The Mystery of Kathy Kale

While thrifting in Colorado recently I came across an odd and intriguing thing that looked like a candle holder. It looks rather like an old exploded view of power line insulator in an odd way. It's brown ceramic, has three feet and a beautiful brown glaze-- without the ever popular drippy white edge.

What is it?

Sorry folks,I  have never been a big fan of the drip ware with white edges. My aversion probably dates to a youth of chili in drip glazed Hull bowls or my grannie's awful coffee served in heavy Hull Pottery  mugs.

The piece is marked clearly on the bottom with "Kathy Kale USA" and a monogram. The clay body is a white sturdy stoneware and even the tips of the feet are glazed. It must have sat in the kiln on a perch that held it up off the kiln floor. It has one little spot on an edge that didn't get glazed. It's not a nick as confirmed by a magnifying glass, but a flaw that got through. So who is Kathy Kale and how old is this little cool  piece and what is it?

It's a warmer. Amazing. I figured it out. How cute is this little thing? But who made it and who is Kathy Kale?

Well...that's a mystery. There were three Kale families that were potters in the Carolinas at the turn of the 20th century, as in the 1900's and before. It is thought, but I cannot find any proof, that Kathy Kale could have been a Carolina Kale.  What we do know is that her wares appeared under the aegis of at least four potteries between the 1920's and 1965. But was she a real person? A joke? A trademark? A designer? No one really seems to know.

She appears to have worked or been a trademark for Canonsburg Pottery founded in 1900 and located in Pennsylvania just outside Pittsburgh.  They sold her Kathy Kale Creations as part of their line which was primarily dinnerware. That company exited stage right in 1978.

She appears to have worked or been a trademark for Watt Pottery, founded in 1886 at Rosefarm, Ohio. The pottery was sold and restarted in 1922 when the Watt family  bought the Globe pottery of Crooksville, Ohio.They made pottery mixing bowls and dishes much as Globe had done. In 1935,  they changed with the times and made pieces with the freehand decorations that are so popular with collectors today.

Watt bowl

Apple, Starflower, Rooster, Tulip, and Autumn Foliage are the most common. Pansy, also called Rio Rose, is the rarest because the glaze was thought to be flawed and they didn't make it for long. They added mid century lines to stay on trend including Kathy Kale, which was their very last line. The plant closed in 1965.  

Her trademarked name is associated with Hull Pottery of Crooksville, Ohio. Found in 1905, Hull originally made utilitarian stoneware, dinnerware and decorative tiles. They kept up  with the times and  from the 1930's to the 1950's, churned out popular patterns of dinnerware such as Magnolia, Orchid, Calla and Rose. They hopped on the 50's pastel bandwagon too, as well as expanding into florist's vases.

Hull bowl

Hull is probably most remembered for their Mirror Brown glaze which is still the quintessential Hull glaze. In 1950 the factory was destroyed in a flood followed by a fire. They rebuilt and reopened within two years focusing on their "House 'n Garden Servware" and  Imperialist Florist lines, but closed permanently in 1986.

Hull mug

Kale also crops up in McCoy Pottery in their Town 'N Country line from the late 50's early 60's.  McCoy was in business from 1910 to 1991 under one owner or another. They didn't get around to marking their pieces until 1933 and McCoy is the most collected pottery in the USA. They made every color, every style and every size you can think of at one time or another. 

Andy Warhol collected McCoy cookie jars and he is credited with the resurgence of McCoy's popularity several years ago. Through the years McCoy was sold several times; in 1967 to Mt Clemons Pottery, in 1974 Lancaster Pottery took over the reins and in 1985 they were sold to Designer Accents in New Jersey. The company breathed its last in 1991, no longer being able to compete with cheap imports. 

Somewhere in their history Kathy Kale crops up again with McCoy and lo and behold...

It's not a Hull warmer, the glaze is wrong, Watt warmers seem to have been round and brown. Canonburg made dishes and no warmers I can find. Drum roll please, its attributed to McCoy, a line called Town 'n Country to coincide with the station wagon suburban mentality of the time. The perfect pot for a potluck, it would have been brown drip glazed with a lid and including this warmer. You can still find them for sale occasionally and the one below is in its original box!

I found this one on line still in its box!

I love solving a mystery, but I still don't know who Kathy Kale is....I'd like to think she was in joke that all these big potteries shared, or maybe a mysterious lady potter flitting from factory to factory. (And although the original pot is long gone, its perfect for a cute casserole still, like this adorable unmarked little guy I found on my trip.)

Perfect with a cute little casserole

You can find lots of collectible pottery at our wonderful store, Finders Keepers Antique Mall in Olympia at 501 East Fourth Avenue; and because we are still a 'small town' the prices are great and so is the selection.

With just a candle

And this little piece is on Etsy at
https:www.etsy.com/shop/ThatRetroRabbit

-- along with the cute casserole. What kind of vintage mysteries are you finding? I'd love to hear!