Illustrated Guide to Roseville Color Names

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 Rose1940CoralAutumn BrownSea Blue
Columbine1940RedSand brownFrost Blue
Bushberry1941BlueGreenOrange
Peony1942CoralSienna BrownNile Green
Water Lily1943RoseWalnut BrownCiel Blue
Clematis1944Forest GreenAutumn BrownCiel Blue
Freesia1945TangerineDeflt BlueTropical Green
Zephyr Lily1946SiennaBermuda BlueEvergreen
Snowberry1947Dusty RosePersian BlueFern Green
Apple Blossom1948CoralAqua BlueApple Green
Wincraft1948ApricotAzure BlueChartreuse
Ming Tree1949Temple WhiteJade GreenCelestial Blue
Artwood1951Stone GrayPoppy YellowEmerald Green
Bittersweet1951Dawn GrayMarsh GreenSaffron Yellow
Capri1952Cactus GreenMetallic RedSandalwood 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.

Illustrated Guide to Roseville Color Names
Roseville Pottery Columbine Colors
Roseville Pottery Bushberry Colors
Roseville Pottery Peony Colors
Roseville Pottery Water Lily Colors
Roseville Pottery Clematis Colors
Roseville Pottery Freesia Colors
Roseville Pottery Zephyr Lily Colors
Roseville Pottery Snowberry Colors
Roseville Pottery Apple Blossom Colors
Roseville Pottery Wincraft Colors
Roseville Pottery Ming Tree Colors
Roseville Pottery Artwood Colors
Roseville Pottery Bittersweet Colors
Roseville Pottery Capri Colors

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