According to the information that accompanied an Edgefield, South Carolina stoneware jar with slip decoration that sold at Crocker Farm in Sparks, Maryland in the Spring of 2024, "The jar in this auction is stamped "PHOENIX FACTORY / ED : SC," which is Edgefield's rarest and most prized maker's mark. This jar is one of a small number of marked Phoenix Factory stoneware objects known made during the brief partnership of Collin Rhodes and Robert Mathis along Edgefield District's Shaw's Creek." That jar sold for $39,000 including the buyer's premium.
Crocker Farm also cited in that listing an important advertisement for the Phoenix Stone Ware Factory that was published on page 4 in the May 21, 1840 issue of the Phoenix Advertiser (see below). The ad reads, "The subscribers having been engaged in the manufacturing of Stone Ware at Pottersville, in Edgefield, S.C. for many years and from long experience, and former owners of that establishment, have located themselves at the Phoenix Factory, Shaws Creek, twelve miles from Edgefield C. House on the main Road leading from Newberry, Union, and the upper Districts to Aiken, for the purpose of manufacturing Stone Ware in all various branches. They have procured the best of workman and are consistently making up, and have a large stock on hand. Their assortment in the most complete ever before offered for sale in this market, to which they would call the attention of Druggists, Merchants and Planters, and all those who wish to purchase anything in their line.
Among the many articles of which their stock is composed, are the following: Jars of all sizes. Jugs of all sizes. Churns of all sizes. Bowls or pans of all sizes. Butter Pots of all sizes. Pitchers of all sizes. And lids neatly made for jars and churns if desired. Stew pots of various sizes.
All of the above is inferior to none made in the United States. Orders addressed to us at Edgefield Court House, S.C. will be promptly attended to, and delivered to the Merchant's door, any distance under one hundred and fifty miles. Charleston merchants can have their ware delivered at the depot, in Aiken, at 12 1/2 cents per gallon. The Price at the Factory is 12 1/2 cents per gallon. -- MATHIS & RHODES"
Furthermore, it was published in Philip Wingard's article in the 2013 issue of Ceramics in America, titled, From Baltimore to the South Carolina Backcountry: Thomas Chandler's Influence on 19th-Century Stoneware, "When Phoenix Factory is created as a partnership at Shaw’s Creek in early 1840 between Robert Mathis and Colin Rhodes, Thomas Chandler becomes the primary turner and decorator of stoneware produced there. When the partnership dissolves in late 1840, Chandler remains at Shaw’s Creek until circa 1844, likely working for Collin Rhodes."
The most significant example of production from this company that survives today is a jug-formed cooler that was made by Chandler, and depicts two African-American figures, bearing the Phoenix Factory stamp, whereas it also ranks among the greatest American ceramic objects known to exist today. This object was included as part of the exhibit, Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina, which was recently displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (as well as other museums).
Interestingly, a slip decorated stoneware jug bearing the same maker's mark as the jar that sold earlier this year at Crocker Farm just surfaced in an online-only sale at Hinson's Auction in Oakboro, North Carolina. The jug was recently found in an estate in Union County, North Carolina, where it sold yesterday for $11,250 plus the buyer's premium.
Note: For more information - see a three-page 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 - https://antiquesandauctionnews.net/articles/Thomas-Chandler%60s-Pottery-Production/.
Also see two articles that I posted to this website about the Hear Me Now exhibit when it was displayed in Manhattan and in 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
Circa 1840-1842 Stoneware Jug Marked "PHOENIX FACTORY / ED : SC"
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