I know there are some people, who may be reading this that may recall seeing what I am writing about today posted on social media a few weeks ago - yesterday, I was lucky to work out a deal with Mark to acquire the following wonderful pieces that I will cherish as a part of my personal collection for years to come.
First off, any kind of signed or stamped American-made red earthenware is rare today - and, I want to say that collectively, the potters who worked in Pennsylvania in the 1800's may have signed more of their work than any other state, but that is obviously a debatable subject, too.
In New England, the nineteenth-century Safford Potteries in Monmouth, Maine may be responsible for the largest collection of surviving red earthenware examples that were either stamped or signed from any business in New England today. Most red earthenware from the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries was purely utilitarian in New England - with no kind of maker's mark that can tie surviving examples back to a specific business. I have always viewed businesses (such as the Bell family of the Shenandoah Valley in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia) that incorporated a maker's mark into their product lines as an early means of advertising. A stamped jar, jug or pot was a way that a potter's name could be seen in a marketplace, a shop or in the household. For some reason, most potter's in New England, did not mark their wares. It appears that most of their output was all about commerce rather than an added vision, where stamping a potter's name on any given form may have helped a potter's name spread. In general, potters threw their pottery, fired it and sold it. This process was repeated over-and-over again. It's possible that many New England potter's had such a demand for their wares that they didn't find a need to regularly advertise. It's also possible that no matter how much advertising they may have done that their output would have remained the same utilizing mostly the same merchants, customers and marketplace. There are many theories that can be brought up as to why most red earthenware potters in the 1700's and the 1800's did not mark their wares - for example, the red earthenware potter, William Pecker (1758-1820), who worked in Merrimacport, Massachusetts after 1784 - is not known to have ever marked any of his redware. However, he did experiment with a stoneware kiln in the late-eighteenth or the early-nineteenth-century - and, from what is known today, it appears that he marked any stoneware that he produced. I can not explain why he chose to mark his stoneware - although, it may reveal, that Pecker felt no need to mark the red earthenware since it was already an established product. Why? I don't have an exact answer for that. It really is interesting to try and understand why most American stoneware potters marked a lot of their output; however, most American red earthenware potters did not mark their output. Was it merely an industry trend? Interestingly, there are usually random examples of New England red earthenware known today in private collections and museums holdings that are marked; although, it doesn't represent the entire body of any potter's output. These are usually random pieces when compared to the dozens of known examples from any given potter that do not bear any kind of mark today.
According to Lura Woodside Watkins book, Early New England Potters and Their Wars, "Perhaps the best-known pottery in Worcester County (Massachusetts) is the one at West Sterling that began around 1837 (arguably earlier) by Henry Tolman. The pottery was situated on the easterly bank of a beautiful running stream in the village of West Sterling. Clay was brought from a pit one and one-half miles away." This business exchanged ownership a number of times through the Civil War - among the potters, who owned this business was Abner S. Wight from Dublin, New Hampshire. Wight was a partner in West Sterling with Henry Tolman, Jr. as early as 1849. According to Watkins, "(Wight) did not purchase the pottery until about 1860 (operated under his ownership until 1869)." This business continued to change ownership in the late-1860's - and afterwards, in the 1870's and even again, in the late-nineteenth-century (before 1890), when William J. Walley purchased the company producing art ware until 1917. Walley is arguably the most prolific of all the potters who worked at this business today.
I will admit, I am not largely aware of the kind of utilitarian output that was manufactured in West Sterling before 1870, but this following crock is almost undoubtedly made in West Sterling since it is stamped, A.S. Wight (Abner S. Wight). I don't personally know of many signed examples from this business today, but in theory, he may have signed some of his pottery in 1860 to coincide with the acquisition of his own company. However, it is also possible that Wight randomly signed some of his production in the 1850's and the 1860's.
19th Century Hand-Thrown Abner S. Wight Red Earthenware Crock - West Sterling, Ma
Stands 9 1/4" Tall
Ca. 1850's to 1860's
View of the A.S. Wight Stamp
View of One of the Handles
View of the Interior
View of the Base
I also acquired these pieces from Mark Newton by way of a friend of his, who searched around the river/stream that backed up to the old West Sterling sites - this is where all of the mentioned businesses are believed to have operated. He reportedly discovered large amounts of archaeological evidence from virtually all of the West Sterling potteries; the following sherds are what he collected for study examples. Forms include a finely thrown flower pot and crocks - also pictured is a large piece of kiln furniture.
Sherds and Kiln Furniture Collected in West Sterling, Ma
In the nearby stream or river (that Watkins also seems to describe), this wonderful miniature jug was found that appears to be related by glaze to the red earthenware crock that is marked, A.S. Wight. Remarkably, the jug is in perfect condition. I can not see a specific use for this jug so it may have been made as an end-of-the-day whimsical piece of pottery. I believe it dates from the 1850's or the 1860's.
19th Century Hand-Thrown Red Earthenware Jug Found in a Stream or a River in West Sterling, Ma
Possibly Made at Abner S. Wight's Business
Stands 2 1/4" Tall
Ca. 1850's to 1860's
Another View of the Jug
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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