Brad Keeler numbered almost everything he made. The paperwork survived him and then dispersed. Here is the working catalog — what we can prove, what collectors are still guessing at, and what is still missing.
The short version
- There is no official catalog. After Keeler's death at thirty-nine, his wife Catherine sold everything — molds, paperwork, the contents of the office. The records were scattered rather than destroyed.
- Sixty pieces are listed here, across nine categories — 21 confirmed, 31 reported, 8 unverified.
- 15 mold numbers have been read off documented examples. Those are the ones worth memorizing.
- The numbering is not one sequence. Low double digits, 700s and 900s all appear, and a few pieces fit nowhere. What the bands mean is not settled.
- This list will be wrong in places. That is the nature of a catalog rebuilt from the objects themselves. Corrections welcome.
We wrote recently about the white wedge Keeler painted into his birds' eyes, which remains one of the fastest ways to tell his work from the copies. This is the companion piece: not how to spot one, but what there is to find.
It exists because the question comes up constantly and nobody can answer it. A collector finds a bird with a number scratched into the base and wants to know what else is out there, how many models there were, whether the piece is one of twelve or one of two hundred. The honest answer is that no complete list exists, and the reason is worth understanding before you trust any list that claims to be one.
Why there is no catalog
Keeler ran his business for roughly thirteen years, beginning at his house in Glendale in 1939 — a studio that was later torn down and replaced by a purpose-built factory on the same site. In late 1952 he had a heart attack. He was thirty-nine. The San Juan Capistrano factory was never operational in his lifetime. His wife Catherine tried to keep production going — pieces marked Catherine Keeler date from those months — but the company foundered within a year, and the building was sold. Twin Winton moved in later.
The records were not lost so much as scattered. Catherine sold everything after his death, and some of it survives in family hands — insurance documents, tax returns. What does not survive is a single consolidated list of what the company made. Rebuilding one means working from five sources: Library of Congress copyright entries, write-ups in collectors' books, the surviving family, a handful of period references, and the objects themselves as they pass through auctions and shops. That is archaeology, not bookkeeping, and it means any list including this one is provisional.
How to read the confidence marks
Confirmed — the piece and, where given, its mold number have been read off a documented example. Buy on this.
Reported — the model is well attested as a type, but the number is unrecorded or varies between examples. Trust the form, verify the number.
Unverified — attested thinly, or inferred from a pair where only one half is documented. Treat as a lead, not a fact.
Reading the numbers
Keeler's numbering is not a single run from one upward. Low double digits, a 700 series, a 900 series and a few four-digit outliers all turn up on marked pieces.
What the bands do not tell you
Collectors have proposed schemes tying number ranges to particular years or premises. We are not repeating them here, because we cannot source them — and because the San Juan Capistrano factory was never operational during Keeler's lifetime, which rules out at least one commonly repeated mapping.
What can be said: letters appended to a number — the pheasant hen marked 38B — usually distinguish the female of a pair from the male. Four-digit numbers such as the 4617 finch fit no pattern we can currently explain.
Where the mark actually sits
Before the catalog, a note on finding the number, because a great many pieces get sold as unmarked by people who did not turn them all the way over.
Four things to look for on the underside. The number is frequently the only surviving mark, which is why this catalog is organized around numbers rather than names.
The marks you may encounter, roughly in chronological order: Bradster on the earliest work, from the brief partnership with a modeler named James Webster; an American Pottery label on pieces that went out through Evan K. Shaw; stamped BBK and/or the script Brad Keeler through the main years, sometimes with a copyright symbol, and a scroll version reading Brad Keeler with the number below; an oval black-and-gold Brad Keeler Artware foil label; China Dry Goods, Ming Dragon Blood and Wee Chinese during the late war years; and Pryde & Joy and Catherine Keeler on the last of it.
When there is only a number
An unmarked piece is not automatically not his. Where a number appears without a name, the lettering itself can identify it: if the numeral font matches known Keeler numbering, that is evidence. Cati Porter cites a bassinet piece marked this way. Compare the numerals, not just the presence of a name.
