Vallona Starr California Pottery Salt And Pepper With Tray

Description

Tray measures  7.5" x 6". The salt and pepper measure 2" x 2.5“.
Chips; one on the bottom tray. One small on the base of the pepper shaker.  Three on the salt; one on the upper rim, one on the lower rim, and one on the base.
I’ve had this in my china cabinet for many, many years. Please see all pictures and feel free to ask questions.
A little history ..../
In the early 1930s, Everett Starr Frost, Leona Frost, and Valeria Dopyera de Marsa opened a small gift shop called Triangle Studios which sold primarily local California ceramic wares.  The store was located in the front of Valeria’s home in Los Angeles.
The triple partnership was formed while Everett Frost was employed at Security First National Bank in Los Angeles.  The bank also hired Valeria, who was an artist, to paint window displays.  Everett’s wife Leona was also an artist and eventually as the Triangle Studios store succeeded, they decided to start making their own ceramic ware.  The three partners combined parts of their names –
Val
from Valeria,
Lona
from Leona, and
Starr
from Evertt – to form the name they used for their ceramics –
Vallona Starr
.
In 1946 Triangle Studios and Vallona Starr expanded and moved into a factory in an industrial area of El Monte, California.  Two homes were added behind the factory; one for Everett and Leona and one for Valeria.
Vallona Starr ceramics followed a similar path of most USA pottery ware producers during this era.  Production was rampant during World War II, but crashed after the war when cheap Japanese imports flooded the American market.   The company closed its doors in 1953.