Originally published on the cover and on page 128 in the 1973 book, Old Stuff in Up-Country Pennsylvania, this nineteenth century red earthenware plate, adorned with the script "GETZ," was described as, "An interesting pottery survival purporting to have been made at or near the town of Bangor in Monroe County, a short distance from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. There is no record of a working pottery there, at least as far as we know, but this pie plate has been in up-country Dutchdom for something like a century. It had been in the possession of one member or another of the same family from the time it was made as a presentation piece for a man who in the course of years came to be known as "Old Man Getz," and remained there until Mr. Getz's grandson, himself eventually "Old Man Kuhnsman," died and his household effects were put up at auction. This was in 1969."
Nonetheless, the only person I can find working as a potter in Pennsylvania with this surname about 100 years before that book was written was a Charles Getz (b. 1832), who was born in Württemberg, Germany about 1832, and working as a potter in Lower Salford, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The 1870 United States Federal Census lists him as 38-years-old, and working alongside 43-year-old potter Frederick Ritter (b. 1827), who was born in Bavaria, Germany.
Furthermore, the 1900 Census lists a 73-year-old Ritter, who was born in Germany, as arriving in America in 1848; he is also listed with an occupation as a shoe maker in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. This Ritter also died in Pittsburg in 1900. If this is the same Ritter, then his may have been a similar situation for Charles Getz's arrival and career path.
Nonetheless, this plate sold today at Hartzell's Auction Gallery in Bangor, Pennsylvania for $3,700 plus the buyer's premium.
Note: Also posted below is a related plate inscribed "KUNSMAN" that is believed to have been made by John Kunsman in Bangor County, Pennsylvania.
19th Century Red Earthenware Plate with the Script "GETZ"
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