Lawton Gonder was born August 27, 1900 in Zanesville. He was meant to be in
ceramics from his early childhood. He was influenced by his parents, who worked
for Weller, and a family friend and noted ceramic authority, John Herold.
At the early age of 13, Gonder began working for John Herold at the Ohio Pottery
Company running molds and casting handles and spouts for teapots.
On December 8, 1941 Gonder purchased the Zane Pottery Company plant from Mrs.
Mabel Hall McClelland in South Zanesville. Thus, the beginning of Gonder's career
in making high quality art pottery.
Some of the early pieces of Gonder molds resemble RumRill designs that had been
manufactured at the Florence Pottery. Since some of the RumRill pieces have been
found with similar and sometimes identical, shapes, matching mold numbers, and
glazes, it is possible that some RumRill was produced at the Gonder plant.
During his 15 years at the Zanesville plant, Gonder produced several commercial
glazes. One was the flambe' glaze. It resembles red flames with streaks of yellow
throughout the piece. Another of his creations was "gold crackle". It had never been
done successfully before. Finally was a popular commercial line of Chinese crackle
glaze pieces which were reproductions of pottery he had acquired from a Chinese
museum. One company's advertisement was "Never before had it been possible to obtain
distinct characteristics in Chinese styling at moderate prices."
Due to the great demand of pottery during World War II, production could not be met
at the South Zanesville plant.
In 1946, Gonder purchased an old lumber company mill, Drake Lumber Company.
Two and three story additions were built for the exclusive manufacture of lamp
bases. The name of the plant was Elgee Pottery, which was Lawton Gonder's first two
initials in his name(L.G.). Unfortunately, Elgee Pottery was destroyed by a fire on
May 5, 1954 and was sold to the Allied Tile Company in 1957.
MARKS
All Gonder pieces are marked with the company name and mold number. The marks include "Gonder U.S.A." in block letters, "Gonder" in script, "Gonder Original" in script, and "Gonder Ceramic Art" in block letters. Paper labels were also used.
To view examples of Gonder Ceramic Arts:
Gonder
RESOURCES:
The Zanesville Times Recorder
Collectors Quest
Warman's Antiques and Collectibles Price Guide-32nd Edition
Kovel's Antiques & Collectibles Price List 2003
Schroeder's Antiques Price Guide - 18th Edition, 2000
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The Next Monthly Newsletter will feature Goofas Glass.
