Thursday, May 22, 2025

Thrift Store Find Yesterday: Miniature Stoneware Chamber Pot Found in a Saugus, Massachusetts

This was a fun thrift store find yesterday! This a miniature late nineteenth or early twentieth century wheel-thrown brown glazed stoneware chamber pot with a really nice rolled rim. It was found just to the north of Charlestown, Massachusetts and Boston; I suspect it retains some type of history of local ownership, and probably made for a novelty purpose. It was also possibly made during the circa 1880s-1890s period.

Interestingly, I have been stopping into this thrift store for almost two years now; I sometimes stop at it when I am driving past it on my way to the Boston area. But I do have a reason as to why I stop at this particular thrift shop; the cities that surround this store were really built up during the circa 1870-1940 period. I suspect there is still a lot of material in these homes from those early periods of ownership. There was also a lot of production in the Boston area during this period, including the Arts & Crafts Period, Chelsea Keramic, Low Art Tile, Grueby Pottery, New England Pottery Company, A.H. Hews Pottery, Charlestown stoneware, Peabody Pottery and Beverly Pottery, etc. Some of these companies I have also written feature stories about for various publications and they have also been included as part of some of my books.

Nevertheless, the circa 1876-1940s Moses Paige (1846/47-1941) Pottery in Peabody, Massachusetts printed some company catalogs in the 1890s, two of which are owned today by the Peabody Historical Society. Included in the catalogs are what are described as miniature cane colored ware and Rockingham ware stoneware chamber pots, some of which were miniature "Toy Chambers" that the company sold for a $1.00 per dozen. These were imported objects possibly brought in from Ohio stoneware manufacturers, including the C.C. Thompson Pottery Company in East Liverpool, Ohio. Perhaps this is an example of that line of production, but I also suspect that these types of objects were imported and produced elsewhere in the Boston area during the same period: https://historicbeverly.net/product/the-moses-b-paige-company-the-last-of-the-peabody-potteries/.

One of those companies was the A.H. Hews Pottery in North Cambridge, Massachusetts (see below), which offered miniature boxed painted terracotta chamber pots given to customers who were not satisfied with their purchase and returned objects to the company: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2023/03/new-published-story-in-antiques-and.html.

Note: Here are two links to miniature stoneware chamber pots that were made at the Anna Pottery in Anna, Illinois in the late 1800s, both of which sold through Crocker Farm in Maryland.

1) https://www.crockerfarm.com/stoneware-auction/2014-03-01/lot-314/Miniature-Stoneware-Worlds-Fair-Novelty-Chamberpot-Anna-Pottery-Anna-IL-1893/

2) https://www.crockerfarm.com/stoneware-auction/2022-11-18/lot-37/Rare-Anna-Pottery-Miniature-Stoneware-Chamberpot-w-Dung-Beetle-Lid/

Thrift Store Find Yesterday in Saugus, Massachusetts

Late 19th or Early 20th Century Miniature Wheel-Thrown Stoneware Chamber Pot
Found Yesterday in a Thrift Store in Saugus, Mass.
Likely Retains Some Type of Local Ownership
Possibly Made in Ohio
Possibly Circa 1880s or 1890s
Stands 1 7/8" Tall and 3 3/8" Across from Handle to Rim
See Above for More Information
Another View of the Chamber Pot
See Above for More Information
A View of the Rolled Rim
See Above for More Information
A View of the Base
See Above for More Information

M.B. Paige Pottery Catalogs, Circa 1890s, Peabody, Mass.

(Inset Photo) This is Page 9 from the M.B. Paige Pottery Catalog from the 1890s
Miniature Cane Colored and Rockingham Ware Stoneware Chamber Pots are Listed
This Paige Lists the Cane Colored Ware Examples
The Rockingham Ware Ones are Listed on Another Page
They are Described as Toys and Sold by the Dozen
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: Peabody, Mass. Historical Society
Two M.B. Paige Pottery Catalogs from the 1890s
Also Shown is a Catalog from the C.C. Thompson Pottery Co. in Ohio
Paige Imported Stoneware Made in Ohio which He Then Sold in Peabody
Although this was Largely a Red Earthenware Company
But Paige also Sold Other Products Made Elsewhere
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: Peabody, Mass. Historical Society

Miniature Chamber Pot w/Box from A.H. Hews & Co.
Original Box Holding a Miniature Chamber Pot
See Article for More Information
Miniature Hand-Painted Red Earthenware or Terracotta Chamber Pot
Made at the A.H. Hews & Co. Pottery in North Cambridge, Mass.
Circa 1870s-1890s
The Top Reads, “Many Happy Returns Of This Day"
See Article for More Information

Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...

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