Yesterday, I visited an estate sale held at the Josiah Brown Farmer house built in circa 1816 in Stratham, New Hampshire. All of the contents inside of the home were for sale. There were some wonderful buys to be had! I am only going to show two of my purchases in this report because the rest are Christmas presents.
Josiah Brown Farmer House - Stratham, NH
Built in Circa 1816
An Estate Sale was Held Here on Friday November 14th
Another View of the House
View of the House and the Attached Garage
View of the Barn
A local artist was the most recent occupant of the Josiah Brown Farmer house; his eclectic taste was evident with the variety of furnishings he kept throughout the house and the garage. A barn was also part of the Farmer property; however none of those contents were included in the sale. There were no surprises in this sale; the homeowner was present. It wasn't like some estate sales I go to, where the homeowner(s) had either passed away or had relocated to assisted living. The homeowner in this case was moving on, but he knew where everything was and what he had paid for it. It wasn't necessarily all properly identified either, but there were no surprises. When I go to estate sales, I often start in the basement, garage or barn to see what has been tucked away from possibly decades ago. There was none of that here, but there was still a lot of accessories to go through that had been collected locally over a number of years.
Contents of the Garage
Contents of the Garage
Contents of the Garage
Contents of the Garage
Contents of the House
Contents of the House
Contents of the House
Contents of the Kitchen
Mostly Reference Books for Sale
One of the Four Fire Places in the House
Contents of the House
Another Fireplace
Front Hallway and Staircase that Leads to the Second Floor
Second Floor Hallway
One of the Three Bedrooms
I purchased two pieces of red earthenware from this house; both appear like they could be from local potters, who worked in the next town over in Exeter, New Hampshire in the nineteenth-century.
The first is a miniature pitcher, which likely served a whimsical purpose unless it was used as a child's toy or in a doll house. I'm leaning more towards a whimsical purpose since the estate sale gave no indication it belonged to a doll's house.
The pitcher was hand-thrown. The glaze and clay color look appropriate for products made in southern New Hampshire. The New Hampshire Historical Society in Conncord, New Hampshire even owns a red earthenware jug with a similar glaze attributed to Exeter.
19th Century Miniature Red Earthenware Pitcher
Possibly Made in Exeter, NH
Stands 1 1/4" Tall
Found in the Josiah Brown Farmer House in Stratham, NH
View of the Handle
View of the Base
View of the Front
View of the Interior
I also discovered a small painted red earthenware jar or vase that reminded me of a product the Exeter Historical Society owns made at the Lamson Pottery in the late nineteenth-century. The Lamson Pottery is a name strongly associated with the potter's industry that was employed in Exeter in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth-centuries. The Lamson family made products as the market dictated; when the red earthenware industry was strong, they made red earthenware; when the stoneware market was strong, they also sold stoneware (it is believed that some of the stoneware sold in Exeter at the Lamson Pottery was contracted with a stoneware maker in New Jersey) and in the late nineteenth-century - they made a line of art ware due to the economic demands of the utilitarian red earthenware potter in New Hampshire. I believe the jar or vase I found in the Josiah Brown Farmer House is an example of the painted art ware made in Exeter after 1870.
19th Century Painted Red Earthenwar Jar or Vase
Likely Made at the Lamson Pottery in Exeter, NH
Ca. 1870-1895
Measures 2 5/8" Tall
Found in the Josiah Brown Farmer House - Stratham, NH
View of the Base
View of the Interior
Lamson Pottery Painted Red Earthenware Vase - Exeter, NH
Ca. 1870-1895
Photo Courtesy: Exeter Historical Society - Exeter, NH
View of the Lamson Pottery Paper Label on the Base
Photo Courtesy: Exeter Historical Society - Exeter, NH
This morning, I attended my second estate sale in roughly twenty-four hours; this sale was held in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The home dates from the late nineteenth-century. The family's occupancy dates back to the 1940s. The family has always owned the building you are about to see and rented out a storefront on the first floor. Prior to the current tenants, the storefront has always had an antique shop located inside of it. Presently, a modern art gallery resides on the first floor.
