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Discover Mid-America — March 2006

Minnesota has goodies

It’s a state that may have the Ole and Lena jokes and thousands of lakes, but Minnesota has two things that attract antiquers — Red Wing and Sleepy Eye.

I have dear friends that are native Minnesotans and their stories have a Scandinavian quirkiness to them. Hey, it is part of the native charm of things that are American! And quirky might be misplaced label, but it enhances our knowledge of America’s blend of nationalities.

Red Wing, the town, is on the banks of the rolling Mississippi and listed in Merriam’s Geographic Dictionary as producing footwear. But the collector knows that this lovely town also has Red Wing Pottery. My Minnesota friends have Red Wing pottery that they have collected over the years. One of their highlights was to attend the Red Wing Collector’s Club annual meeting. National clubs feature nice memorabilia at these events, and it gives the collector an opportunity to trade, discuss and buy additions to a collection. Old pieces of Red Wing are in a class by themselves.

The old Red Wing Union Stoneware Company produced items from 1878 to 1906, changing to Red Wing Pottery Inc. in1936 until 1967. Crockery of the early period is utilitarian but in cases, decorative. It is the envy of a collector to come upon a porch that has a twenty-gallon Red Wing Crock stuck in a corner as a container for firewood. These crocks have certainly served well as pickle, milk and cheese making crocks.

The Red Wing Company knew the needs of rural families and produced small and large crocks that were used in kitchens all over the Midwest. They also made jugs that could be used, not just for syrup, but also for the hot toddy that might warm cold Minnesotans feet in frigid weather. As there was plenty of raw material in the area, it was logical that other uses for the clay — sewer pipes, water crocks (for field workers), grave markers and whatever else the company found was needed was produced.

In Red Wing books, it is mentioned that the workers of this early period were allowed to use the end-of-day material to design whatever they wanted. This is probably where the grave markers, piggy banks, doggy banks and other whimsies made by Red Wingers came about.

Another Minnesota product that is highly collectible is Sleepy Eye pottery. It, too, began as gifts for the grocer who sold to a mostly rural clientele.

Research shows that the pottery items were included in 196-pound bags of flour that went to the grocer. The flour was then dumped into barrels for consumers to measure out. The inventory lists show that Western Stoneware from Monmouth, IL produced pitchers in five sizes, steins, mugs, cream and sugars, vases and salt crocks. The usual colors were whitish-gray with cobalt blue images. They also produced green, brown, green on white and brown on white pieces, the more rare colors.

Sleepy Eye Milling took its name from the town in central Minnesota. Sleepy Eye was a Sisseton Dakota Chief who must have had a droopy eye. He was highly trusted and helped the new settlers, so it was a compliment to use his name for the milling company. The name was also used for the pottery that had the image of an Indian chief on it.

It serves one well to study the old in order to know the new. There are books and Internet sites that are of great help to the novice, but as in all cases…caveat emptor, “beware!”

In doing an appraisal for a lady in Texas some years ago, we were checking out a long shelf of interesting old pieces. In that grouping were three different sized Sleepy Eyes pitchers. My husband, being the joker, said to her, “Oh, you have this one marked twenty-five cents.”

She almost yelped, “Oh, no I don’t! That is twenty-five dollars.” (That was in the good old days)

She said that she had put those prices on so that when it came time for her children to dispose of her estate, they would not put her things in a garage sale for a quarter. She put the bigger price on so they would know that this was something of value.

Treasure your collections. But be sure that your kids know that that droopy-eyed Indian is worth a lot nowadays!

Norma Crews is a native Texan, graduate of Texas Tech, former teacher and rancher, mother of three grown sons and six grandchildren, and raised in South Texas on a ranch as a member of two pioneer families.

Upon retiring from teaching and ranching, she and her husband James became pickers for large Texas shops, before branching into doing shows for a number of years in Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. She currently resides in Neosho, MO.

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