My Metlox Cookie Jar Collection!

THE HISTORY OF METLOX

Manufacturer Profile: Metlox

In spite of the Great Depression, there are still many success stories that have their beginnings in Southern California in the 1930s. The Metlox pottery factory was built in 1927, and was located in Manhatten Beach, a suburb of greater Los Angeles. The factory stood in the same spot where it continued to produce pottery for over 60 years! The name Metlox is an abbreviation of “metal oxide”, which is glaze ingredient terminology.

Ceramic tiles were one of the company’s first successes prior to the dinnerware lines that would come soon afterward. During the economic depression of the early 1930s, Metlox manufactured and sold ceramic tiles for use on neon movie theatre and advertising signs.

Prior to World War II, the five patterns that Metlox produced were solid color patterns, which came in various shapes that Metlox called a series or line. All shape lines came in various colors that could be mixed and matched much like Homer Laughlin’s Fiesta ware or some of the Bauer and Franciscan patterns.

In 1946, just after WW II, the Camellia pattern was released by Metlox. This pattern was almost an exact copy of Desert Rose, a highly successful pattern by Franciscan, another California pottery. Soon afterward, California Ivy and California Apple were introduced, which were also extremely close to two other successful Franciscan patterns with the same names. However, the streamlined coupe shapes were a distinguishing Metlox feature that anticipate the original, modern pattern designs that were to follow. It was about this time that Metlox began to market their patterns under the name Poppytrail.

In about 1950, under the art direction of Bob Allen and Mel Shaw, Metlox began to introduce some wonderfully creative shapes and patterns. Allen and Shaw were formerly in the animation business. This type of artistic background may well be the major influence that would lead to the development of the uninhibited and imaginative Metlox patterns of the 50s and 60s.

Metlox achieved one success after another in their Poppytrail pottery line. When the Vernon Kiln pottery closed its doors in 1957, Metlox was able to purchase the right to use the Vernon name and acquire production materials to continue manufacturing some of the successful Vernon patterns. These patterns formed the basis for a newly created Vernonware line at Metlox. The Vernonware patterns were marketed completely separately from the Poppytrail patterns. The belief was that the two competing lines could compliment and stimulate each line’s sales, like the divisions of General Motors. Although the new Vernonware line initially floundered, new patterns designed by Allen and Shaw were introduced and the line’s sales eventually matched those of the Poppytrail line.

The Metlox company enjoyed much economic success with the Poppytrail and Vernonware lines until the late 1970s. Then, like so many other American potteries (and glassworks), Metlox was slowly edged out by foreign competition. Increases in natural gas prices and labor costs combined with a market demand for lower retail prices eventually led to such a small margin that the company could no longer operate in the black. Although there were some successes in the late seventies and in the eighties, like the Lotus and Colorstax patterns and the introduction of some of their finest giftware items, the Metlox factory finally closed in 1989.

Many of the colorful all American Metlox patterns were produced in such large quantities that they can be easily collected, while other more obscure patterns and piece types may be more difficult. Either way the hunt for these patterns is not an impossible one. Collectors can enjoy knowing that every piece of Metlox represents a significant era in American pottery history.

Reference

Metlox Potteries. Carl Gibbs Jr. 1995, Collector Books, Paducah, KY.