a covered butter dish and salt & pepper, excellent.....Blue Ridge Southern Pottery began making their popular line of Blue Ridge dishes in 1938 in Erwin, Tennessee, an economically depressed area of Appalachia. Most dishes during that time period were made with dull, lifeless decals for decoration. The use of a method of hand painting the dishes before the final glaze was fired, resulted in vibrant colors, which made the designs come alive. Women were recruited from "up in the hills" who had no artistic training to learn the basic folk painting strokes used in creating these works of art. Using broken pieces of china for practicing, they soon acquired the speed and skill needed to produce the pieces. The technique gave the dishes a happy and less formal appearance that was very endearing to customers.Working in a group of 4 to 6 women, one person would paint stems, another would add the leaves, while others were adding petals and additional details. The patterns and jobs were changed frequently to prevent the work from becoming too monotonous for the painters.Sales of the dishes flourished during the 1940's, especially during the years of WWII when imports were restricted. Much needed jobs were created by the plant as they employed as many as 500 painters who were earning an average pay rate of 13 1/2 cents an hour. They were turning out an amazing 324,000 pieces each week.At that time, Blue Ridge Southern Pottery was the largest hand-painted china producer in the United States. They had 11 showrooms throughout the country, including one on New York's Fifth Avenue. The dishes became a popular premium item offered by companies such as Quaker Oats and Avon. Stanley Home Products had their own Blue Ridge Pottery pattern called "Stanhome" which was offered as an incentive to purchasers of their home products. Major catalog retailers such as Sears & Roebuck and Montgomery Ward carried the Blue Ridge dishes in their mail-order selections. Grocery store chains offered them as a reward program gift to their faithful customers.

excellent