Grueby Faience Company

Founded in Revere, Massachusetts in 1894, the Grueby Faience Company produced vases and glazed architectural terra cotta and faience tiles. Grueby vases were notable for their simple shapes and a hallmark matte cucumber-green glaze. New York City's Astor Place subway stop is decorated with large Grueby tiles featuring a beaver, in honor of the fact that John Jacob Astor's fortune derived from trade in beaver pelts. The company ran into financial difficulties in the early 1900s and went out of business in 1920.^[1]