This was a surprising find yesterday while out and about in New England! This circa 1925-1939 earthenware vase is marked on the bottom “North State Pottery / Hand Made / Sanford NC.” This was the company's second mark with the first being used during the 1924-1925 period.
Interestingly, while there is no relationship, the glaze on this vase is somewhat similar to types made by Charles B. Masten (1892-1961) at the Auman Pottery in Randolph, North Carolina in the 1920s. The potters working at the North State Pottery may have taken notice of the Masten glazes. A somewhat similar glaze was also produced by Russell G. Crook (1869-1925) in South Lincoln, Massachusetts in the early 1900s (see below).
This vase features North State's signature mottled blue glaze, a beautiful example of their early art pottery styles. It blends cobalt blue with white, which creates a swirling pattern and an organic look that resembles natural stone or moving water. By layering colors this way, the potters moved away from plain, traditional glazes to create decorative, one-of-a-kind pieces.
While the founders of North State Pottery, Henry (1889-1959) and Rebecca Cooper (1891-1959), did not make the pottery themselves, they hired highly skilled local masters to turn the clay. During the 1925 to 1939 era, the shop’s main craftsman was Walter Nelson Owen (1895-1981), who joined in 1925 and served as the principal master potter throughout the 1930s. He worked alongside his brother, Jonah Franklin Owen (1895-1966), who was the company's very first potter and helped design many of their early artistic shapes. Another incredibly talented local artisan named Charlie Boyd Craven (1909-1991) also worked at the wheel during these peak years. Together with younger family members like Melvin Lee (1917-2003) and Elvin Owen (1919-1994), these master craftsmen created the classic, hand-thrown pieces that defined North State's success.
Because early North Carolina art potters used some Asian-inspired forms and glazes, I am including several of my previously published articles on this topic in my upcoming two-volume book. This project—my tenth book—is titled An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, Danvers, Peabody, Beverly and Salem, Massachusetts. The book highlights the connections between Quaker potters in the Danvers and Salem areas and other American locations during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It also shows how the China Trade and Japanese design influenced American pottery throughout the 1800s, a trend that became apparent across the country in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
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