Fruit Planters

In 1953-54, the McCoy Factory produced a line of fruit planters.  These planters consisted of a piece of fruit sitting on a leaf.  They were produced with natural, realistic designs and coloring. The detail is fantastic!  Every vein of the leaf is present, along with the actual texture of each piece of fruit.  These are truly works of art.

If you look closely at the photo above, you will see many different shades of green in the leaves of the planters.  Although the ACTUAL color may vary slightly, the differences in the photos above are ONLY because of the different lighting and color settings used when the photos were taken.  The ACTUAL color that McCoy Pottery used is closest to the color of the leaf on the pear planter photo above.  There are two RARE exceptions to this.  A 1958 catalog sheet shows that the orange planter was made with a brown leaf and a lime green leaf as part of the Calypso line.  Although just a few planters with brown leaves have surfaced, to date, there is only one known planter with a lime green leaf. 

Of all the fruit planters, the pomegranite, grapes, lemon and bananas are the hardest to find. The orange planter is the only one that originally came with cold paint applied over a glossy base.  Underneath the orange colored cold paint, the glaze is a glossy yellow.   Some dealers and new collectors say McCoy made a grapefruit planter......but what they are actually referring to, is the orange planter with the cold paint removed.  All of the fruit planters are marked McCoy.