McCoy is a name that carries a history of fine manufacturing and design. The company started around the early 1900’s and became a name brand that rubbed “elbows” with the top pottery brands in existence. In 1925, it changed its name to McCoy-Brush, but it still carried the McCoy moniker for notoriety all these years. The McCoy trademark is noted around the world for its classy styling and continues to make its mark with collectors and appreciators of fine quality porcelain.

The true beginning of McCoy pottery lies with W nelson McCoy of West Virginia. This gentle farmer built a small cabin to produce small quantities of “BlueBird” style pottery. Many small developers of this genre were out in the country farmers turned potters. Much of this occurred in Putnam , Ohio ...where W. Nelson settled as well. It was to be his son, J.W. Nelson that would drive the line to it’s modern notoriety...the J.W. McCoy collection. Through the years, the McCoy name collaborated with various people to split the name and ownership. However, through it all, it still maintained the mystique of being branded as the McCoy pottery line.

McCoy pottery is unique in a couple of ways. One is that many of the earlier pieces carry a sense of Americana in their themes and functionality. Where many different pottery lines cater to a worldwide sense of style, McCoy really hit home with its attention to early American tastes. The other factor seemed to be its approach to varying the lines. Through its history, McCoy never settled for simple generation-to-generation copying itself, but always seemed to vary what they created. Truly, McCoy is a name that defines originality.