Buffalo Pottery History

Buffalo Pottery was named for the New York city in which it originated, but the reason the brand became so successful had nothing to do with bison or location. The Buffalo Pottery story began when the owner of the Larkin Soap Company decided to commission a limited edition soap dish to hype flagging sales while differentiating the brand from competitors. Over time, Buffalo Pottery products grew more popular than the soap so the same genius marketer who came up with the idea for the soap dish premium (Mr. Larkin) diversified his holdings and opened a pottery business. The Buffalo Pottery Company survived the requisite growing pains and never failed to produce the finest pottery in the northeast. Today, Buffalo Pottery pieces command a respectable price at auction and are eagerly sought by loyal collectors.

History

The folks at the Larkin Soap Company needed a novel idea to boost soap sales in 1901, so company founders took a gamble and put certificates of redemption on soap packages, promising soap dishes in return for the coupons. The idea caught fire and the premium converted a multitude of soap buyers. What attracted fans was the design and quality of the pottery. Using his ingenuity, ceramics engineer William Rea went beyond his Larkin commission, pioneering a clay composition that still sends the pulses of antique hunters soaring. Rea's clay, an olive green mix that produced astonishing gradations of color in the finished product was unlike any existing pottery designs on the market. As the soap dish giveaway wound down, the Buffalo Pottery Company became the sole distributor of the newly-dubbed Deldare Ware in 1903.

The Buffalo Pottery Company expands its base

Seymour Eaton, acting head of the Buffalo Pottery Company, knew ceramicist William Rea had struck gold with his invention of Deldare, so he charged him with the responsibility for designing line extensions. The soap dish was followed by Rea-designed 8-inch pitchers that featured hand-etched wildlife designs. By 1908, wild game plates joined the growing gallery of product. Buffalo launched a commercial business in 1914 by making some of the first vitrified china on the market, created specifically for hotel dining rooms and restaurants. Buffalo Pottery's expansion grew by such leaps and bounds, a new facility was needed to meet demand. The location? Next door to the Larkin Soap Company, which happened to be designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. An innovator to the end, John D. Larkin used the proximity of his enterprises to launch yet another business: mail order sales. Unearth an early Buffalo Pottery mail order catalog and you'll own a piece of printed history.

Buffalo Pottery's styles, colors and designs are unique

It's easy to identify a Buffalo Pottery piece--and you don't have to turn the pottery over to look for the logo. Whether shaped into plates or pitchers, the olive green clay is so unique, nobody has been successful in achieving it's signature colorations. A typical finished piece might have a deep teal rim, then fade into a softer, muted teal and end with a khaki center. Rea was capable of producing blues that rivaled sapphires and greens inspired by emeralds. Classic fades to lighter colors on the body of each piece became the hallmark of the Buffalo Pottery collection. Some sported distinguishing characteristics like scalloped edges and/or painted gold rims. Every product bore the official Buffalo Pottery back stamp. As a finishing touch, each piece was hand-painted using a stencil to replicate designs on multiple pieces in a collection.

Buffalo Pottery pieces become prized possessions

Thanks to travel and word of mouth, Buffalo Pottery's Deldare Ware attracted fans across the nation. Everyone wanted to set the table with this colorful dinnerware. In response to demand, the factory churned out vases, tea sets, trivets and trays. Over time, designers updated the Buffalo Pottery logo. It was re-drawn to place a stylized image of a buffalo within a circle with the letters BUF and FALO straddling the circle. Today's collector uses these marks to estimate the age of pieces produced prior to the period when they were date stamped for archival purposes. Green Emerald Deldare dinnerware debuted the year World War I began and despite the increasingly dour financial pit into which the U.S. was sinking, the years 1923 and 1929 marked pottery introductions that are still considered among the most prized Buffalo Pottery collectibles nearly 100 years later.

Buffalo Pottery -- it's not for the dinner table anymore

Pottery hobbyists and antiquers, devoted to sleuthing out old Buffalo Pottery specimens, can be found haunting the attics, shows, barns and out-of-the-way shops in search of the perfect addition to their collections. Expect well-preserved Deldare pieces to command hefty prices--a pristine bowl, pitcher, serving plate or teapot will likely have a price tag in the $500 range. The company even "borrowed" a look from England's Parrott and Company's multi-colored Willowware line. The Buffalo version, sold as Gaudy Willow, features bold blue as the rim color fading to a light center. Nobody in England complained--they must have considered this as the ultimate compliment. Since the market for Buffalo Pottery has continued to appreciate over time, you might want to keep yours confined to a curio cabinet for safekeeping--to protect it from potential herds of charging buffalo, of course.