The Young Potters Stereoview Card

This is another object in the collection of the Heritage Museums and Gardens on Cape Cod in Sandwich, Massachusetts - although, unfortunately I cannot provide any further information about this stereoview card. But the subject is certainly fascinating.

The title of this card is The Young Potters, and it shows two young children working inside a pottery business, with various utilitarian wares scattered around the shop; a boy is pictured with a block of raw clay, and a girl is seen sitting behind the potter's wheel. However, I have not been able to determine if this scene was staged, but I also suspect that this is a European business, possibly in the United Kingdom.

According to the Museum of Obsolete Media, "Stereoviews consist of two nearly-identical images, each taken a few inches to the side of the other. When viewed through two lenses set 2 1/2-inches apart, approximately the space between the eyes, the result is the illusion of a three-dimensional image. They generally consist of two photographic images pasted onto a 3 1/2-inch by 7-inch card, although earlier ones were sometimes images on glass.

They became popular first in Europe in the 1850s, followed by the U.S. in the 1860s. Until the 1880s, most of the photographic images were created using wet plate negatives printed on albumin paper. From the 1890s, dry plate negatives printed on gelatin silver paper were produced by large companies, such as Underwood & Underwood in the U.S., or the London Stereoscope Company in the U.K.

They faded in popularity in the 1920s, but the idea behind them was used in later formats like View-Master and Vistascreen."

 The Young Potters Stereoview Card

Probably 19th Century Stereoview Card Titled, The Young Potters

Circa 1850s-1920s

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Photo Courtesy: Heritage Museums and Gardens

Back of the Stereoview Card

The Title of the Card and the Photographer, Thomas Freer are Printed on the Back

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Photo Courtesy: Heritage Museums and Gardens

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The Red Earthenware Collection Owned by the Heritage Museums and Gardens on Cape Cod

A few years ago, I visited the Little Compton, Rhode Island Historical Society in order to study the museum's collection of red earthenware, much of which was locally made around the Taunton River in Southeastern Massachusetts. Some of these objects were then published in a feature story I wrote for the June 2018 issue of Maine Antique Digest, titled, The Pottery Industry in Southeastern Massachusetts.

In some ways, the Little Compton Historical Society's collection is similar to a smaller group of wares owned by the Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. This collection is not widely known today, but some of it was published in 1991 by the former art director of the Heritage Museums and Gardens, Brian Cullity's museum exhibit catalog, Slipped and Glazed: Regional American Redware. 

While the majority of this collection represents production from Southeastern Massachusetts, it also presents some of the type of pottery that was available on Cape Cod in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. These wares include production from Bristol County, Massachusetts, as well as a pottery operated by Noah Bradford (1761-1832) in West Barnstable, Massachusetts, circa 1819-1832.

Red Earthenware Displayed at the Heritage Museums and Gardens on Cape Cod

Late-18th and Early-19th Century Red Earthenware

Attributed to the Industry Surrounding the Taunton River in Southeastern Mass.

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Charlotte Gagne

Southeastern Mass. Red Earthenware

Late-18th or Early-19th Century Red Earthenware Jar

Attributed to the Industry Surrounding the Taunton River in Southeastern Mass.

Circa 1780-1840

Stands 7 7/8" Tall

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Heritage Museums and Gardens

Late-18th or Early-19th Century Red Earthenware Jar

Attributed to the Industry Surrounding the Taunton River in Southeastern Mass.

Circa 1780-1840

Stands 7 1/2" Tall

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Heritage Museums and Gardens

Late-18th or Early-19th Century Red Earthenware Jar

Attributed to the Industry Surrounding the Taunton River in Southeastern Mass.

Circa 1780-1840

Stands 8" Tall

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Heritage Museums and Gardens

Late-18th or Early-19th Century Red Earthenware Jug

Attributed to the Industry Surrounding the Taunton River in Southeastern Mass.

Circa 1780-1840

Stands 5 1/4" Tall

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Heritage Museums and Gardens

Late-18th or Early-19th Century Red Earthenware Pitcher

Attributed to the Industry Surrounding the Taunton River in Southeastern Mass.

Circa 1780-1840

Stands 5 3/4" Tall

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Heritage Museums and Gardens

West Barnstable, Mass. Red Earthenware

Late-18th or Early-19th Century Red Earthenware Pan

Attributed to Noah Bradford in West Barnstable, Mass.

Circa 1819-1832

Measures 14 1/2" in Diameter

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Heritage Museums and Gardens

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Great Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Jar in the Collection of Winterthur in Wilmington, Delaware

This was absolutely one of my favorite objects that I viewed while touring the red earthenware and stoneware collection at Winterthur last fall in Wilmington, Delaware. Interestingly, I have seen this form of jar before, which is usually generically attributed to New England, and typically decorated with a basic single glaze - although, the museum actually attributes this jar to Pennsylvania.

To my knowledge, the manner that the slip-decoration was applied around the script on this jar is highly unusual for American red earthenware production. Considering its rarity, I actually view this object to be one of the iconic pieces of American red earthenware that represents Winterthur's collection.

