Van Briggle Blue Vases: Ming Blue, Turquoise & Other Blues

Most blue Van Briggle is Turquoise Ming, the pottery’s signature glaze. Collectors and auction houses usually call it Ming Blue; it has also been sold as Ming Turquoise, Ming, and Blue-Green, and all of those are the same glaze family. In 1969 it was one of only two matte glazes still in production and about 30 percent of everything the pottery made, so a blue Van Briggle vase can come from almost any decade between 1902 and 2012.

The way the blue was applied changed over that century, and that is what dates a blue vase once you have checked the bottom. Values run from about $275 for a mid-century vase to $43,750 for a 1902 Lorelei in pale blue.

Turquoise Ming (Ming Blue)

Jeff Stevenson, who ran glaze development at the pottery from 1977 to 1988, describes Turquoise Ming as two glazes: a turquoise base, applied by dipping and then spraying, and a darker blue “mottling” sprayed over it. That second coat is the dark blue you see gathered on the high points or the rim of a Ming Blue piece. Family legend says Artus Van Briggle modeled the glaze on Ming Dynasty pottery he saw in European museums. Some early company material repeats the story, and at least one recent researcher has doubted it.

Early Blues (1902–1912)

The earliest known Van Briggle color list, believed to date from before 1913, names five blues: light, turquoise, medium, dark, and navy. Blue pieces survive from 1902 onward, including the Met’s 1902 crocus vase and its 1903 vase pictured above. On pieces from 1905 to 1907 made with a darker “chocolate” clay, a thin blue glaze lets the brown clay show through on the high points of the design. Copenhagen Blue appears as early as 1903 and was reintroduced in 1916, when a Vogue advertisement featured it.

Later Blues (1980s–2012)

• Cobalt Blue: a gloss introduced in spring 1982 and a matte version developed in the 1980s.
• Iceberg (1983–1988) and Moonglo Mist (1987–1988): whites with blue tint or blue highlights, often listed for sale as blue.
• Lilac Blue: introduced in November 1993 according to vanbrigglenotes.com; some sources give 1999.
• Deep Sea (2000): a reformulation of the early Copenhagen-type blue, made for the centennial reproduction of the Lorelei.
• Roundhouse Blue (2010): a speckled matte denim blue made from spray-booth dust found during the 2008 move out of the roundhouse, used in limited production on butterfly bowls, dragonflies, and rabbits.

A shiny black piece with a blue-white drip is not a blue glaze at all. Late gloss black was topped with a white overglaze that turns bluish where it meets the black. Our Glaze Reference has swatches for many of these.

Look first at where the dark blue sits. The pattern below follows the glaze timeline published by clemhull.com, the collector site our glaze swatches come from.

Then turn it over:

• Clay: fine white clay means the 1930s through 1969. Buff clay means either the 1920s to early 1930s or 1970 and later, so it needs the marks to settle it. See Clay Body History.
• Marks: a date on the bottom means 1907 or earlier; “USA” points to the 1920s; letter-and-digit codes such as V5 or A1 mean 2000 or later. The dating guide has the full sequence.
• “Anna Van Briggle”: from the mid-1950s to 1969 that script mark went on the gloss line made at the 21st Street plant. A matte Ming Blue piece from those years should carry the regular “Van Briggle” mark.

These ranges come from Rago, Toomey & Co., Cottone, and Leland Little results between 2017 and 2026.

Small late Ming Blue vases rarely go to auction on their own, so we have no reliable sold range for them; they sell for modest amounts at estate sales and online. For small pieces, see our bud vase guide, and for all eras, our Van Briggle value guide.