The Spaulding China Co. and China Craft Connection

There was a unique relationship between Spaulding China Co. and China Craft. There was a small pottery located in Sebring, Ohio near the Spaulding China Co. pottery. This company was organized by Lester Oliver Locke in 1950 and owned by Ralph H. Brown. The company was called "China Craft" and employed about 20-25 people. Mr. Locke ran the pottery from its beginning. They operated from 1950 to 1961 producing artware pottery along with small dishes, planters, and vases.

In 1957 when Spaulding China Co. was closed by Morris Feinberg there were many orders still open on the books. An arrangement was made to transfer certain molds from Spaulding to China Craft to complete the open orders. After the open orders were completed, the specific molds were used by China Craft to produce pieces with their labels on them. See the Mallard Duck photo above with the China Craft foil label on it. From 1957-1961 China Craft produced pieces from the Spaulding molds and got into making small volume lots of custom piggy banks. The Park National Pig Bank is probably the most known piece. There was also a market for custom pig banks with decals for special occasions or specific groups such as fraternities and sororities. Check out the Gallery section on this site under Pig Banks and view the many options for pig banks.

As the markets changed the smaller potteries were not able to compete with the much larger potteries in the area and from the cheap Japanese imports and as a result China Craft closed in 1961.