Do you collect thimbles? There’s a collector’s club just for you. Depression glass? Ditto. Washing machines? We’ve got you covered.

Whether the subject is oh-so-familiar (Fostoria), or oh-so-obscure (infant feeders, anyone?) isn’t important. What’s important is that, if it’s collectible, chances are good that a group of like-minded people has formed somewhere, sometime, to celebrate that collectability.

A case in point: “CAS Collectors,” founded in 1994 as “a group of people with a common interest in Ceramic Arts Studio.”
In operation from 1940 to1955, Ceramic Arts Studio gained fame as “the little studio that could.” Operating out of a ramshackle former garage in Madison, WI, CAS was far removed from the “California Pottery” juggernaut which took the country by storm during the World War II years, when imports were restricted. In popularity and production, however, Ceramic Arts took the lead, producing more than 500,000 figurines annually at its peak. That Midwest moxie was due to the marketing skills of studio owner Reuben Sand, and, even more importantly, to the talents of the studio’s principal designer, Betty Harrington.

Harrington was responsible for almost the entire roster of the studio’s 1,000-plus figurine inventory. Bursting with innate talent, but with little formal artistic training, her link to the studio came about by happy accident. Using clay from a well being dug at her home, Harrington created the figurine of a kneeling girl. Looking for a source to have the figurine “fired,” she recalled a business she drove past daily en route to her secretarial job — “Ceramic Arts Studio.”

Prior to Betty’s 1941 arrival, CAS had struggled unsuccessfully to find a sales niche for its often-leaky pots and vases. When Harrington stopped in, owner Reuben Sand was amazed at the quality of her work. A brainstorm struck: why not change the focus of the firm to figural ceramics? Better yet, why not have Betty Harrington design them?

For the next 15 years, Ceramic Arts Studio warmed America’s hearts with imaginative renditions of children, animals, historical and international subjects, and fairy tale/fantasy characters. When CAS closed its doors in 1955, the victim of cheap imports, knickknack shelves across the country were filled with the studio’s charming and colorful figurines. And there they sat, awaiting rediscovery.
That came in 1993, with the Wisconsin Pottery Association’s exhibit of CAS figurines. Special guests at the showing: Betty Harrington and Reuben Sand. The response was so favorable that, in 1994, a collector’s club was formed, under the leadership of Tim Holthaus and Jim Petzold. The club’s mission, as stated in its first newsletter, was “to provide accurate information on authentic studio pieces, and attract stories and memories of the studio and the collecting experience.”

Betty Harrington was an enthusiastic club participant, thrilled by the renewed interest in the studio. When the club embarked on plans for its first-ever convention in 1995, Harrington eagerly agreed to create a limited-edition commemorative for the occasion. “M’amselle,” depicting a kneeling girl, called to mind her very first figurine. A highlight of the convention: Harrington’s demonstration of how “M’amselle” came to be:

“This was very important to me, because it is so difficult to describe in writing how items are made from a mold. I brought in the mold that I used to make all the ‘M’amselles,’ and I described how I made her in so many different positions. I felt that a visual explanation would make the whole process clearer.”