Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates is currently in the middle of their semi-annual two day Americana sale in Mount Crawford, Virginia - and there were certainly some highlights from yesterday, including sewer tile, stoneware and red earthenware, much of which did very well!
In terms of the pottery, there was a lot of stoneware to see, although the most sought after piece was a slip script political jug manufactured by the Fulper Brothers in Flemington, New Jersey about 1896, reading, "Billy Bryan he likes his wine / And Sewell likes his Gin / So all the Loyal Democrats / Don't want the cusses in."
William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) was an American orator and politician. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States in the 1896, 1900 and 1908 elections.
I heard from Benny Kreiner moments after the jug sold, who is an antiques specialist at Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, and this jug was certainly a conversation piece from yesterday's sale, selling for $18,000 plus the auction premiums. Furthermore, the information that accompanied the jug included, "The poem refers to president and vice presidential candidates Bryan and Arthur Sewell (1835-1900). First nominated to the Democratic ticket in 1896, Bryan was a congressman from Nebraska and Sewell a wealthy Maine banker and shipbuilder. Losing to Republican candidate William McKinley (1843-1901), Bryan went on to run for president two more times, losing each race. Ironically, unlike the poem says, Bryan was a prohibitionist and did not drink alcohol having taken a temperance pledge as a child, he felt prohibition would contribute to the moral improvement of the individual and to civic progress."
The nineteenth century history of the Fulper brothers dates back to 1814, when the business was established by Samuel Hill, a potter originally from New Brunswick, New Jersey, who founded the Hill Pottery on the corner of Main and Mine Streets in Flemington. Although, the pottery was purchased in 1858 by Abram Fulper, a nephew who then changed the name to Fulper Pottery. This jug was manufactured when the company was operated by George Fulper and his brothers during the 1881-1898 period. The business continued well into the twentieth century under various owners and name changes, and through the span of all this made a wide variety of products from multiple types of clays. The most iconic piece of Fulper Brothers stoneware is likely a circa 1880s four gallon jug featuring acrobats that is in the Adam Weitsman Collection at the New York State Museum in Albany, New York.
Slip Script Stoneware Political Jug Made by the Fulper Bros. in Flemington, New Jersey
Other outstanding pieces of utilitarian pottery that sold yesterday include various examples of cobalt decorated stoneware from the Mid Atlantic region and a number of pieces manufactured by the Kirkpatrick brothers in Anna, Illinois, as well as a stoneware frog mug attributed to John H. Folks at the Loogootee Pottery in Indiana, who previously worked for the Kirkpatrick brothers in Anna.
The earthenware part of the sale was highlighted by a multicolored nineteenth century earthenware spaniel thought to have possibly been manufactured by George Wagner in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, as well as a two color slip decorated red earthenware plate attributed to the Dry Pottery in Berks County, Pennsylvania, and a nineteenth century red earthenware food mold stamped twice, "SOLOMON BELL / STRASBURG" and "STRASBURG / Va." But there many other pieces of pottery to see beyond what I have posted in this article today.
Some of the Other Pottery that Sold Yesterday in Virginia
No comments:
Post a Comment