Southern Potteries / Blue Ridge China

The Blue Ridge Pottery Club will hold the 30th Annual Blue Ridge Pottery Show and Sale at the Unicoi Middle School in Erwin, TN on October 1st - 3rd, 2009. More information can be found at their website.

The 29th annual Blue Ridge Pottery Show was held on the October 2nd - 4th, 2008 in the Unicoi Middle School in Erwin, TN.  There were thirty-six dealers from Florida to California and in-between. The show coincides with the Unicoi County Apple Festival that is held on Main Street in Erwin. The economy and gas prices had an affect on this years attendance for both the show and Apple Festival. Here are a few images from the show (click on them for larger images).

Just because it's hand painted doesn't mean it's Blue Ridge! There is almost always something listed in the Blue Ridge category on EBay that isn't Blue Ridge. Some items commonly mistaken for Blue Ridge include wall pockets and spoon rests and glassware. You will find glassware to match some Blue Ridge patterns, but Southern Potteries did not manufacture the glassware. One of the most commonly mid-identified items are boot vases.  Southern Potteries only made one size boot vase and it was 8" tall. The 5 1/2" boot vases commonly seen are not Blue Ridge. I've even seen sellers list items as Blue Ridge even though they are marked "England", "France", and "Japan".

The bottom line is, you the collector has to know what is and isn't Blue Ridge. The best way to do that is to own one of the reference guides. When I first started collecting, I took mine everywhere, and it came in handy on numerous occasions.

I've had numerous questions recently about fakes and reproductions. I will be adding additional information about this issue in the future. For regular dinnerware pieces, there is no evidence that any of those pieces have ever been reproduced. If you are not sure about something you want to bid on, please feel free to ask me about it.

The good news is that I haven't seen any reproductions trying to be passed off as authentic Blue Ridge since late in 2006. I believe that all of the pieces in question that sold in 2005 and 2006 came from the same source and enough questions were raised that the persons responsible have not tried to sell any more of those pieces, on EBay at least.

In September 2006, a Chocolate Pot sold that has a reproduction lid. In this case, I have no doubt that the seller knew it was a reproduction lid. I attempted to contact the seller three times during the auction and never received a reply. My last message to them stated I knew it was a reproduction, still no reply or denial. Below are the the reproduction lid (on the left) and a lid from a chocolate pot in my collection. Each picture can be clicked on to bring up a larger picture. The shape of the bottom half of the finial on the reproduction lid is much different and on the authentic lids, there is a distinctive ridge at the mid point of the finial which is lacking on the reproduction lid. ALL of my lids are shaped like the one pictured on the right.

Two Chocolate Pots that sold in February 2006 had what I believe to be reproduction lids. The shape of the knobs on top of the lids were not consistent with those of 11 lids I have in my collection and neither lid fit well into the base of the chocolate pot.

At least one Chocolate Set Tray sold on eBay in 2005 was NOT authentic. The buyer of the tray has verified with me that it is a reproduction. The buyer of a second tray never responded to my inquiries but I am confident that it was a reproduction as well. There is evidence that the seller knew that the trays were reproductions and passed them off as authentic. Both of those trays were unmarked. If you have purchased any item you feel is not authentic, or if you have any information concerning other Blue Ridge items being reproduced and not stamped or sold as such, please let me know. See the Contact page for my email information.