Howard Pierce Ceramics

Join the Howard Pierce Facebook group!

This is the go-to group for discussions about Howard Pierce Ceramics. Got a question about a piece? Want to share a new find?  Join the group! 

Antique Week article from 25 November 2019 (.pdf)
Christopher McPherson has written a good introduction to Howard Pierce history and some of his art. A good starting point! 

Mountain States Collector article from 06 September 2017.
Another good article, this time by Tom Cotter. More history and background. A high level overview.

 

Collector’s Encyclopedia
A great resource and full of history / pictures.  

Timeline

An overview of when Howard Pierce made some of the types of art. 

Sophie Ackford found a great glossary of ceramic terms.  

N.S. Gustin pages (.pdf)
Howard Pierce was distributed by NS Gustin Company for many years. These are some of the wholesale offerings during those times. Generally the retailer doubled the price for sales to consumers. Some of the clients were Macy’s and Bloomingdales. He shipped from Claremont CA to all parts of the US. 

A variety of back stamps through the years.
Identification of what was actually a Howard Pierce product comes in many forms. In fact we received requests from collectors to verify the authenticity of a piece. One good indication is a stamp or signature on the bottom. Here are some of those marks.

Not Howard Pierce #1
Not Howard Pierce #2
There have been some (not many) copies made of Howard Pierces pieces. Some artists have similar style as Pierce. Here are some pages of side-by-side of real Pierce vs copies.

Twentynine Palms Historical Society.
Howard Pierce spent many years in Joshua Tree, California. Sort of in retirement he still created many pieces and sold them at his studio. 29 Palms California is the home of a Marine Corps Base and many visitors to the Base would visit the studio so there was a close relationship between Pierce and 29 palms. 

Vintage Goodness article.
Another short introduction to collecting Howard Pierce Pottery

Pinterest.
As you might expect, Pinterest has LOTS of images of Pierce Ceramics, some for sale. Here is one such collection.

White Rose Antiques “for sale” page.
White Rose Antiques has a passion for Howard Pierce (I visited the shop in Petaluma – WOW!) They are selling via Etsy and you can see pictures at this link and it has a link to the Etsy page.

Etsy “for sale” page.
A quick search on Etsy turns up many of Howard’s Pieces (as does a search in Ebay!). Here is one such search.