Nov 12, 2012

A Little Piece of Medalta

A few weeks ago my aunt Bev was kind enough to mail me this small piece of Medalta pottery that she had.  It's a mini jug souvenir and is another classic western icon.  I've been displaying it next to my Hycroft cowboy hat.  

What's particularly interesting about this piece is that it's stamped Medalta - Redcliff - Alberta.  The original Medalta Potteries closed in 1954 and was located in Medicine Hat, but in 1966 some former employees of Medalta tried to revive the brand by producing pottery out of a small factory in Redcliff.  The town is right next door to Medicine Hat, but there are no longer any remnants of that factory.  

The small operation didn't last very long, but it's not uncommon to see a variety of Medalta products with the Redcliff stamp on them.  It's actually pretty neat, because I don't think a lot of people are aware of this brief chapter in Medalta's history.  Not only is it a nice souvenir, but it introduced me to a part of the story I hadn't heard before.          






1 comment :

Liesa said...

Great article, thanks for the information, I was looking to date my own Medalta mini-jug, as I was puzzled by the stamp locating them in Redcliff, and came across your article. It is interesting to know what time period it is from.