It is not often that examples of Hervey Brooks' (1779-1873) red earthenware production from Goshen, Connecticut are found today, largely because his production is rather rare to find, even though he operated a pottery business for decades.
According to the Connecticut Historical Society, "Hervey Brooks was an American potter and farmer who made red earthenware in Goshen for more than one half century. His production provided domestic wares for an isolated countryside and contributed to an informal system of sales, barter and trade that characterized the rural economy of the period. While few records of this trade exist, Brooks left behind extensive documentation of his business transactions and daily responsibilities that provide historians a unique look at the life of a nineteenth century farmer-potter.
The life of a farmer-potter meant that Brooks did not have the luxury of spending all his time perfecting his craft. In fact, from 1828 until 1864 Brooks only fired his kiln one day per year because life on the farm also involved sawing lumber, blacksmithing, carpentry, and a host of other responsibilities that kept him from his pottery.
When Brooks passed away in 1873, he left behind account books and day books. He also left a largely intact manufacturing facility that provided archaeologists with new insight into the tools, materials and processes that went into his production of red earthenware."
Nevertheless, some red earthenware that was made by Brooks, which also matches archaeological evidence recovered at the site of the pottery, now owned by Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts sold yesterday at Flying Pig Auctions in Westmoreland, New Hampshire. The objects came from the estate of Elizabeth Rybak of Harwinton, Connecticut, which included a slip decorated red earthenware pan, as well as two slip decorated red earthenware plates or dishes.
However, the most competitive of the Brooks material was a pair of unglazed red earthenware flowerpots that were both impressed, "H. BROOKS." They sold together in the same lot to Pennsylvania flowerpot collector Randy Bohn for $850 plus the buyer's premium.
Note: There was also another nineteenth century slip decorated red earthenware pan that sold; it may have also been made at the Brooks Pottery in Goshen, seeing that the slip technique is similar to a pan owned by the Litchfield, Connecticut Historical Society, which the museum acquired from the Brooks family in the twentieth century; it sold for $250 plus the buyer's premium: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/181888754_antique-redware-slip-decorated-milk-pan-as-found-13-14-diam.
For the rest of the pottery in the sale - see the auction catalog: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/catalog/336271_the-estate-of-elizabeth-betty-rybak/.
For more information - see my sixth book, titled, A City on the River: The Early Red Earthenware of the Hartford, Connecticut Area: https://historicbeverly.net/product/a-city-on-the-river-the-early-red-earthenware-of-the-hartford-connecticut-area/.
Hervey Brooks' Red Earthenware Production from Goshen, CT
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