EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: The Olivet Commandery and a Group of Marked 20th Century Red Earthenware Objects

Friday, February 5, 2016

The Olivet Commandery and a Group of Marked 20th Century Red Earthenware Objects

The Olivet Commandery is a group associated with the Knights Templar and Freemasonry today - its history dates back centuries. Rather than focusing on the history of this group, this morning - I want to show a hand-thrown red earthenware mug that is associated with the Olivet Commandery, which was newly discovered on the mid-coast in Maine.

The following mug was recently dug in Bath, Maine, and I presume it was found in a privy. The glaze on the mug is interesting seeing that it doesn't entirely cover the exterior even though the interior is completely glazed. I'm not sure why it was thrown away, but I assume it was possibly the result of the damage around the rim.

The base of the mug is stamped 'Old Home Night / Olivet Commandery / 1904.' I'd like to believe that this mug was manufactured in Maine in the early-twentieth-century; however, I'm not familiar with any red earthenware potter's business that was in operation in Maine in the early-1900's.

New England's most prolific utilitarian red earthenware potter's businesses in the early-twentieth-century were likely the Moses Paige Pottery in Peabody, Massachusetts and the Charles A. Lawrence Pottery in Beverly, Massachusetts; although, Frank Lamson also ran a successful utilitarian potter's business in Exeter, New Hampshire during the early-twentieth-century, as well. However, this mug doesn't appear (to me) to agree with any of the known output at any of these businesses. I'm anticipating that this could be a product from a Maine potter's business that isn't entirely identified today as a manufacturer of red earthenware in the early-twentieth-century.

My brief attempt to identify what 'Old Home Night' means has been unsuccessful, thus far, but I have found similar products marked with comparable stamps with years than range from 1903, 1904 and 1909. The 'Old Home Night' celebration seems to have been an event that took place over an extended period of time.

Also shown below is a hand-thrown red earthenware pot that is marked with the year '1903' - that pot was recently found in Lynn, Massachusetts. Here again, it is difficult to say what potter's business could be responsible; although, Lynn is only a few miles away from where Moses Paige and Charles A. Lawrence operated potter's businesses in Essex County, Massachusetts in the early-twentieth-century. Unfortunately, this doesn't appear to be a product that identifies with the known output from either business. The form of this pot reminds me of products that were made in northern New England (i.e. New Hampshire and Maine) in the nineteenth-century.

Note: The Charles A. Lawrence Pottery (circa 1866-1906) in Beverly, Massachusetts produced a large order of utilitarian red earthenware bean pots for the 'Twenty-Fourth National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic' in Boston from August 11-16, 1890. The event marked the 25th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War. Each pot was decorated with a ribbon and marked with a stamp. Could there be a connection with the objects in this article and this business? Personally, I don't believe the mug fits in with what is known about the Beverly business today - the known Beverly products were a more durable, thicker-made product. Furthermore, the stamp seen on the mug doesn't fit in with what is known about the types of stamps that were employed in Beverly - the Beverly stamps, which are known today are a thicker, bolder stamp.

It's my belief that these are both northern New England products.

Bath, Maine Dug Mug