Roseville Pottery became famous in the 1930’s for producing lines of pottery with several color themes to meet various decors. Early on, there were two color themes, later they standardized it to three themes per line. They were refered to by their background, or “base” color such as Brown, Blue, or Green as in the Pinecone line. Each piece was produced in each of the three colors.
Beginning in 1940, the marketing department realized that providing interesting names for the color themes might increase sales. These names appeared in advertisements in various periodicals, giving us an archive of the names provided by Roseville for the color themes of their wares. There are 15 known floral lines assigned names, with the 1952 Raymor line receiving seven additional customized color names.
The following is a chart identifying the lines, years, and their assigned color theme names.
White Rose | 1940 | Coral | Autumn Brown | Sea Blue |
Columbine | 1940 | Red | Sand brown | Frost Blue |
Bushberry | 1941 | Blue | Green | Orange |
Peony | 1942 | Coral | Sienna Brown | Nile Green |
Water Lily | 1943 | Rose | Walnut Brown | Ciel Blue |
Clematis | 1944 | Forest Green | Autumn Brown | Ciel Blue |
Freesia | 1945 | Tangerine | Deflt Blue | Tropical Green |
Zephyr Lily | 1946 | Sienna | Bermuda Blue | Evergreen |
Snowberry | 1947 | Dusty Rose | Persian Blue | Fern Green |
Apple Blossom | 1948 | Coral | Aqua Blue | Apple Green |
Wincraft | 1948 | Apricot | Azure Blue | Chartreuse |
Ming Tree | 1949 | Temple White | Jade Green | Celestial Blue |
Artwood | 1951 | Stone Gray | Poppy Yellow | Emerald Green |
Bittersweet | 1951 | Dawn Gray | Marsh Green | Saffron Yellow |
Capri | 1952 | Cactus Green | Metallic Red | Sandalwood Yellow |
Raymor was introduced in 1952 with five original colors. Those colors were Beach Gray, Terra Cotta, Avacado Green, Autumn Brown, and Contemporary White. Shortly thereafter, Burmese (Black), Spring gray, and Gold were added.
The below images illustrate the various Roseville Pottery color themes availabale for each line.