1991 and 1992: The "Glorious Gamble" and the Glover Collection

Two somewhat related events occurred in 1991 and 1992 that had an immediate impact on the collecting of Rookwood Pottery. The Glover Collection auction by Cincinnati Art Galleries consisting of over 1600 pieces of Rookwood Pottery in June 1991, and the opening of the Glorious Gamble exhibition at the Cincinnati Art Museum in 1992 featuring 100 examples of some of Rookwood’s finest work. Riley Humler, who participated in both, will explain the history leading up to those events and what ensued within the market afterwards.

Riley Humler has been a dealer and collector of American and European Art Pottery for more than 40 years. He was Gallery Director of Cincinnati Art Galleries, LLC and coordinated the Art Pottery and Art Glass Auctions there and at Humler & Nolan for 30 years. He is now Director of Ceramics at Toomey & Company Auctioneers in Chicago. He has also been an appraiser on Antiques Roadshow for 21 years and lectures on a regular basis about his life-long relationship with American Art Pottery, particularly Rookwood.

Married for 31 years to his wife Annie; they are the parents of five and have too many grand children to count. Mr. Humler is a native of Louisville and now resides in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In conjunction with the exhibition Rookwood: America's Contribution to the Fine Arts at the Brunnier Art Museum.

Exhibition Page

Brunnier Art Museum
Scheman Building, 2nd floor
1805 Center Drive
Ames, IA