How can you protect yourself and add to your Watt collection safely? 

The most important thing is to know the dimensions of the piece you are considering.  To find all the dimensions of the pieces Watt Pottery made, visit the Watt Collectors website at wattcollectors.com or you can email browser for additional information.  At the website, you will find photos of the Watt Pottery pieces, their estimated value, and their dimensions.  Reproductions are usually 5-10% smaller than the original.  Getting this information can be a valuable first step in protecting yourself.

First thing to know about Watt- they NEVER made white color clay pieces!  The clay body for Watt pieces are always a creamy clay color.  Some photos can be darkened to make them look more yellow.  Be aware of that.

Second, Watt Pottery NEVER made advertising for Friendly Inter-State Lumber Company.  These pieces are not Watt.

Third, Watt Pottery NEVER marked their #15 pitchers with just the number 15 in a circle.  I only know of a couple of exceptions to this.  If you are not sure a mark is authentic, visit the Watt Pottery website or email me, browser . 

Last, make yourself familiar with the authentic colors of Watt Pottery.  Many of the reproductions do not have accurate colors. 

One of the most important things you can do to protect your investment is to check the current auctions and completed auctions of eBay sellers.  If they are selling several of the exact same piece, they may be fake.  ASK QUESTIONS !  Protect yourself, your money, and enjoy collecting Watt Pottery! 

Here are photo comparisons of fake Watt items and real ones:

1.  Fake Watt pitcher bottom       Real Watt pitcher bottom 

2.  Fake Watt Cherry              Real Watt Cherry  

You can see that the fake one has the wrong shade of green and the leaves are "colored in" rather than one long stroke.

3.  Fake Watt Tulip           Real Watt Tulip   

On this one, you can see the flowers are way too small proportionately, the center leaf is "colored in", not one stroke, and the stems are wavy, not straight.

4.  Fake Watt Apple          Real Watt Apple     

Again, the leaves on the fake one are not the right shade of green, they are "colored in", not a smooth stroke, and the apple is a heavy red color, not a lightly stroked on red.  The stems are also wavy, not straight.  It is a visibly inferior job of decoration.


5.  Fake Rooster pitcher             Real Rooster pitcher  

When the Rooster pitchers starting showing up, some changes were made to the fake pitchers.  First, they were made of a more white clay body rather than the cream color of the real Watt pitchers.  Also, the people making the reproductions realized they had the bottom mark wrong and started imprinting the bottom with the correct Watt 15 Oven Ware U.S.A. mark.  They have also gotten better with the green and red colors and the decoration technique.  You can see the Rooster looks quite good.  Here is how you can tell the difference-  they artificially aged the pitchers with chemicals to make them look heavily crazed and they have the WHITE clay body.  Look closely at the fake photo and you can see how it is crazed uniformly all over and you can see that it does not look natural at all.

6.  Lastly, with most of the fakes, the stripe on the handle is a narrow line running almost all the way down the handle.  The real Watt stripe is shorter, fuller, and more graceful.  I am unable to show these photos as eBay only allows me 10 photos in a guide, but I wanted to mention this as one more signal that the pitcher may be a fake.

Do not hesitate to ask questions.  I am NOT in competition with these auctions and will gladly steer you to the Watt Collectors website so that you can see for yourselves.  I have been a member of the Watt Collectors Association since 1996 and want nothing more than for you to enjoy collecting Watt as much as I do.  Knowledge will SAVE YOU MONEY and heartache!!!

Happy and Safe Collecting!