Some excellent examples of red earthenware and stoneware sold over the weekend at Conestoga Auctions in Manheim, Pennsylvania. For example, two nineteenth century stoneware miniatures from Pennsylvania did particularly well selling for $5,500 and $6,000 before the auction premiums were then added to the auction result.
Although, it was actually five examples of nineteenth century slip script red earthenware that caught my attention, seeing that these objects are similar to wares that I have written about in research stories published in Maine Antique Digest, Antiques & the Arts Weekly and Antiques & Auction News. In each story, I wrote about various types of slipware recovered in the New York City area that had been manufactured in River Edge, New Jersey, at the Huntington Pottery on Long Island and in Norwalk, Connectictut.
In my opinion, the most interesting example in the sale was a plate manufactured in Norwalk with a religious inscription, reading, "St. Fidelas Martyr." Franciscan Capuchin martyr was born Mark Rey (1577-1622) in Sigmaringen, Germany in 1577. A practicing lawyer, he traveled across Europe as a tutor to aristocrats but then started defending the poor. In 1612, he became a Franciscan Capuchin monk, taking the name of Fidelis. A missionary to Grisons, Switzerland, Fidelis was so successful that local protestants claimed that he was a spy for the Austrian Emporer. Fidelis was stabbed to death in a church in Seewis, Switzerland in 1622. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XIV. Fidelis also served as the head of the Congregation for the Spreading of the Faith.
I have always felt that these type of religions script plates manufactured at the Smith & Day Pottery Norwalk are rather underappreciated today - they not only help define part of a period in American history, but they are also rather unique when compared to what else was produced in this country. There are a variety of these religious Norwalk plates and platters known to exist today in museum and private collections. In fact, two are currently available from a private Ohio collection through Antiques Associates at West Townsend in Massachusetts; one is inscribed "St. Boniface," while the other is inscribed, "St. Aloysius."
Overall, the condition kept some of prices down for the slip script at Conestoga Auctions; the results are posted in the caption below each photo before the auctions premiums were added.
Here are also links to my published New York City articles posted to my Scribd account:
1) October 2018 issue of Maine Antique Digest - "The Red Earthenware Available in the 18th and 19th Centuries in New York City"
2) January 31, 2020 issue of Antiques & the Arts Weekly - "Early Red Earthenware & Stoneware Found on Staten Island"
3) January 8, 2021 issue of Antiques & Auction News - "The Red Earthenware Manufactured in River Edge, New Jersey: A Look At Bergen County Pottery"
Collection of Slip Script Red Earthenware Sells at Conestoga Auctions in Manheim, PA
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