Niloak Pottery

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A line of pottery produced by the Eagle Pottery Company of Benton, Arkansas. Founded by Charles Dean Hyten and his brothers in the 1890s, Eagle was the largest pottery-ware business in the Benton area by 1904.

In 1909, Arthur Dovey joined Eagle to help Hyten, by then sole owner of the company, develop an operation for the manufacture of art pottery. Together they produced the Niloak product, the name taken from kaolin (a high-grade clay) spelled backwards.

The company was in business from 1909 to 1946. The most famous item in the Niloak product line, now highly sought by collectors, was its "Mission Swirl," developed by Hyten, which was produced from the company's inception until 1942.

During the Depression years, Eagle manufactured a line of Niloak cast-ware called "Hywood".