WARNING!

Spring will soon be here, but before you get your butterfly nets out, you better take a second look at what is out there that you might just catch if you're not careful!

It was recently brought to our attention that a reproduction of the butterfly shaped vase made by the Nelson McCoy Pottery has surfaced.

 
Although this doesn't seem to be a NEW reproduction, we still want to bring it to your attention.  Several of these are being found in Texas, but are likely to show up all over the US.  

As you can see from the picture above, the copy is a very good replica of the original.  As with most reproductions, the size is slightly shorter than the original.  There are also some other discrepancies that are outline in the chart above.

Comparison Chart
 

Real

Reproduction
Height 5 1/2" - 5 5/8" 5 1/8" - 5 1/2"
Markings USA none
Glaze Same on the inside as on the outside White on the inside, colored on the outside.  Note:  The color wraps over the edge about 1" into the interior of the vase.
Bottom Dry Glazed
Mold Differences See Below!

Luckily, there are two other differences that are very easy to see.  The first is a set of horizontal lines on the lower part of the body on the reproduction piece.  The original piece did NOT have these lines.  Instead, the original piece had vertical lines, almost outlining the body of the butterfly.  If you look at the photo on the left, you can see these lines that are present on the reproduction piece.  Sorry for the black and white photo, but it tends to show detail better! 


The second obvious difference is that the reproduction has an outline around the outer edge of the entire piece.  Again, the original did NOT have this outline.  These differences are clearly visible in the photos above.

Some of these reproduction pieces have been found in colors similar to the original McCoys.  Others, however, have been found in very DIFFERENT color/glazes that don't even come close to resembling the originals.  On all reproduction pieces, the glaze on the interior of the piece is white.  The original pieces had the same glaze inside and out.  Note, however, that on some of the reproductions, the color wraps over the edge of the top, and into the interior about 1" before the white appears.

At this point, this particular piece doesn't appear to be being massively produced.  Our opinion is that the mold was created by some hobbiest who thought the vase was so beautiful, they wanted to produce more of them.  At this point it doesn't appear that the vase was produced to fool collectors into thinking it is the "Real McCoy".  We will continue to update this information as we learn more.

Special thanks to Randy and Jerry for providing the above information and photos!

 

For more information on reproductions, please be sure to visit our reproduction alert page!