EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: My Afternoon Picking a Few Antique Shops on My Way Home from Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

My Afternoon Picking a Few Antique Shops on My Way Home from Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts

Today, I visited the collection facility at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. I visited, along with my friend, Massachusetts antiques dealer and collector, Samuel Herrup. Honestly, I was stunned with what I saw. I had no idea the depth of this important collection, which began in the 1920's. There were thousands of examples of utilitarian pottery (redware and stoneware) - and, European ceramics to comb our way through; however, this was only part of the collection. The museum boasts an impressive collection of art, baskets, iron, folk art, burl, furniture (tons of chairs), fireboards, mantel pieces, apple peelers - and, just about everything else that teases the imagination when it comes to the history of the decorative arts made by the country craftsmen, who were employed in New England and New York before the Industrial Era. Personally, I was really surprised by the selection of objects that predated the American Revolution, some, of-which dated back to seventeenth-century in New England.

While leaving the museum this afternoon, I got the idea to stop at a few antique shops that I would drive past on my way home to Newburyport, Massachusetts. The first shop was called 'Sturbridge Antique Shops,' which was a very short drive from Old Sturbridge Village.

Sturbridge, MA Antique Shops

In this shop, I found a hand-thrown green-glazed earthenware vase tucked in the back of a glass case, that I believe, was made at the Merrimac Pottery Company (1897-1902) in Newburyport, Massachusetts before 1902, when the company incorporated an impressed stamp on the base of most of its products; although, there is still a chance that this vase could have been made after 1902, as well. The variegated green glaze is beautiful!

19th/20th Century Earthenware Vase Possibly Made in Newburyport, MA

Possibly Made at the Merrimac Pottery Co.

Circa 1897-1908

Stands 7" Tall

Discovered Today in a Shop in Sturbridge, MA

Another View of the Vase

View of the Interior

View of the Base

From there, I traveled northeast to Lawrence, Massachusetts, where I turned off of Route 495 at Exit 41B to go to 'Canal Street Antiques.' This shop is a complete hit or miss store; however, I have done well in the past - so, I don't usually pass up the opportunity to stop - and, quickly glance over the inventory when I'm driving past Lawrence.

Canal Street Antiques - Lawrence, MA

In this shop, I discovered a marvelous black-glazed red earthenware vase. This vase is huge. It's just a beautifully hand-made object that is reminiscent of some small eighteenth-century jugs often attributed to southeastern Massachusetts today with a related wide mouth form. The potter was obviously very skilled. The glaze and form suggest a coastal Massachusetts potter to me. It is certainly possible that this vase could have been made at the Moses Paige Pottery in Peabody, Massachusetts in the late-nineteenth or twentieth-century; however, it could also possibly date from an earlier potter such as someone, who was employed south of Boston in the mid-1800's. None-the-less, this is just an impressive - and, a beautifully formed object. I am thrilled to have discovered it today! I have never seen anything like it before.