Picked up an interesting ashtray marked “Le Richeaux” the other day. I remembered the name was a moniker that Marc Bellaire used at one time. This is the second time I’ve seen one of these pieces, the other time it was also an ashtray but I didn’t pick it up due to the damage.

The look of this piece is “sort of” like something Bellaire would do. However, keep in mind that Bellaire was doing designs under this name for the Harper Pottery (see Chipman’s Encyclopedia). And eventually, Harper sold the line and name to La Mirada for use. I’m unclear whether La Mirada then ONLY released the designs they bought, or if they created original items to be released under the Richeaux name. If it’s the latter, then this may not actually be a Bellaire design.

I’ve been neglecting PoC lately, it’s just a lot of work to keep adding companies and posts with our other sites being busy too. I’ve been trying to block off a week or two so I can work exclusively on adding quite a few remaining California potteries to the mix - there’s definitely still no shortage of companies to talk about! Also sorry, I probably won’t be answering the contact form too frequently - we just get too many enquiries to keep up lately.