Few mix-ups happen more often at the table than confusing a Brush jar with a McCoy one. Both potteries worked in the Zanesville and Roseville district of Ohio, both leaned into cheerful figural designs, and for a few years early in the century they even shared a name. The good news is that the two firms marked and built their jars differently enough that a patient look at the base, the mold, and the glaze will almost always settle which one you are holding.
Why the two get confused
The confusion has a real historical root. George Brush and Nelson McCoy briefly ran a combined operation as the Brush-McCoy Pottery Company in the 1910s before the partnership split and each name went its own way. Decades of dealers writing "Brush-McCoy" on tags, plus the two firms producing comparable kitchen pottery a short drive apart, blurred the line in the secondary market. When you see a jar described loosely as "Brush-McCoy," treat that as a starting point to verify, not a settled attribution.
Read the base mark first
The fastest separator is the mark on the underside. Nelson McCoy jars usually carry a molded McCoy, McCoy USA, or an NM cipher, raised from the clay rather than printed. Brush pieces rarely say McCoy at all. Instead they tend to show a plain USA, a mold or model number, or in older lines a small impressed palette-shaped device that nods to the brush in the company name. A capital W near the number points to a jar modeled by Don and Ross Winton, a design team Brush used, and McCoy did not.
Marks at a glance
- McCoy basesLook for a raised "McCoy," "McCoy USA," or an "NM" monogram formed in the clay. A mold number may sit alongside it.
- Brush basesExpect a plain "USA," a model number, sometimes a palette device, and a "W" on Winton-designed pieces. The McCoy name almost never appears.
- Unmarked jarsBoth firms left some jars unmarked. When the base is silent, shift your weight to mold detail, glaze, and a documented shape match.
- The "Brush-McCoy" tagA jar labeled this way in a listing needs checking against a maker reference, because the shared name was dropped after the 1910s split.
When the base is unmarked
Plenty of genuine jars from both makers carry no name at all, which is exactly when collectors reach for the second tier of clues. Brush jars tend toward a heavier, more sculptural body with deep relief in the modeling, and the company favored certain animal and character subjects that are well catalogued. McCoy jars often feel a touch lighter for the same size and lean on a recognizable family of glazes. Match the shape against a documented example in a maker reference rather than guessing from memory, since a single silhouette can be close across both firms.
Glaze, cold paint, and condition
Glaze treatment is another fault line. Both potteries used glossy dipped glazes, but some Brush and McCoy decoration was cold-painted, meaning the color sat on top of the fired glaze rather than under it, and that paint chips and rubs away with handling. Even crazing and consistent base wear suggest honest age on either maker. Bright, perfectly uniform color on a jar that is otherwise old is worth a second look, because repaint is common on the more desirable shapes. The same shrinkage and detail logic that flags a reproduction applies here too, a point we cover in the McCoy identification and fakes guide.
Value is where it matters
Getting the maker right is not just a labeling exercise, it moves the price. Collectors often pay more for a documented Brush jar than for a comparable McCoy shape, and a few scarce Brush figurals command serious money in original condition. The ranges below are illustrative and should be confirmed against recent sold listings, not asking prices.
| Maker and tier | Example types | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| McCoy, common | Bear, apple, and basic figural jars | $35–$90 |
| McCoy, sought-after | Scarce molds with original paint and lid | $150–$450 |
| Brush, common | Standard figural and character jars | $50–$140 |
| Brush, top figural | Scarce designs such as the Formal Pig | $400–$800 |
When the mark, the mold, and the glaze all point the same way, you can attribute with confidence and price accordingly. When they conflict, slow down and compare the piece against a maker reference before money changes hands. For how to turn an attribution into a defensible figure, see our 2026 cookie jar price guide.