bowls from my Great-Aunt. I do not know if they are Red Wing Pottery. Could you please check into this for me. I am doing my own research on line on many of the other items but still need help with some. Thank you so much.

Yes, enjoying retirement but miss my clients so much as they became friends thru the years of service.

Myra

Answer:

The bowls in the photo were indeed made by Red Wing as part of their Gypsy Trail Hostess Ware line.  They were introduced in 1940 and were listed in catalogs until 1943.  Many collectors refer to them as Brides bowls and that is the term used in the 1942 catalog.  But catalogs from other years named them Shower bowls or two-toned bowls.  They could be purchased individually, as a nest of five bowls in sizes 5-6-7-8-9 inches, or as a nest of six bowls with the additional 10 inch bowl.  Your nest includes six bowls and thus is the complete set.

Generally these bowls are worth $40-60 each if they are in excellent condition.  Some buyers may be willing to pay a premium to acquire a complete set like yours.  It’s a very nice set!

Larry

Question:

Dear Red Wing experts:

Maybe ten years ago, a street person from my neighborhood here in Washington, DC offered me two boxes of assorted glass/ceramic items for $6. An inveterate scavenger, of course I took the deal.

As it turned out, he had scooped these boxes up from an alley trash pile. The story goes that a widower cleaned out his deceased wife’s possessions, and apparently she had traveled around the area buying things, including a lot of teapots. Some were by Sadler, some by Hall, some by other companies I don’t recognize. I found a lot of price stickers in the $20-25 range, and a few receipts from PA and MD shops dated in the 1980s.

Amongst this little collection (my heart breaks when I wonder what had already been hauled away to the landfill), I found this teapot, which says Red Wing on the bottom. Knowing nothing about Red Wing, I have no idea whether it’s legit or not.

I can’t say the design – or its rather primitive execution – really appeals to me aesthetically, but there is something about its humble clumsiness (the poor beakless bird with its sloppily painted feathers, the raised design whose edges are neither crisp nor well defined) that makes me like it anyway. I imagine some worker, forced to take his/her grade school kid along to work that day, pulling out a brush and some paint and saying, “Have at it.”

If you can tell me something about this piece – anything – I would be grateful.

Katrina

Answer:

Red Wing Potteries produced dinnerware from the early 1930s until 1967.  Early dinnerware was glazed in a wide range of solid colors.  In 1941 Red Wing introduced its first dinnerware with hand painted artwork.  Over time this feature became a well-known hallmark of Red Wing dinnerware.  Artwork was applied in assembly line fashion by local girls and young women hired for that purpose.  Painters were each given one or two colors to add to each piece as it passed on down the line.  The three colors on your teapot were likely applied by three different painters.

In the mid 1940s Red Wing produced three tea sets, each consisting of a matching teapot, sugar and creamer. These sets do not belong to any dinnerware pattern, they are simply stand-alone tea sets. Most likely these three tea sets were sold as giftware. To my knowledge these tea sets have not been identified in a Red Wing catalog or price list so we don’t know their official names. Collectors sometimes refer to this teapot as a “figural bird”. I would put the value for this teapot in the $30 to $40 range, assuming excellent undamaged condition. While this teapot can be fairly difficult to find, it also does not seem to be in high demand so the value is rather low relative to teapots in the more popular dinnerware patterns.

By the way, the bird does have a beak.  The feet and beak are present in the bird’s raised figure but aren’t painted, they were left white because that’s how the teapot was designed.  This was not an oversight on the part of the painters.

Larry

Question:

I have a piece of Red Wing that I cannot find any info online about. IT is not bit so my first thought would be a measuring cup or a scoop or a creamer. It just looks to little to be a gravy boat. It is orange. Can you help me identify it and value it? It is perfect condition and i would probably ebay it. I didn’t clean it for the photo sorry. Thanks Jeanine.

Answer:

Red Wing catalogs listed your item as a Butter Boat.  It was made in the early 1940s as part of Red Wing’s Gypsy Trail Hostess Ware line.  Value for a butter boat in excellent condition is $20-30. -Larry