# Viktor Schreckengost artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/viktor-schreckengost/
Profile generated: 2026-05-27T11:46:43.228Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: American
- Movements: American Industrial Design
- Common media: ceramics and pottery, sculpture, industrial design

## About Viktor Schreckengost

Viktor Schreckengost (1906–2008) was an American industrial designer, sculptor, ceramicist, and educator whose career helped define twentieth-century American decorative arts. Active alongside prominent designers Raymond Loewy, Norman Bel Geddes, Eva Zeisel, and Russel Wright, Schreckengost brought modernist sensibility to everyday objects. His pottery designs for Cowan Pottery Studio in the 1930s, particularly the Jazz Bowl, are regarded as icons of American Art Deco ceramics. Beyond ceramics, his industrial design portfolio encompassed bicycles, toys, and household products, and he contributed to early radar-feedback research during World War II. For decades he also taught design, influencing generations of American designers and cementing his legacy as both a practitioner and an educator in the field.

## Common works and media

Collectors most frequently encounter Schreckengost's ceramic vessels and glazed pottery, including art-deco-style bowls, vases, and chargers. Sculptural works in bronze and other media appear less often but are documented. His industrial design output includes bicycles, pedal cars, toys, and mass-produced household goods, some of which are collected as design objects. Limited-edition and production ceramic lines from Cowan Pottery and later studios represent a significant portion of works seen at auction.

## Market and appraisal context

Schreckengost's work appears regularly at auction across decorative arts, ceramics, and sculpture categories. His ceramic pieces, especially those produced during his Cowan Pottery period, tend to attract the strongest collector interest. Industrial design prototypes and sculptural works also surface in estate and design sales. Appraisal of Schreckengost pieces should account for medium, date of execution, condition, documented provenance, and whether the work is a production piece or a unique studio creation. Comparable auction results from major houses provide useful benchmarks, though values vary considerably by category and form.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from museum records, library authority files, and biographical sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Viktor Schreckengost, identity data is grounded in Getty ULAN, VIAF, Wikidata, and Library of Congress authority files. Market context draws on the artist's known auction presence across 232 cataloged lots in the Appraisily database.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1628989
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500055513
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/8328916/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2001041141
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Schreckengost