A Collection of Six 19th Century Spice Jars Attributed to Portland, Maine

I'm thrilled over this: six nineteenth century red earthenware spice jars attributed to the Dodge Pottery in Portland, Maine - each with a different slip-decorated ingredient and all retaining their original lids! Whether it's a private or museum collection, there are only so many of these jars that exist today, and the only other spice not represented here that I know about is "Cloves & Nutmugs," where one sold at Skinner in Boston in 2009. Has anyone reading this seen anything different other than the six spices included on these jars and the seventh found on the one that I just referenced that sold at Skinner? 

I already owned three of these jars, two of which were previously owned by Maine author Gladys Hasty Carroll (1904-1999), while I picked up the other three over the weekend at the Stoneware Collector's Group sale and swap in Bennington, Vermont. I bought them from New York collector Vince Martonis who had owned them for the past fifteen years, although, prior to that, they were owned by Rodger F. Sweetland (1930-2002), who was also a good friend of New York archaeologist and museum specialist George Hamell. Much of Rodger Sweetland's antiques collection sold through Cottone Auctions in Geneseo, New York in 2003, which included some outstanding stoneware from New York.

Nonetheless, I know of about sixteen or seventeen of these jars in existence today, and that includes these six. There is also a group of matching formed jars in existence with a marbled glaze, such as one that sold in Lew Scranton's sale at Skinner in 2016. These jars are typically stamped with a number on the base of the lid that corresponds with the same number on the base of the jar, although inscribed Roman numerals were also used. In fact, one of the marbled jars was also displayed in the Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum's two-part pottery exhibit in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, titled, Thrown, Fired and Glazed: The Redware Tradition From Pennsylvania and Beyond.

For more information about these jars - see my article published in the February 2018 issue of Maine Antique Digest, titled, The Dodges and Their Potteries: https://www.scribd.com/document/369805001/The-Dodges-and-Their-Potteries-Maine-Antique-Digest-February-2018

A Collection of Six 19th Century Spice Jars Attributed to Portland, Maine

Six Nineteenth Century Red Earthenware Spice Jars Retaining Their Original Lids

Attributed to the Dodge Pottery in Portland, Maine

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