Established in 1938 in Bedford, Ohio, the National Potteries Corporation, otherwise known as Napco, imported various styles of ceramic, glass, and china
giftware. Napco is known more for their headvases than mermaids. Irwin Garber, who would later launch INARCO, joined the company in the mid-40s and
spearheaded its development of head vases. Owned and operated in the Midwest, Napco distributed a variety of collectibles. The company used a wide array of
marks - some transfer marks and some paper labels. The paper labels feature various wording, such as: "A Napco Collection," "Napco originals by Giftware,"
"National Potteries Co., Cleveland, OH, Made in Japan," and "Napcoware, Import Japan."
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Napco made a couple mermaid bath sets. One was called the Princess pattern and the other called the Tusoany pattern. They both
were made very simple with just gold highlighting on the pieces, gold tails and dots for eyes, but there are very distinct differences in
the patterns. The Princess pattern has a mermaid with crown. There is a rhinestone in the center of the crown and the pieces are
white. The Tusoany pattern was gray/white... to represent an alabaster finish. The mermaid has shorter hair and holds a pearl. The
pieces below show an example of each and the markings on the bottom. A lot of these pieces no longer have the inkmarking so I suppose either it wasn't put on them all.
