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The Pope-Gosser China Company of Coshocton, Ohio was founded by two men: Bently Pope and Charles F. Gosser. Pope was born in Staffordshire, England in 1858 and came to the United States in 1880. He was a potter in Trenton, New Jersey and then went to work at Knowles, Taylor & Knowles in East Liverpool, Ohio in 1895. Gosser was from Coshocton. He was a jeweler by trade, but wanted to start a pottery. He had no pottery experience, but he did have the capital.
Gosser went to East Liverpool and interviewed men from various firms, many of whom recommended Pope. Pope and his family left East Liverpool for Coshocton to partner with Gosser to build a new pottery. In September 1902, the first ware was made at the Pope-Gosser China Company. Pope's son, William, was working at K.T.&K., but left in 1903 to become the superintendent at Pope-Gosser.
Pope died in 1911 and Gosser died in 1916. Pope-Gosser was part of the merger of other potteries to form the American Chinaware Corporation in the late 1920s. However, after the American Chinaware went bankrupt in 1931, the Coshocton plant was closed. William Pope was able to reopen the pottery in 1933. The pottery closed its doors for good on May 5, 1958.
Sources:
- "Quality Preferred. The Story of an Ideal" The Pottery, Glass & Brass Salesman. October 1938
- "Pope-Gosser China is Rich in Historical Value" The Coshocton Tribune. Vol. 74, No. 22. September 17, 1983
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