Popular Lines & Patterns:
Island Ware, Western Way

Relevant Posts:
2009.08.03 Guppy Handled Vase
2009.06.16 Guppy Western Way

I know little about Guppy Califonia pottery, but I’ve always been intrigued by the “fishy” name. It turns out that this was just the last name of Harriet and Roy Guppy, who produced a series of island themed dinnerware items in the 1940s. Their factory was located in the beachside community of Corona Del Mar in Costa Mesa, just below Newport Beach.

I can’t say that there is a huge demand (yet) for Guppy ware - I rarely see it around in flea markets and even more rarely online. As far as I can tell, their main production was in the 1940s and relied almost exclusively on the “Island Ware” and “Western Way” lines, with various patterns of decoration. Dinnerware often had “island” touches such as bamboo shaped cup handles. Besides the square shapes of the plates, their other dinnerware shapes were interesting. I was intrigued by the Western Way shakers shown in Chipman’s Encyclopedia which resembled the Eva Zeisel “schmoos”.

The method of decoration was often a very heavy drip glaze that was allowed to run downward on the item, giving each piece a handmade look. Colors favored included burgundy, slate blue, and chartreuse. Besides the dinnerware, Harriet Guppy also made a line of elaborate animal figurines. Horses, dogs and cats all received the handmade finishing treatment, with real life fur being created much like Jane Callender’s pieces.

Not all Guppy items are marked - the Western Way plates that I bought weren’t marked at all, although ONE plate out of the bunch did have a “Guppy’s Calif” mark. Unfortuately, this plate was also the only one that was broken! Go figure… I later found a larger Western Way plate that did have a mark, and I was able to snap the photo shown below. I’m a little unsure about the company name - that is, if it was “Guppy” or “Guppy’s”. I tend to see the latter in marks, but I think the official name did not include the apostrophe-S. The marks are almost always hand painted, although I know they did use stickers at some point.

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Note: We've tried to provide as much info as possible on this pottery maker or artist. For further info, you may want to research the items they have on Ebay listed under this name. We've tried to hand tailor the searches below so they will bring up the most accurate results. If there are no results, it will list general California pottery.