I love collecting McCoy Pottery and I wanted to share my McCoy pottery collection journey with you! This is just an excuse to share a little eye candy and show you how I decorate with vintage McCoy Pottery and how to identify McCoy pottery as well.
The Start of My McCoy Planter Collection:
If you’ll excuse the old photos and their subpar quality, I originally had very few McCoy pottery pieces. This was after maybe ten years of collecting? I limited myself to yard sales mostly!
How to Display McCoy Pottery:
I mostly collect planters, and I started collecting turquoise, green, pink, cream, and yellow. Eventually, I only collected turquoise. As you saw above, my McCoy pottery planter collection started very small, but once I had this IKEA Besta cabinet for display I started to get more excited about collecting McCoy pottery. Having a place for collections always makes it more fun to find pieces and I loved the Besta cabinet because it had sturdy glass shelves and nice glass doors, so the pottery was secure but very visible!
Eventually my turquoise McCoy pottery collection grew to fill the cabinet, and it pushed out the other colors so my collection was only aqua and white:
It was a little more full in this photo!
My collection took about 15 years to get to the size, above. But that’s partly because I don’t like to purchase online. I like what I buy to have been found in my city, or on a trip. Shopping online takes away the “hunt” and I think that’s what I love most about collecting vintage. The McCoy jardinière, below, was found at an antique store in my hometown.
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| This one is the only one actually home to a plant – sometimes! |
Sometimes I use my McCoy pottery planter collection FOR plants! But mostly I just love to see them en masse, on display.
Sometimes I store spring chicks in them, lol:
I also like to pull them out for seasonal display or just cute photos. The pink basketweave planters were exceptionally cute for vintage Easter tablescapes:
But eventually my mini collection of pink basketweave McCoy Planters went to live at my Mom’s, after we gave her kitchen a pink and grey kitchen makeover!
I also used some of my turquoise McCoy pottery planters to create little spring and summer mantelscapes at my Mom’s:
I do have one McCoy pottery vase, an outlier in my collection:
See more of my vintage collections and inspiration for decorating with vintage pieces in this post: Tips for Buying Vintage Home Decor.
I think you're pretty wise not to buy online: I find, it can be so hard to judge colors. Plus, by hunting locally, you'll remember the circumstances behind every piece!
I too love McCoy pottery! I especially like the older pieces with simple lines and form. I have three collections: green, aqua, and white, and love amassing them together for a bold impact. Thanks for sharing your collection!