The catalog
Sixty pieces, grouped the way a collector actually hunts them rather than the way a factory would have filed them. Where a mold number is missing it is because no documented example has surfaced with one legible, not because the piece was unnumbered.
Flamingos · 9 pieces
The line that started everything, and still the most faked. Twelve flamingo models opened his bird range in 1939.
| Model | Mold no. | Notes | IMAGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flamingo, standing (head up) | No. 1 | Part of the original run of 12 flamingo models — his first commercial line. |  |
| Flamingo, neck curved | No. 2 | Pink flamingo, marked "No. 2". |  |
| Flamingo, head down | No. 3 | 7½" H × 5½" W. The most frequently encountered flamingo. |  |
| Flamingo, wings spread | No. 4 | Open-wing pose; scarcer than the standing models. | Reported |
| Flamingo, small standing | No. 5 | Smaller companion model, often sold as a pair. | Unverified |
| Flamingo, tall | No. 31 | 8½" tall. Documented marked example. | Confirmed |
| Flamingo, male | No. 902 | Later 900-series number; sold as the male of a pair. | Confirmed |
| Flamingo, female (pair to 902) |
No. 903 No. 5 & No 2 Molded together
|
Presumed female counterpart. |  |
| Flamingo on base with reeds | not recorded | Mounted variant with foliage; number varies by example. | Reported |
|
Flamingo Pair Male (Pair to 903)
|
No. 902 No. 2 and No. 1 molded together
|
 |
|
| Flamingo wings up No. 47 |  |
||
|
Flamingo 903 |
 |
Printed in black ink |  |
| NOT a Keeler |
These are pretty, but Not a Brad Keeler |
Unmarked, open bottom with no glaze |  |
Cockatoos & Parrots · 8 pieces
The strongest surviving numbers in the whole catalog — Nos. 30 and 34 turn up marked more often than anything else he made.
| Model | Mold no. | Notes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cockatoo, crest raised | No. 30 | Documented marked example. | Confirmed |
| Cockatoo, yellow | No. 34 | Yellow glaze; documented on multiple sold examples. | Confirmed |
| Cockatoo, white on branch | not recorded | Perched variant, sometimes sold as a facing pair. | Reported |
| Parrot, male | not recorded | Documented as a male–female pair. Number not consistently recorded. | Reported |
| Parrot, female | not recorded | Companion to the male parrot. | Reported |
| Cockatiel | not recorded | 1940s. Less common than the cockatoos. | Reported |
| Parakeet, tall multicolor | not recorded | 1950s tall parakeet, brightly airbrushed. | Reported |
| Parakeet pair on branch | not recorded | Two birds on a shared branch base. | Unverified |
Songbirds · 7 pieces
Small, thin-walled, and easily chipped. The four-digit 4617 finch is the odd one out in his numbering.
| Model | Mold no. | Notes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue jay | not recorded | Yellow-and-red decorated blue jay, 1940s — a well-documented model. | Reported |
| Bluebird / finch on tree | No. 718 | 5" tall, bird perched on a tree stump. | Confirmed |
| Bird on branch | No. 720 | Documented marked example. | Confirmed |
| Purple finch on branch | No. 4617 | Red purple finch; unusual four-digit number. | Confirmed |
| Cardinal | not recorded | Red cardinal — a scarcer species in the Keeler line. | Reported |
| Canary | not recorded | Named in the standard reference list of Keeler species. | Reported |
| Canary pair | not recorded | Male–female pairing. | Unverified |
Game Birds · 7 pieces
Pheasants and quail were sold in male-and-female pairs, which is why a lone hen is worth less than half a pair.
