Fake Grueby
Lily Pads tile#1: a crude fake of the Grueby lily pads tile. The design is not correct. Grueby did not glaze the tile in a monochrome color. The texture is too smooth and shiny. There is a fake signature.
A genuine Grueby waterlily tile is in four colors with the flower stamens in yellow. The raised "cloisonne" lines are very fine and delicate. The glaze is not so purposeful and perfect but more casual with some glaze blends. Most genuine Grueby waterlily tiles are made of a red clay.
Lily Pads Tile #2: a more sophisticated version of the fake Grueby lily pads tile. The glaze is polychrome, but the background is far too blue. Not shown in the photo is that the glaze over the entire tile has a mica-like sheen that is not Grueby. Again the texture is too smooth and shiny. It has a fake signature.
Lily Pads Tile #3: the colors are not Grueby, there is a lack of definition to the lily pad leaves, and the signature on the back is fake.
Genuine Grueby Tile Back
This is a genuine Grueby tile back with the genuine Grueby tile mark. The mark is NOT set in a box or frame. The genuine mark shows letters that are more block-type in form and deeply set into the clay body. Notice the definition and form of the lotus logo as compared to the fakes above.
"Real Grueby Tile Mark. Although this is apparently the mark that was copied for the [above] fake tiles, this mark was never used on real Water Lily tiles."
JMW Gallery, as reported in the "Maine Antique Digest," February, 1996
Click on any name below to be directed to other fakes uncovered!
Cowan Fulper Grueby Mosaic Tile Co. Muncie Nicodemus Niloak Ohr
Rookwood Roseville Teco Van Briggle Weller