This is really an object that is unlike anything else owned by Witnerthur, as well as most of the other museum collections that I have toured. I have also never seen anything like this object in any private collection that I have seen.

However, while I closely looked this piece over for a few minutes, I took the form into account, seeing that this exact shape can be attributed to New England today. But like I wrote, I have never seen anything like this slip before so I am hesitant to provide any type of information for a possible place of origin. Nevertheless, this is a spectacular piece of domestic slip-decorated red earthenware that Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1969) acquired for Winterthur before 1950.

Does anyone reading this have a thought about the possible origin of this jar? Other than the form, I did notice that the slip-script resembles some slip-script plates manufactured in Norwalk, Connecticut in the 1800s.

Great Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Jar

19th Century Slip-Script Red Earthenware Jar

Stands 10 1/4" Tall

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Winterthur

Another View of the Jar

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Photo Courtesy: Winterthur

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Monumental 19th Century Red Earthenware Bean Pot Discovered in Salem, Mass. on Valentine's Day in 2014

I discovered this monumental nineteenth century red earthenware bean pot on Valentine's Day in Salem, Massachusetts in 2014. In fact, it's an object that I have posted around Valentine's Day every year since. I think it's such a cool object.

This pot is attributed to the circa 1866-1906 Charles A. Lawrence Pottery in Beverly, Massachusetts - I found it only a few miles from where it was originally produced inside a small shop a short distance from the Salem and Beverly border. Oddly enough, the shopkeeper was actually trying to sell the object for the silk orchids that had been placed inside of it rather than for the pot itself.

I remember asking the shopkeeper if she knew anything about the pot or where she found it - and she told me that it was found in an old house in Beverly, where to her knowledge, it had resided with that family for many years.

Although, I am not certain of it, but this pot may have been manufactured as a presentation piece, seeing that has survived in like-new condition. The pot is decorated with an applied crimped rim, four handles, four attached movable rings, and dozens of boldly impressed Roman crosses.

Both utilitarian and commemorative bean pots were a major form of production at the C.A. Lawrence Pottery, especially in the 1880s and 1890s. But I have not seen anything like this pot before, even though its basic form matches a monumental bean pot that Lawrence made for the first mayor of Beverly in 1895; the pot is inscribed, "Presented to the First Mayor of Beverly from the Beverly Pottery Jan 1895." 

Simple utilitarian bean pots and miniature advertising examples were also produced at the Moses Paige Pottery in Peabody, Massachusetts in the late-nineteenth and twentieth century. Many of these pots are similar in form to those that were made in Beverly.

Monumental Bean Pot Found in Salem, Mass.

19th Century Red Earthenware Bean Pot Decorated with Roman Crosses

Attributed to the C.A. Lawrence Pottery in Beverly, Mass.

Stands 9 1/4" Tall and Measures 12 1/2" in Diameter at the Base

Found in Salem, Mass. on February 14, 2014

See Article for More Information

Monumental Presentation Bean Pot

Made at the C.A. Lawrence Pottery in Beverly, Mass.

Inscribed "Presented to the First Mayor of Beverly from the Beverly Pottery Jan 1895"

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Beverly, Mass. Historical Society 

Early-20th Century Photograph of Edwin A. Rich Throwing Bean Pots and Vases

Rich was an Employee of the Moses Paige Pottery in Peabody, Mass.

Similar Forms were Made in Both Beverly and Peabody

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Photo Courtesy: Peabody Historical Society

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An Excellent Red Earthenware Washbowl from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia

While touring the outstanding pottery collection yesterday at the Wadsworth Antheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, I took a few minutes to study this excellent example of late-nineteenth century red earthenware production from the Shenandoah Valley.  This is a well-documented form today, known as a washbowl, although these bowls were also often produced with a matching pitcher.

But this washbowl appears to be one of the better examples in existence today, seeing that it is decorated with an atypical glaze and embellished with much more ornamental design than what is typically found on these type of objects. For instance, most of the washbowls that I have viewed from this area are not decorated with this amount of impressed decoration around the edge of the bowl, and especially the two birds found perched along the rim of the soap dish.

The bowls that were produced after 1880 at the Eberly Pottery in Strasburg, Virginia can be categorized as part of a line of fancyware that was manufactured at the pottery, which included other forms, such as wall pockets, vases, bottles, doorstops, urns, urns & pedestals, as well as other shapes. Many of these objects are also noted today for their vibrant multi-colored glazes.

The Eberly Pottery was established in 1880 by Jacob Jeremiah Eberly (1830-1908), when he purchased a pottery company from the Keister family - and he was later joined by his brother, Joseph Eberly and son, Daniel Letcher Eberly (1859-1919), producing stoneware and fancyware under the company names of J. Eberly & Bro., Strasburg, VA; J. Eberly & Co., Strasburg, VA; and Eberly & Son, Strasburg, VA. 

According to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, "Washbowls and pitchers were often made as a set. Attached to the back wall of the bowls is a soap dish with a pierced bottom that allowed water to drain. The Eberly potters also added some whimsical element to these bowls, such as three coiled clay strips behind the soap bowls, and sometimes even simulated screw heads that seem to attach each handle to its base." 