| Model | Mold no. | Notes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pheasant, cock | No. 38 | Male of the pheasant pair; long sweeping tail. | Reported |
| Pheasant, hen | No. 38B | Documented marked "No. 38 B" on the base of the hen. | Confirmed |
| Quail / partridge pair | No. 51 | Male ≈6" H, female ≈4" H. Both stamped and numbered 51. | Confirmed |
| Peacock / peahen | No. 715 | 10½" tall. | Confirmed |
| Rooster | No. 744 | Chicken/rooster figurine, documented number. | Confirmed |
| Hen | not recorded | Companion hen to the rooster. | Reported |
| Rooster, large hand-painted | not recorded | Larger decorative rooster, separate from the buffet-line roosters. | Reported |
Water Birds · 8 pieces
Herons and swans. The long necks and thin legs mean survivors are frequently repaired.
| Model | Mold no. | Notes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue heron on rockwork | 841/515 | Read off the base of a marked example and matched to the trade catalog plate. Ordered as 15. | Confirmed |
| Heron | No. 714 | Reported in secondary sources. Not yet reconciled with 841/515 — one of these may be a misreading. | Unverified |
| Heron, second pose | not recorded | Herons appear in more than one pose; second number not established. | Unverified |
| Swan, large | not recorded | 13¾" white and gray swan — documented sold example. | Confirmed |
| Swan planter | not recorded | Functional swan-form planter. | Reported |
| Seagull in flight | not recorded | Wings-outstretched gull, mounted on a base. | Reported |
| Mallard duck | not recorded | Detailed brown mallard — noted as one of his better-modeled birds. | Reported |
| Duck, double figure | not recorded | Two ducks combined into a single figurine. | Reported |
| Duck, small | not recorded | Smaller companion duck. | Unverified |
Exotic Series · 3 pieces
Attributed by some sources to freelance modeler Fred Kaye rather than Keeler himself, though we have not been able to verify that. Numbers were poorly recorded from the start.
| Model | Mold no. | Notes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bird of paradise, male | not recorded | 10½" tall. Sold as a documented pair. | Confirmed |
| Bird of paradise, female | not recorded | Companion to the male; same documented pair. |  |
| Exotic bird on stylized base | not recorded | The Exotic Series ran to several models; individual numbers not established. | Unverified |
Pryde & Joy Animals · 7 pieces
The animal line, sold under its own paper label. The only Keeler pieces that regularly turn up as planters — and the home of the nursery-rhyme figures.
| Model | Mold no. | Notes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Siamese cat | No. 798 | 7" tall. Documented marked example. | Confirmed |
| Calico cat (planter) | not recorded | 4¼" across × 6½" tall. Original "Pryde and Joy, hand decorated, Los Angeles, Calif." label. | Confirmed |
| Gingham dog (planter) | not recorded | 6½" across × 4" tall. Companion to the calico cat. | Confirmed |
| Plaid cat | not recorded | Patterned cat from the same line. |  |
| Kitten | not recorded | ||
| Puppy | not recorded | Reported | |
| Rabbit | not recorded | Reported | |
| Elephant | not recorded |  |
|
| Little Jack Horner | not recorded | Nursery-rhyme figure, marked Brad Keeler Artwares. Part of the Pryde & Joy line. | Reported |
| Jack and Jill | not recorded | Nursery-rhyme pair. Part of the Pryde & Joy line. | Reported |
Disney (from 1946) · 6 pieces
Keeler produced Disney figures from 1946. How the arrangement with Evan K. Shaw worked is not settled — Shaw's own operation was still running at the time — so treat any account of how the license passed as unverified. The thinnest-documented corner of his work.
| Model | Mold no. | Notes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bambi | not recorded | Among the 1946 Disney figures. | Reported |
| Faline | not recorded | Bambi's companion; issued in the same series. | Reported |
| Thumper | not recorded | From the Bambi group. | Reported |
| Donald Duck | not recorded | Part of the 1946 Disney debut. | Reported |
| José Carioca | not recorded | From The Three Caballeros. Among the scarcer Disney figures. | Reported |
| Standing deer / fawn | not recorded | Sold both as Disney Bambi and as a generic fawn — check the mark carefully. | Reported |
Figures & Oddities · 3 pieces
Everything that fits nowhere else, including a swordfish nobody can quite explain.
| Model | Mold no. | Notes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Moonshine men" | not recorded | Early character figures; Keeler's granddaughter believes these are among his earliest work. Rarely seen. | Unverified |
| Swordfish | not recorded | 1940s swordfish figurine — a genuine rarity, well outside his usual subjects. | Confirmed |
| Fish, covered dish form | not recorded | BBK majolica-style fish; two-piece. Sits between figurine and serveware. | Reported |
What is missing
Four gaps are worth naming, because they are where the next real discoveries sit.
