Back in 2007, the Albany Institute of History and Art in Albany, New York hosted an exhibit of pottery made at Paul Cushman's (1767-1833) stoneware factory in Albany, titled, Paul Cushman: The World and Work of an Early Nineteenth Century Potter. Cushman was born in Charlestown, New Hampshire, although he was raised in Vermont, and he operated his stoneware manufactory in Albany between 1809 and 1833. He married Margaret McDonald in 1802, and together, they had several children.
According to the book that accompanied the Albany Institute's exhibit, "Cushman is recognized today as one of the founders of a regional stoneware industry that stretched throughout the Upper Hudson Valley of New York State. When Cushman moved to Albany around 1800, local stoneware production was limited to a few potters. His decision to open a pottery works half a mile west of the Albany Goal at the beginning of the new century resulted in a long-lived and successful business. It also initiated a century of tremendous growth and expansion in regional stoneware manufacturing."
Furthermore, the exhibit was one of four at the Albany Institute that made up the theme of “Earth and Fire: A Celebration of Clay and Ceramics.” The objects displayed as part of the Cushman exhibit were loaned from both museum and private collections, whereas one of the more interesting marked objects that was displayed just sold last weekend at Crocker Farm in Sparks, Maryland for $18,000 plus the buyer's premium, as part of the Warren F. Hartmann Collection. The double-handled jar was really aesthetically pleasing, having been manufactured with a gray salt glazed exterior, a brown glazed interior and a bold mark across the midsection that was highlighted with cobalt.
According to an article written by Mark Zipp from Crocker Farm for Antiques And The Arts Weekly in 2007, titled, Paul Cushman Exhibition Offers Insight Into Albany's Famous Stoneware Maker, "Cushman stoneware is perhaps best known for the large signatures impressed into the surface of his vessels. There are several variations of his maker’s mark. All were produced from a coggle wheel with raised letters that was rolled across the wet clay before firing. Most commonly, collectors and historians will find examples impressed “PAUL : CUSHMAN’S” in large capital letters. In two cases, the mark includes a date of production, the earliest reading “PAUL CUSHMAN’S STONEWARE FACTORY 1809” and another with identical wording, but ending in the date 1811.
The most interesting of Cushman's coggled signatures reads "PAUL : CUSHMAN'S STONEWARE : FACTORY : 1809 : HALF : A : MILE : WEST OF ALBANY : GOAL." In this case, the word "GOAL" is an archaic spelling of "jail."
But I also want to addd that it is actually spelled gaol, which was a predominant word in British English language used until roughly 1935, at which point the word jail became the more popular option.
Additionally, Crocker Farm added this information to the auction listing, "Illustrated and discussed in Paul Cushman: The Work and World of an Early 19th Century Albany Potter, p. 107, fig. 24, described with the following: "Whoever Cushman contracted to make his 1809 mark was either a poor speller or simply not careful. The 'n' in the word 'stone' is missing from the mark on this pot. Only a few vessels with the misspelling are known. Most pieces with the 1809 mark have the correct spelling, which suggests that Cushman had a new mark made, and eventually discontinued use of the one with the spelling error."
Another jar bearing this same mark, although it was applied 36 different times is owned as part of Adam Weitsman's collection at the New York State Museum in Albany. The museum suggests the jar was a presentation piece that was likely created for a specific customer, and it may have been the first piece made in Cushman’s kiln.There is also a butter churn in the collection of the Albany Institute with this same mark, among other known objects, such as a brown glazed pitcher that sold at Crocker Farm in 2021 for $5,400, including the buyer's premium, along with a jar that sold at Crocker Farm in 2013 for $6,325, including the buyer's premium, and a jug that sold at Skinner in Boston in 2014 for $3,690, including the buyer's premium.
For more information - see an article written by Paul Cushman for the 2012 issue of Ceramics in America, titled, Paul Cushman: The Premier Albany Potter and His Stoneware: https://chipstone.org/images.php/527/Ceramics-in-America-2012/Paul-Cushman:-The-Premier-Albany-Potter-and-His-Stoneware.
Note: I tried researching it but my search came up empty - Are there any images, drawings or paintings known of this goal or jail in Albany in 1809? The only information that I can find of a nineteenth century jail is the Albany Penitentiary, which operated from 1848 until 1931. However, I did find one account published in the New York Times in 1974 that said the location of the jail in 1809 was not far from the location of the Albany Mall.
A Stoneware Jar from the Collection of Warren F. Hartmann
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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