A Rare Red Earthenware Form: The 19th Century Muffin Pan

Occasionally, I assume, most people, probably enjoy a freshly baked muffin. I definitely do. However, it is rare that I actually get the chance to eat a muffin today; although, when I do, I usually prefer to purchase them locally at a favorite bakery near where I live in Newburyport, Massachusetts. I would say the area's best muffins used to be made at a restaurant named 'Kathy Ann's Bakery' in Newburyport.

My family enjoyed all different flavored muffins from 'Kathy Ann's Bakery' in the 1990's - I can recall, as a kid, waking up some weekends during the spring and summer months to the smell of fresh muffins. My favorite was always the large blueberry muffins stuffed with a jillion blueberries. Unfortunately, this once popular restaurant is now long gone. The owners retired, and the property was purchased by a local boatyard. Nonetheless, the area still has plenty to offer for freshly made muffins today.

Last Saturday morning, my nephew, Jason and myself work up early in search of a dozen muffins from what is now (in my family's opinion) the area's best bakery for fresh muffins. We drove from Newburyport across the Merrimack River to 'Marshview Cafe' in Salisbury, Massachusetts, where we bought blueberry muffins, multi-berry muffins, peach muffins and orange muffins. For the record: the two of us did not eat a dozen muffins. We shared them with my niece, Alexis and my parents.

I quickly searched Google before I began to write this story, with hopes that I may find an old article that I could quote that mentioned the closing of 'Kathy Ann's Bakery;' instead, I found a few old reviews about the restaurant. One reviewer said, "This is a restaurant and a bakery that you will never forget."

I was reminded, again of how fantastic 'Kathy Ann's' muffins were earlier this week, when I noticed a nineteenth-century red earthenware muffin pan that is owned by Winterthur in Wilmington, Delaware. The pan was acquired by the museum at the bequest of Henry Francis du Pont in 1965.

Seeing Winterthur's muffin pan also reminded me about the time when I first saw an American-made red earthenware muffin pan: it was sold as part of the Protruski Trust Collection, which was handled by Peterborough, New Hampshire auctioneer, Charlie Cobbs and his family in July 2010. I guess I did not recognize the rarity of that pan in 2010, but I certainly have a better understanding for the form today - especially, knowing the pan owned by Winterthur is the only nineteenth-century muffin pan that I have seen since.

I was actually an active bidder at the Protruski sale; however, I did not bid on the group lot that contained the muffin pan. The lot also included a group of nineteenth-century red earthenware cake molds that were likely made in Pennsylvania.

According to Winterthur, "The muffin pan was possibly made in New England during the 1800-1875 period. The pan was constructed from a mold, and it is decorated in a multi-colored slip-decoration."

Personally, I do not know where this pan could have been made in New England, but I can not disagree with the attribution, either since the form is extremely rare today. Rarely will I ever attribute a red earthenware object based on glaze alone considering glaze styles overlapped at many potter's businesses from Pennsylvania to Ohio and Virginia, and elsewhere in America including the six states in New England.

Nevertheless, this glaze could be interpreted as a product that was made in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont or Maine, but it may have been made somewhere else in America, too. The only way to know for sure is either a rock-solid provenance or archaeological evidence.

 19th Century American-Made Red Earthenware Muffin Pan
Suggested to Have Been Made in New England

Circa 1800-1875

Stands 2 1/8" Tall

Measures 18 7/8" Wide

Photo Courtesy: Winterthur - Wilmington, DE

View of the Base

Photo Courtesy: Winterthur - Wilmington, DE

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