I just wanted to let everyone know who contributed pictures that the research story I wrote about Abner Smith Wight (1822-1890) is finished and it will be my next published feature story in an upcoming issue of Maine Antique Digest. Wight was a red earthenware potter (and possibly also involved with stoneware in New Hampshire and Vermont), who is documented as having worked in Marlborough, New Hampshire, West Sterling, Massachusetts and Keene, New Hampshire.
Wight's career began in Marlborough, Cheshire County, New Hampshire in the early 1840s (possibly earlier), where he worked for his father and later had some ownership of a pottery in the "Chesham Village" section of the county. This is a term that is often found in the collector's world today, although I explain in detail in the article what this area was actually all about.
Wight then relocated in late 1840s to West Sterling, a small community located to the north of Worcester, Massachusetts, and then ended his career in Keene. However, his production in West Sterling is significant today, seeing that it can be misinterpreted for wares manufactured in places like Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
About twenty-five surviving pieces of red earthenware will be illustrated in the article from private and museum collections from across the country, as well as a variety of surviving paper documents. For instance, this is an original photograph of the "Snow & Coolidge Earthen Ware pottery cart and dog," which was a business that followed Wight's ownership in West Sterling that still retained a family connection.
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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