I had to do some research about this teapot, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Does the pottery studio still exist? What does it mean that I found a teapot from Hamilton at the Goodwill a mile from my house?
Turns out it’s a common enough vintage find; there are several of them on Etsy, they come up often at antique sales, etc. Not very common at a thrift store, but not unheard of, either.
Apparently the pottery studio no longer exists, although most of the existing teapots are probably from the 60s and 70s.
But there are three really neat pieces of information I discovered. First of all, the random scraps of paint on the sides of our homely brown teapot aren’t leftover from a child’s art project, they were most likely part of the original design. Many of these teapots had flowers painted on them: http://www.ecrater.com/p/8956482/royal-canadian-art-pottery-teapot. In fact, that’s probably exactly what ours looked like.
Second, the company apparently made an electric version. An electric clay teapot. Think about that for a minute, and then look at this:Â http://www.etsy.com/listing/50487760/royal-canadian-art-pottery-electric
Finally, the price for these teapots ranges from $8.00 to $80.00. Depending on what qualities and characteristics, I’ve no idea, but fascinating. We paid $0.95 for ours.
One Hour of Home 
This teapot is so interesting! I love that the spout will actually stop drips! It’s kind of a shame that the flowers have been worn off your tea pot, but I love the character it adds to the pot.
Thanks, Betsy – the dripless feature works even better than you might think. 🙂 We love our little brown teapot too. 🙂
Your vintage teapot is so charming! And, finding such a treasure at a bargain price makes it twice as nice. Great research and follow-up post!
Theresa
Thanks, Theresa – that little teapot has really found its way into my heart. 🙂
I can remember my mother keeping a little brown teapot on the top shelf of in a kitchen cupboard. I can remember it there as far back as 7 years old, which lets just say is over 50 years ago. When my sister and I had to place my mother in a home and clear out some things in her house, my sister gave me a box of some things that she thought I might want. One of the items was the little brown teapot, which was very heavy. When I opened it, it was filled with old silver dollars, quarters and dimes. The ones that were minted before the sandwich coins. It was then I realized why the little brown teapot was in the back of the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard….it was used for safekeeping coins. I didn’t keep the coins, I divided them and gave them to each of the four grandchildren, but I did keep the little brown teapot. 🙂