EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: Red Earthenware Oil Lamps Produced at the Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport, Massachusetts

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Red Earthenware Oil Lamps Produced at the Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport, Massachusetts

A longtime collector of decorative and household objects made at the Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport, Massachusetts, circa 1897-1908, told me a few years ago that he had never seen pottery from this business produced with the intent to fit an oil lamp insert. That comment was based on such an object that sat before us on a table outside a Federal period home at a John McInnis onsite auction in Newburyport. It also went onto sell for more than $7,100 (including buyer's premium).

The green-glazed red earthenware base and brass lamp insert were original - and, actually made and assembled when the company was initially known as the 'Merrimac Ceramic Company,' circa 1897-1901. We were able to determine that information as a result of an original paper label that was still adhered to the base (see pictures below). But the company's owner, Thomas Nickerson changed the name to the 'Merrimac Pottery Company' in 1902 for a variety of reasons, which included what he viewed was a more marketable brand name.

Nickerson's company was regularly printed in 'The Pottery and Glass Salesman,' an annual listing of manufacturers around the world published in New York. The company's explanation was initially described in 1897 as "a manufacturer of flower pots that soon developed into one of very graceful garden pieces." By 1902, the company was advertising household decorative pottery with spectacular glazes that appeared more as artware.

While I stood there that mild Friday afternoon in November and studied the lamp, I quickly realized that I had seen this exact form before from the Merrimac Pottery Company. It was in March of 2014 when Thomaston Place Auction Galleries sold the contents of a Kennebunkport, Maine estate at their auction gallery in Thomaston, Maine. They identified the pot as a product from the Merrimac Pottery Company based on an impressed stamp that was partially filled with glaze on the base (see pictures below); however, there was no mention of a lamp insert. In fact, the lamp insert could have remained in the estate, and mistaken for a lost lamp part. But seeing this all unfold in memory as I stood their at the auction preview made me wonder how much of this production survives from this business today.

The use of these type of objects could be perceived as a planter or vase, especially if the insert was lost or thrown away years ago. Although it is even more fascinating to recognize that some of these Newburyport lamps are even known today made with glass shades from Tiffany and Company. Some are even electrified, but I suspect that aspect of the production happened outside of Nickerson's company.

I had always assumed that Tiffany had contracted with Nickerson, and the lamps were then assembled and sold through Tiffany's stores. But that does not appear to be entirely the case since the lamp that sold at John McInnis' auction would have likely only required a simple glass shade common for the period. This type of shade would have been easy for most homeowners to purchase in their local marketplace, especially in a community like Newburyport around 1900.

Interestingly, it seems the lamp that sold that day in Newburyport was more-than likely an object which was also manufactured, assembled and sold in Newburyport, since it also retained a local history of ownership dating back to the early-1900s. The lamp insert was a perfect fit, which really maintains that the pottery base was made to fit around the insert.

Nevertheless, everytime I now look at a piece of Merrimac Pottery, I curiously wonder if that particular object could have been used as a lamp, and whether the lamp insert had been lost, damaged or thrown away. Of course not every object appears this way since many forms were obviously used as planters, vases, etc. But there are some questionable forms that are compelling, and I will try and post one of those objects from my private collection later this week.

Note: Lamps were not an anomaly at the Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport, Massachusetts - companies such as Grueby Faience and Chelsea Keramic Art Works, among other businesses were also known for this type of production in the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There is even a company with an unknown origin in America, the Frey Pottery that is also known to have produced electrified lamps during the period.

Lamp Sold in Newburyport, Mass.