Post #185217 by Sabu The Coconut Boy on Thu, Sep 8, 2005 1:12 AM

bongofury - you have found a piece of Metlox (also known as Poppytrail) pottery in the Freeform Shape line from 1955. There were 4 patterns in this shape. Your pattern is called California Contempora. Zombified's pattern which is similar except for the color is in the California Freeform. There were also the California Mobile and California Aztec (my favorite) patterns in this shape.

Metlox was based in Manhattan Beach, just a few blocks from the pier. I have many fond memories of shopping there with my mom when I was a child, buying "seconds" at very cheap prices. My mom filled our house with whole sets of wonderful contemporary pottery in the 60s very cheaply by buying the slightly imperfect pieces where the glaze might not have been perfect or the color slightly off - nothing you could ever notice, really. All shopping was done outdoors, walking among racks and racks of every pattern of pottery, all open to the elements. A true surf-town pottery factory. Very hippie, very cool.

There was a huge controversy when the Metlox factory was torn down to make way for new restaurants and shops. It seems the owners had poured the lead-filled slag from the kilns right into the soil for decades. A huge pit that took up the whole block had to be dug at enormous expense to remove all the lead-tainted soil. That was many years ago and I'm still not sure if anything's been built on the site.

Here are some photos of your patterns from my Metlox book:

I have a few pieces of California Aztec, but given a good-sized budget, I would choose to collect the Metlox "Tropicana" line myself, decorated with pineapples and fish. I think this pattern would look especially good in your home, Bongofury, what with your Witco and Tiki and Modernist decor. Unfortunately, it is as expensive as your more uncommon and rare tiki mugs. Here are some pictures:

Sabu

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2005-09-08 01:22 ]