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Currier & Ives Ceramics Information

Currier &Ives are popular today for dinnerware prints depicting 19th century Americana, particularly winter rural scenes. Although the pottery became popular in the 1950s, the prints are a product of the late 1800s.

Nathaniel Currier and James Ives
- By the late 1850s, Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888), lithographer, and James Merritt Ives (1824-1895), business manager, had a successful lithography business in New York City. In 1907, after producing over a million prints, the firm was closed by their sons Edward Currier and Chauncey Ives.
Royal China Company
- The Royal China Company of Sebring, Ohio, was the first to use the Currier &Ives prints on pottery. Royal China introduced their Currier &Ives dinnerware in the 1950s as a supermarket premium.
Currier &Ives Dinnerware
- The Royal China products have made Currier &Ives dishes popular. The most collectible Currier &Ives dishes are the white semi-porcelain wares with blue-transfer prints, similar to the "willowware" of the early 1800s.
Decorative Ceramics
- Currier &Ives prints have also made their way onto other ceramics such as figurines, plate clocks, bells and flower pots. However, the Royal China dinnerware pieces are more valued by collectors.
Collecting Currier &Ives Ceramics
- Like the original prints, reproduction pottery imitating the Royal China ware have proliferated in the market. Collectors need to be wary of reproductions sold as originals.

Antiquing