Brush McCoy and Dry Late Summer Flowers

Three Brush McCoy Pots With Flower Arrangements

Onyx ware was a line of pottery produced by Brush-McCoy Pottery. The history of the company is a bit complex with all its name changes and mergers throughout the years. The company started in 1848 as “W.F McCoy” and the pieces shown here were probably created probably sometime in the 1920s (a guess…exact dates we’ll leave for the experts) when the company was called Brush-McCoy. At The McCoy Pottery Collectors’ Society, there is an article on the technique that gave the pots their “onyx” look. There was an earlier and later technique onyx technique. The earlier technique involved introducing additional glaze colors with a brush at intervals around the piece. This produces a stippled appearance which the vases shown here – to our eye – seem to have.

Green Brush McCoy Pot is flouting some English lavender.
The green pot contains Lavandula angustifolia, but, possibly a subspecies, we don’t know. Sloppy record keeping is to blame.

Brown Brush McCoy Urn (with two handles) is sporting Phlomis russeliana of Jerusalem Sage.
Dave's Garden says that this mint family (Lamicease) phlomis is named“[f]rom the Greek word for mullein, perhaps due to the similarity of the leaves.” And, well, ruseliana is named after someone called Russell. What a great smell these dried leaves and blossoms have.

This pot was a gift of Wild Dingo.

Blue Brush McCoy Pot is holding spent Butterfly-bush blossoms.
Butterfly-bush is quite common in Seattle. The best specimens seem to grow uninvited, along roadsides in the unlikeliest of places. This intentionally planted Butterfly-bush is Buddleja davidii ‘Back Knight’. It was named for Adam Buddle (1662 – 1715) and Father Armand David (1826 – 1900).

Brush McCoy Onyx Pots

An Outdoor Table Setting of Brush McCoy