Niloak Pottery Miniatures

Although several potteries such as Weller Pottery or Owen Pottery at one time or another made miniature vases and pitchers, these were either salesman samples or ways to test glazes. Niloak deserves a bit of special attention for producing them specifically for distribution. In 1913, the company ran a promotion whereby customers could obtain a small sample Mission Swirl vase by sending in eighty cents worth of postage stamps. The Mission Swirl miniatures they sold at almost giveaway prices are now very much in demand by collectors and difficult to find. These pieces have been found in dozens of shapes, often nearly identical in proportion and design to the larger vases. They tended to be too small for traditional Niloak stamps, so they were sold with foil labels. Nearly all known examples are merely one inch tall.

Aside from the Mission Swirl Miniatures, many other forms were produced in two or three inch forms. They were usually sold with a paper or foil label, but many also are marked with a simple "N" for Niloak.