How to Collect Roseville Pottery

Familiarize yourself with Roseville Pottery patterns. Know that Roseville Rozane is considered to be the first notable art pottery line produced by the company in 1900. The name was a combination of the first two letters in Roseville and the first four in Zanesville.

Know that some collectors say the "middle period" was when Roseville Pottery produced its best pieces. That period was from about the 1920s to the 1930s, and it included several popular designs such as Sunflower and Wisteria.

Consider that the company's most commercially successful pattern was called Pinecone, which came in blue, brown and green. Pinecone was introduced by the company in 1935. Some scarce Roseville art pottery designs include Aztec, Crystalis and Della Robbia.

Study Roseville Pottery marks before amassing a collection. The company marked its pottery in many different ways. Die-impressed Rozane marks are among the earliest identifiers. Between the late 1920s and mid-1930s, Roseville pieces had paper or foil labels, and some of them included shape and size numbers.

Watch out for fakes when collecting Roseville Pottery pieces. The glaze on fake pieces will look drab, and the overall design lacks the detail found on genuine Roseville pieces. Examine pictures of the company's original pottery found in books and on collectors' websites to keep from buying copies. Art pottery dealers can be found on the American Art Pottery Association website.