This very good nineteenth century double-handled stoneware jug sold yesterday at Wooten & Wooten Auctioneers in Camden, South Carolina, which was part of Edgefield, South Carolina scholar J.W. Joseph's collection in Aiken, South Carolina. Joseph contributed to a number of publications through the years about Edgefield Pottery production, including an article published in the Historical Archaeology Journal in 2016, titled, "...All of Cross' - African Potters, Marks, and Meanings in the Folk Pottery of the Edgefield District, South Carolina."
This jug is marked with a single slash mark below the rim and is possibly attributed to the pre-Civil War Pottersville Factory in Edgefield. Among the potters known to have produced this type of double-handled jug at Pottersville with a double-rimmed lip was the enslaved African-American potter Dave Drake, circa 1820-1840. Sometimes the slash marks on these types of Edgefield objects are thought to possibly note a gallon capacity, although this jug stands seventeenth inches tall and is certainly larger than one-gallon in size.
Furthermore, Collin Rhodes (1811-1881) owned or co-owned a number of pottery factories in Edgefield, including Pottersville, Phoenix Factory, and finally the Collin Rhodes Factory (ca. 1843) during the early to mid-1800s. Phoenix Factory and the Collin Rhodes factory were two of the four factories that specialized in the production of slip-decorated stoneware, which is what gives certain pieces such distinctive designs. Different decorative motifs became trademarks of particular pottery factories. Striking floral patterns are a predominant motif used by the Rhodes owned factories. Rhodes was the son-in-law of Amos Landrum, who was the brother of Abner and John Landrum.
Nevertheless, this jug sold for $8,000 plus the auction premium.
For more information about this type of production - see a feature story that I wrote for the October 4, 2019 issue of Antiques & Auction News, titled, Thomas Chandler's Pottery Production: McKissick Museum of University of South Carolina Holds Innovative Exhibition - http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2019/10/thomas-chandler-story-in-oct-4-2019.html.
Also see the articles that I posted to this website about the exhibit, Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina that was recently displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
MET Article: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2022/12/now-on-display-at-met-in-new-york-city.html
MFA, Boston Article: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2023/03/now-on-display-at-mfa-boston-hear-me.html
Note: For the rest of the pottery that sold from the J.W. Joseph Collection - here is a link to the auction catalog: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/catalog/322413_carolina-collections/.
19th C. Stoneware Jug from the Pottersville Factory in Edgefield, S.C.
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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