This is another one of those potteries where I know little about the actual company. I wasn’t even certain of the name, just that the mini creamer above that I found was marked as Vonlynn. I had been assuming the person’s last name was actually “von Lynn”. I originally picked up this item at the thrift store because it had decorations and a color scheme which reminded me of some of the Cleminson lines. But as soon as I turned it over, I knew it wasn’t because of the name.

It’s rather interesting that the handle is of the solid type that doesn’t have a hole in it. I think it’s Tudor, or was it Metlox, that had little cups similar to this. Also, the glazed decorations on the outside are repeated once in the INTERIOR bottom of the cup, and the top of the handle has a decoration as well.

To date, I’ve only seen a few examples of California pottery marked as “Vonlynn” and those have been decorated plates. In one of those listings, they actually said that it was marked as “Vonlynn Hollywood”. That’s my only evidence that the company may have been located in Hollywood.

Update 10/2009: I recently got a chance to look at a few bound issues of Ceramics Industry at the library. In one of the 1944 issues, there was the following tidbit concerning Von Lynn Ceramics:

Von Lynn Ceramics is [a] firm name under which Jane Houghton and Henry Von Schloeten have published a certificate that they are conducting business in Los Angeles, Calif.

This was all the blurb said - but I’m assuming that places the company’s beginning around 1944. It doesn’t really shed any light on the name Von Lynn though, other than that one of the person’s last names contains the “Von” prefix.

Update 11/2009: I received a nice email from Terrie Lynn Houghton, the daughter of Jane Houghton. That solves the rest of the mystery of who the company was named after. Terrie says that as a child she used to watch her mom pour the molds for the ceramics and paint them by hand.

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