McCoy Pottery by Bob Hanson, Craig Nissen, Margaret Hanson (1996)

Some of us are born to buy old stuff. We find it in junk shops, garage sales, flea markets, and then we have to figure out just what it is we have filling up all those spaces in our house. We need good books, with good pictures, and clear and concise information on the people that made whatever it is we have.

If you collect Nelson McCoy Pottery,(or think that find from the garage sale is "the real McCoy"), this book will go a long way towards getting you started. Hundreds of color photographs of vases, flower pots and cookie jars will help you learn the style of McCoy and help you identify common patterns and colors throughout the pottery's production life. If you are honest enough to admit that you don't know everything to all those friends that will come up to you with their Great Aunt Tessie's favorite Smiley cookie jar, here's a way of looking like you do, at least, know how to find out.

For many years, I tried to figure out the differences between Nelson McCoy, Brush McCoy, and Brush pottery. This book is the first I have read that gives an accurate history that shows that those were two, not one, potteries, and how they evolved. Being able to read and understand that was worth the cost of the book alone to me.

Price guides are out of date the moment they are printed, and knowing what something is worth is not as important as knowing what it is in the first place. That said, the price guidelines in this book can help you determine the relative value of pieces of pottery, even as it may no longer be accurate on the exact value. You can see that a Capri vase is worth more than a Floraline planter, and that not all cookie jars are created equal. My original copy of this book is several years old now, but I can still tell you what is a rare find, even if I can't tell you what it is worth exactly - and honestly, even a brand new guidebook can't really tell you if you'll get what they claim you will.

As a collector of American Art Pottery for almost thirty years, I find this book, and its companions on other potteries to be the most useful available. I go back to them often. At the low price equivalent of a few hours running the garage sale gauntlet on a Saturday, they are worth every penny of their cost, and then some. I recommend all the books in this series very highly.