Tea Plum

Steubenville Pottery (1881-1960) was founded by a group of Steubenville businessmen who persuaded A. B. Beck, a Staffordshire potter, to come to Steubenville to set up a pottery.  The city had several important prerequisites for a pottery:  easy transportation via the river and the Pan Handle Railroad, coal beds inside the city, and a ready supply of workers.  The first kiln was drawn in 1881.  In 1895 the factory converted to gas-fired kilns and employed over 200 workers.

The Potters Cooperative (aka TPC) was started by a group of disgruntled potters who had been locked out of their potteries after trying to form a Pottery Workers Union.  The facility operated from 1882 to 1925.  The facility used was at the Dresden Works which accounts for the number of pieces marked with Dresden's backstamp.  H. A. McNicol (see McNicol, Burton and D. E. McNicol) became President when the other potters returned to their original works.  

Crown Pottery began somewhere between 1892 and 1902.  The pottery under a different name was built by A. M. Beck.  After his death, a company taking the name Crown Pottery was formed.  Amount 1900, the pottery combined with Peoria Pottery Co. of Peoria, Illinois to form Crown Pottery Inc.
To date the only known pieces decorated in gold lustre and the Tea Plum motif bearing this company's mark is a child's tea set.