Denver’s White Pottery

THE OKLAHOMA PERIOD 1910 – 1911

During a very brief period of time Frank White operated a pottery at 414 North Stiles Avenue, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Whites came to Oklahoma shortly after a death in the Klingaman family. Mrs. White was the former Nellie Klingaman.

The warmer climate and higher humidity aggravated a health condition in the White family and within approximately eighteen months they returned to Denver.

Sources state, that as far as is known, the same marking system was used in the Oklahoma City operation as was used in Denver. Once again, not all pieces were marked. Except for a little known fact, this practice would have made the identity of Oklahoma items almost impossible.

Much of the soil around Oklahoma City is red in color and so was the clay Frank took from a farm south of what is now Tinker Field, which he used in making the

Oklahoma pots. According to available sources this red clay was the only one used in Oklahoma. Due to the very brief period of operation and limited production, this appears entirely logical. One and a half years in not much time in which to set up a pottery, do very much experimenting, and engage in a very large scale production with a crew of two or three people at most.
Collectors should be alert for any red, unglazed pieces of pottery in and around Oklahoma City and especially if they are marked “Denver”!

THE LATE PERIOD 1920 – 1960

The late period of the White Pottery, which spanned forty years, consists of four basic lines or categories of art pottery and a variety of miscellaneous items.

One line of pottery produced during this period consisted of pieces with monochrome glazes. The glazes developed and used by White were varied with colors running from dark blue, light blue, turquoise, maroon, pink, to cream and olive green. Light blue and turquoise were the most commonly used colors.

The second major line of pottery was swirl. White’s swirl was of high quality, similar to Niloak’s. Several combinations such as blue and white, blue and white covered with a transparent white glaze, blue and white and reddish-brown, and blue and white and tan made White’s swirl quite interesting. Normally, the bands of color are much narrower than seen on Niloak Swirl.

The third line produced was White’s Jasper-like ware. The pieces in this line were covered with a colored blue slip.

A large percentage of the pieces had a thin band of reeding impressed around the top half and was usually filled with a white slip. Reeding, without the color, similar to White’s is seen on some examples of Roblin.

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