The biggest gap: everything that isn't a figurine
The birds are only part of the company. Brad Keeler Artwares also produced buffet service lines — lobsters, crabs, roosters, ducks, fish, and small fruit-shaped dishes — along with tulip-shaped tea sets. None of it is catalogued above. If you own marked examples with legible numbers from those lines, we would like photographs.
The Disney figures are the thinnest section here and the most frustrating. They debuted in 1946 — Bambi, Donald Duck, José Carioca and the rest — but they were produced under a licensing arrangement, they overlap confusingly with American Pottery's own output, and almost none of the mold numbers have been recorded. A marked Keeler Disney piece with a legible number would be a genuinely useful find.
The Exotic Series has the same problem for a different reason. Freelance work at Keeler was frequently marked with stamps rather than incised numbers, which wear off. We know the series existed and roughly what it contained. We do not have the models enumerated.
And the early figures — the objects Keeler's granddaughter remembers as “moonshine men” — are barely documented at all. She believes they are among his earliest work, which would place them in the Bradster period before the birds took over. If that is right, they are the rarest things he made, and most of them are probably sitting unidentified on shelves because nobody knows to look for them.
Before you buy on a number alone
A number on a base is not by itself proof of anything. Numbers were reused across the California potteries, and unmarked pink flamingos on green bases get relabeled as Keeler constantly by dealers working from silhouette. Check the mark first, the crazing second, the eye third — other makers mimic the white wedge, so it is the weakest of the three. Then look at the modeling: eyes, talons, wings and feather lines are crisp on his work, not muddy, and his bases are not embellished with flowers. A right number on a wrong bird is still a wrong bird.
Corrections wanted
If you own a Keeler piece with a legible number that contradicts this list, or fills one of its gaps, we would like to hear about it — particularly anything in the Disney or Exotic ranges, anything from the buffet service lines, or anything that would explain the 4617. The most active gathering of knowledge on Keeler is the collectors' group run by his granddaughter Cati Porter, who has been assembling the family history for years and is the reason much of what we do know is written down anywhere.
This page will be updated as better information turns up. A catalog assembled from objects is never finished; it just gets less wrong.
On the published biographies
Cati Porter's account of her grandfather has been fact-checked against historical documents. Much of what circulates elsewhere — including in print — has not. Treat any Keeler biography, this page included, as something to verify rather than repeat.
We built a free sourcing dashboard that searches 21 vintage marketplaces at once — useful for exactly this kind of hunt, where the right piece surfaces once a month under a misspelled listing.
Open ProwlSources
- bradkeelerartwares.com, written by Keeler's granddaughter Cati Porter — family history, the marks and their chronology, the Pryde & Joy animals, and the “moonshine men”
- Cati Porter, editorial review and corrections, August 2026
- Library of Congress copyright entries, Brad Keeler Artwares, 1946–1954
- Brad Keeler Artwares trade catalog, distributed by Paul A. Straub and Company, New York — model numbers, order codes and catalog heights
- WorthPoint dictionary and sold-listing archive, Brad Keeler Ceramics — biography and a number of the mold numbers recorded here
- Francine's Figurines, “Brad Keeler: Eloquent Elegance” — marks, model numbering practice, and the Bradster partnership
- Cajun Collection, “Who Made American Pottery Bird Figurines” — the Keeler bird range in the context of the other California potteries, and the 4617 finch
- Chairish, Etsy and eBay listings — base marks and model numbers as they appear on actual pieces
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