Late 19th Century Building in Camridge, Ma
Estate Sale was Held Here Today - Saturday November 15th
Best Rate Cleanouts Estate Sale Sign
View of the Modern Art Gallery on the First Floor
Entrance to the Home
Stairs that Lead to the Home and the Basement
View of the Basement
Another View of the Basement
Like I previously indicated, when I attend an estate sale - I prefer to go to the basement (garage or barn) first because I feel my best bet for an undiscovered treasure may lay in places like that. I looked through the entire house and I didn't find much; however in the basement I found a few hidden treasures that the firm holding the estate sale didn't even see.
My first discovery happened when I found this pair of slip decorated red earthenware cups. I think these are absolutely extraordinary. I have never seen anything like them before. They appear to be a rarity. There are many characteristics going for them; 1) they are hand-thrown 2) the green slip 3) the green slip wash 4) the orange glazed interiors and 5) the clay color.
To begin, the clay color is exactly like I would expect to see from products made all-over Essex County and even into coastal southern New Hampshire. The clay color is actually a dead-on match for the products made at Charles A. Lawrence Pottery in Beverly, Massachusetts after 1866. The orange glazed interior was used in places like the Southwick family pottery in South Danvers (today Peabody), Massachusetts in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries and even the Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport, Massachusetts in the late nineteenth and twentieth-centuries. It should also be considered that there were more businesses that used this characteristic in coastal Massachusetts (and even New Hampshire) than only the two I have mentioned. Finally, the green slip, which is spectacular in my opinion is a characteristic I have never seen before. These are two very interesting pieces! I do not have an attribution even though there are many obvious characteristics that lend themselves to a Massachusetts potter.
Pair of Likely 19th Century Painted and Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Cups
Both Were Hand-Thrown by the Potter
Possibly a Massachusetts Potter
Found Today in the Basement at the Estate Sale in Cambridge
Both Measure 3 5/8" Tall
View of the Bases
View of Clay Color
View of the Interior Glazes
View of the Slip Decoration
Another View of the Slip Decoration
The Clay Color Can Also be Seen in this Photo
I also found these two books in the basement; they are Volumes IV and V of Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room Companions. According to what I have read, "Gleasons Pictorial Drawing Room Companion was a 19th century illustrated periodical published in Boston. It was founded by Frederick Gleason in 1851 and by 1855, the publication had changed its name and its ownerships. The pictorial featured artists such as Winslow Home and a long list of prominent writers." None-the-less, I would call these books (or bound newspapers) very rare.
My initial reaction was, "These books are amazing!" I found them buried underneath a bunch of boxes on the floor in the cellar. The prints in these books are stunning! There must be upwards of a hundred prints in each volume. I could see people cutting these prints out to either frame them individually or even dealers may sell them individually; although its amazing to see these two books still intact. I actually found a few websites online (one being rarenewspapers.com) that sell some of the prints individually, but there is no need to worry - the books are staying as-is with me.
I have photographed some sample prints below; imagine a few hundred black and white prints of this quality and caliber - that's what these books are filled with. I've done a little research and I've found that these books are a part of the inventory at the Boston Public Library as well as related institutions around the country. I think they are quite rare and really wonderful discoveries.
Volumes IV and V Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room Companions (1853)
These Were Found Today in the Basement at the Estate Sale in Cambridge, Ma
Both Volumes are Complete
President Pierce and Vice President King Prints
Prints of Arctic Voyages
Prints of Washington Street in Boston
(Left) Print of all the Presidents
(Right) Print of President Pierce's Cabinet
Print of the Battle of Bunker Hill
Large 2-Page Print of America's Independence
Here's an example of the type of writing and drawing that was done; pictured below is a print of the American Flint Glass Works in South Boston with an article that was written on the subject. These two volumes are loaded with this type of content with writings and drawings from all-over New England, America and the world.
Print of the American Flint Glass Works in South Boston, Ma
The Article that Accompanies the American Flint Glass Works Print
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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