According to the website, Ben Owen Pottery, "Jugtown Pottery, near Seagrove in the center of North Carolina, was founded in 1917 by Jacques and Juliana Royster Busbee, artists and art enthusiasts from the state capital city of Raleigh. After discovering an orange pie dish made of clay at a county fair in NC, they traced the pie dishes’ origin to Moore County and found other orange and earthenware style pottery and salt glazed wares being made by the local potters. Salt glaze wares were produced by adding salt to the kiln near the end of the firing at or near the maturing temperature of the clay. At times pots were embellished with blue or simple incising and almost entirely utilitarian.
With Prohibition in 1907 and the beginning of industrial methods of vessels for containment, the potters began to find other means to support their families than pottery making alone. The Busbees saw an opportunity to revive a then-dwindling craft. Juliana started a tea room called the Village Store in 1918 in Manhattan in order to market the pots to New Yorkers. The first orders for pots for the Village Store at 60 Washington Square in Greenwich Village were given to four Seagrove area potters with their own wheels and kilns: Henry Chrisco, Rufus Owen, James H. Owen and J.W. Teague. These potters made the utilitarian pieces that had served local needs for generations. The Busbees soon found that they wanted to go beyond the area’s utilitarian shapes and glazes.
J.H. Owen was born in 1866, the son of Benjamin Franklin Owen, father to M.L. Owens, grandfather to Vernon Owens, great grandfather to Travis Owens, brother to Rufus Owen and uncle to Ben Owen Sr.. M.L. Owens (who added the s to his surname) recalled in an interview that J.H. Owen learned to turn under Pascal Marble, whose shop was south of Seagrove.
In 1910, J.H. set up his pottery on the site which is now the Owens Pottery, owned by grandson, Boyd Owens. By 1917 he was making pots for Jacques Busbee. He turned, decorated and fired these pots at his workshop, as the Jugtown shop was not yet built. Purchased by the Busbees, the pots were then sent to the Busbees’ tea room in Manhattan. J.H. Owen also made pots for his own shop. Many examples of these early orange and salt glaze with cobalt pieces have been found in the northeastern states. Some pieces bear the J.H. Owen stamp, and a few bear the Jugtown stamp. At the time that the Jugtown stamp was made in 1922 or early 1923, J.H. Owen began stamping his personal wares with his own stamp. Quite possibly the Jugtown stamp and the J.H. Owen stamp were made at the same company together. The two stamps are similar in style. This would also explain why fewer stamped pieces by J.H. Owen have been found. J. H. Owen died in 1923."
Nevertheless, while out and about last weekend, I came across this rare earthenware pot at a flea market local to me in Massachusetts. This unmarked circa 1920 or so green and orange glazed earthenware vase is attributed to J.H. Owen in Seagrove, North Carolina. It survives in excellent condition, whereas this may in fact be an example that was originally sold through the Busbee's shop in Manhattan, possibly explaining why it was discovered in central New England.
Note: As seen in the pictures below - the glaze on this vase takes on different colors in various types of natural lighting. Furthermore, I have seen this shape of vase a few times made out of salt glazed stoneware, however this is the first time that I have seen an earthenware example.
A Rare North Carolina Earthenware Vase Found at a Massachusetts Flea Market
Unmarked 20th Century Earthenware Vase
Please Stay Tuned....Much More to Come...
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