Born in 1867 in Boston William Grueby was a businessman first and a potter second for many years. After forming the Grueby Faience Company in 1894, his love for American art pottery soon took center stage.
Before he was able to move on with the business of doing what he was passionate about, he had to secure financing for this new company. He’d found an ally of sorts in Allan Marquand, who was a professor of Art and Archeology as well as the director for the art museum on the Princeton University campus. He’d provided Marquand with an intricate model of what he wanted to do. If he was hoping to appeal to Marquand’s own passion for art pottery to link them, it worked; however, the proposal Grueby provided Marquand lacked specific information for really important aspects of establishing a new company in any sector, such as what the needs might be for heavy machinery or how many employees 
he might have needed to hire in the beginning. As Susan Montgomery writes in The Ceramics of William H. Grueby, “Grueby attached a typewritten resume, written in the third person, which summarized his technical achievements…” Despite the proposal’s shortcomings and the setbacks, Grueby was able to move forward and soon had two partners on board.
Two well-recognized companies contracted Grueby for inclusion in their various offerings. Tiffany Studios, known for its spectacular lamps, used Grueby’s art for more than a few of its lamp bases. Meanwhile, Gustav Stickley began using Grueby tiles in its tables, benches and even a few of its vases.
Soon, Grueby art pottery was winning awards and being recognized around the world at various exhibitions, including the Architectural League of New York, 1895, the Exposition Universalle in Paris- where he was awarded two medals in 1900, and the Buffalo Pan American Exhibition in 1901. All of the company’s submissions were hand thrown and surprisingly, many were decorated by art students within Boston’s art community.
To this day, Grueby remains most known for the lovely green glazes that many say put it on the map and ensured it would be remembered as one of the country’s most beloved art pottery makers.
Hi Donna: I have a sort of interesting dilemma. I contacted David Rago & Associates about my mothers large beautiful Grueby Lamp. It was a beloved part of her estate. I was hoping to have them sell it at auction and wanted to insure it to send to them. In order for them to give me a valuation they wanted me to take the screw off the bottom to determine if it was originally made as a lamp or converted from a vase. I was reluctant to do that as I had read in Fireworks that some of the lamps had retractable insides and that the lamp could blow up. To top matters off no one would ever talk to me on the phone. Do you have any advice of someone that might have expertise that I could actually talk to about this matter? I have no idea how common it is for these lamps to explode and would like to figure it out. It is the 14 inch large lamp with the yellow flowers – it is very beautiful and is in perfect condition.