The Rombic Line of the Muncie Pottery Company

In 1928, Reuben Haley created designs for both Muncie Pottery and Consolidated Glass in a uniquely cubist style. The Consolidated Glass pieces were known as Ruba Rombic, and the Muncie Pottery ceramic pieces were designated as the Rombic Line. Although many antique dealers and collectors often refer to the Muncie pieces as Ruba Rombic, that was actually the name of the Consolidated glass pieces, not the Muncie. Muncie was simply Rombic.

There are 19 known shapes produced by Muncie Pottery in the Rombic Line, three of which (shapes 220-6, 220-8, and 220-10) are different sizes of the same piece. They are:

• Shape 300 (Fan Vase)

• Shape 301 (Money Bag)

• Shape 302 (Squat Vase)

• Shape 303 (Creamer)

• Shape 304 (Branch Vase)

• Shape 305 (Candle Holder)

• Shape 306 (Console Bowl)

• Shape 307 (Stacked Cubes Vase)

• Shape 308 (X Vase)

• Shape 309 (Falling Triangles Vase)

• Shape 310 (Cube Vase)

• Shape 312 (Star Vase)

• Shape 220-6 (Small Volcano)

• Shape 220-8 (Large Volcano)

• Shape 220-10 (Aladdin Vase)

• Shape 221-12 (Cannonball Vase)

• Shape 222-8 (Thin Arrow)

• Shape 223-10 (Wide Arrow)

• Shape 224-11 (The Empire)

Also included is the U45 Skyscraper lamp base. Technically it is not considered part of the Rombic Line with it's graceful curves. However, collectors usually group this essential art deco design with the Rombic line as a matter of convenience since it really fits nowhere else. This lamp base has been found constructed from wood as well.

These pieces come in a wide variety of glazes, including both Matte and Bright, in both single and in multiple colors.

The rarity of these pieces cannot be understated. The Muncie Pottery had always had difficulty with their art pottery production with failure rates much higher than industry standards. But the Rombic vases had a staggering failure rate, and aside from the star vase, they were all discontinued within the first year of production. Combine that with the small distribution footprint of the company and you have a recipe for scarcity. There are only a handful of each of the Rombic vases known to exist today. The rarest is considered to be the Stacked Cube Vase (shape 307) with only 3-4 known in collections.

All of the 200 series Rombic shapes were normally sold as lamp bases and are rarely ever found without a drill hole in the base. They were not distributed through the Aladdin Lamp Company as were several arts and crafts designs.

Below are images of the Rombic Line for reference.