It was one heck of a day at New Haven Auctions yesterday in Branford, Connecticut for day one of the lifelong collection of David Good, a well-known antiques dealer from Ohio. The sale included a little bit of everything, but with a huge focus given to American and Canadian folk art. Although, David has also been especially known for stoneware and red earthenware (or redware) through the years, even contributing to some of the country's most prominent collections, such as the face jug collection built by George H. Myer that was recently displayed at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York and the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, South Carolina. A number of the pieces he owned also came through major auction houses like Sotheby's, Christies, Northeast Auctions and Pook & Pook.
The American pottery was from all over though, for instance, yesterday's sale included a nineteenth century stoneware jar and a milk pan that were manufactured by Thomas Chandler (1810-1854) in Edgefield, South Carolina, as well as an important picture illustrating an African American woman with a nineteenth century Edgefield stoneware face harvest jug, along with a number of examples of outstanding folk pottery or stoneware from the South and the Midwest. The most notable of those pieces may have been an incredibly rare nineteenth century figure of a woman candle holder made by Solomon Bell in Strasburg, Virginia, which matches an example in form displayed by Winterthur Museum in Delaware that sold for $21,000.
However, the overall prices for the redware were very strong, largely because of the glaze, condition and aesthetic appeal. The notable lots included an outstanding early nineteenth century pitcher made at the Bradford Pottery in Kingston, Massachusetts that sold for $13,000, a late eighteenth or early nineteenth century green glazed jar with lid from Bristol County, Massachusetts that sold for $16,000, another jar also attributed to the Bradford Pottery in Kingston, Massachusetts that brought $9,000 (ex Lew Scranton Collection), a nineteenth century pitcher attributed to the Nathaniel Seymour (1752-1831) Pottery in Rochester, New York that sold for $6,500, a late eighteenth or early nineteenth century green glazed jug from Bristol County, Massachusetts that sold for $6,000, a slip decorated bowl made at the John Bell (1800-1880) Pottery in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania that brought $5,500, an early nineteenth century slip decorated plate from Pennsylvania that sold for $12,000, and many other pieces. There were also a number of Pennsylvania figural objects that did well. However, these prices that I have noted do not reflect the added buyer's premium.
There were definitely surprises with some of the prices, but most of the pieces sold for what they were expected to bring, seeing the careful thought and hard work that went into acquiring such a collection over many decades.
I was lucky enough to win one lot in the sale, which was also the lot that I really wanted to buy, considering I think it was one of the rarest pieces of pottery to sell yesterday. This late eighteenth or early nineteenth century slip decorated red earthenware jar is just incredible! And I believe it is one of only three examples that I know about with this type of decoration today (not necessarily all made by the same hand), where the other two are owned by Winterthur in Delaware and the Detroit Institute of Arts in Michigan. Although, the shape of the jar and the incised decoration found on the piece that I bought are a closer match to the jar that is owned by the Detroit Institute of Arts, which was also formerly owned by noted New York City antiques collector and dealer, George S. McKearin (1874-1958).
Note: See LiveAuctioneers or New Haven Auctions' website for the full catalog of both days of the sale.
Three Important American Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Jars
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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