Weller Pottery Company

Samuel A. Weller (1851-1925) took up the pottery business in 1872 in Fultonham, Ohio, where he made jardinières, hanging baskets, umbrella stands and painted flowerpots. In 1880, he moved to a small building near Zanesville, and then in 1890 to a newly built structure in Zanesville. This plant burned in 1895, but was rebuilt immediately.

As early as 1893 his product mix started changing. At that time he began making fancy glazed ware and the following year acquired the processes employed by Lonhuda Pottery, which was already using the technology developed in Cincinnati of painting with slips on unfired earthenware and using atomized backgrounds. Weller's first artware was called Louwelsa and was similar to Rookwood Pottery's Standard. Additional prestige lines were subsequently developed.

The art pottery producers in Ohio were very competitive during the late 19th and early 20th century, always coming up with novel decorations that would eclipse their competitors in the marketplace. Weller would have had this competition in mind when he hired Jacques Sicard to develop a line of iridescent pottery.

The Weller Pottery ceased inventing and manufacturing art pottery lines in 1925, when Samuel Weller died. The corporation, however, continued until 1949.