Furthermore, the museum also notes that other Strasburg potters, like Anthony Baecher (1824-1889) and the Bells applied animal motifs on some of the pottery they produced, and perhaps their production may have even influenced the Eberlys with similar designs.

Although, I was told yesterday by Maryland researcher, Eric Jenkins that the decoration on this washbowl closely resembles production from Anthony Baecher, a German immigrant considered to be one of the most accomplished Shenandoah valley potters -- as well as a washbowl illustrated in Gene Comstock's book, The Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley Region," which was made by James C. Mackley in Mechanicstown (now Thurmont), Maryland.

According to Dr. Comstock, "Anthony Wise Baecher was born in 1824 in Bavaria, Germany, and he learned his trade from his father. In 1848 Baecher immigrated to the United States via Ellis Island, New York. After a few years of working in Adams County, Pennsylvania, Baecher settled in Fredrick County Virginia, in about 1853, and in 1862 he bought forty-six acres from the Singhas estate along Sulpher Spring Road, just each of Winchester. The purchase included rich clay beds suitable for earthenware. He built a shop and kiln on this property, most likely prior to the purchase date. He worked at this shop and at Jacob Lynn's pottery in Mechanicstown in Frederick County, Maryland. He also managed his farm and hired other potters, including Lorenzo Fleet and Abraham Miller, to help in the shop. In 1882 Adam Kern, who had also worked at the Lynn pottery, came to Winchester to work at the wheel for Baecher, and the two potters worked in partnership. Kern left the pottery a year later, and it appears that Baecher worked alone for the remainder of his career."

Shenandoah Valley, Virginia Red Earthenware Wash Bowl

Late-19th Century Red Earthenware Wash Bowl

Possibly Made by Anthony Wise Baecher in Virginia

Stands 7 1/4" Tall and Measures 12" in Diameter

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Wadsworth Antheneum Museum of Art

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

Examples of West Hartford, Connecticut Red Earthenware Owned by the Wadsworth Antheneum Museum of Art

I wrote in an article that was posted last month, "Since I have written about red earthenware manufactured in New York for the better part of this month, I thought today I would post this great nineteenth century slip-decorated red earthenware jar, which sold last summer at Pook & Pook in Downington, Pennsylvania. I have been stumped by this object ever since I first saw it. In fact, the form is somewhat similar to some jars manufactured in Vermont, while the handles are reminiscent to those produced at David Mandeville's circa 1810-1840 pottery in Circleville, New York, and the combination of the slip and glaze remind me of production in West Hartford, Connecticut in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century."

The response from that article was that this jar was likely manufactured at the Thomas Seymour (1763-1849) Pottery in West Hartford in the early-nineteenth century; although, until recently, I had never previously seen twisted or braided handles from this industry. But I just learned about a bowl last week in the Albert Hastings Pitkin Collection at the Wadsworth Antheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, which was reportedly made by Seth Goodwin (1772-1828) in West Hartford. This bowl was manufactured with very similar twisted handles, apparently proving that this type of handle was indeed manufactured in West Hartford.

According to the West Hartford Historical Society, "Early on, grist saw, and carding mills along with blacksmith shops, tanneries and general stores emerged around the (West Hartford) community to support and help drive agriculture. One of the first major industries to arise centered on the pottery and brick works. Extending from Hartford to Berlin is a sizable deposit of fine clay. 

In 1770, Ebenezer Faxon came from Massachusetts and settled in what would become the Elmwood section of West Hartford. There he established a pottery on South Road (what is today New Britain Avenue) which took advantage of the local geographical landscape. Nathaniel Seymour later followed, but it was Seth Goodwin, however, who helped to establish a pottery dynasty. Goodwin started his pottery works around 1798. For over a hundred years, the Goodwin name would be associated with West Hartford Pottery - producing utilitarian items such as jugs for the gin manufactured in local distilleries, to terra cotta designs and fine china. The Goodwin Company employed up to 75 people in its heyday in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. The Goodwin Brothers Pottery Company (as it came to be known) burned for the third time in 1908 and never recovered."

I have also posted a slip-decorated red earthenware mug from the Pitkin Collection that is also attributed to West Hartford. But I cannot recall having seen another slip-decorated mug from this industry before, suggesting that this is a rare form to find today.

West Hartford, Connecticut Red Earthenware

19th Century Red Earthenware Bowl with Twisted Handles

Reportedly Made by Seth Goodwin in West Hartford, CT

Circa 1820

Stands 5 3/4" Tall and Measures 9 7/8" in Diameter

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Wadsworth Anthendeum Museum of Art

19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Jar with Twisted Handles

Likely Made in West Hartford, CT

Stands 10" Tall

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Pook & Pook

19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Mug

Attributed to West Hartford, CT

Circa 1805-1830

Stands 4 1/2" Tall

Photo Courtesy: Wadsworth Anthendeum Museum of Art

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

Exceptional 19th Century Marbled Red Earthenware Jar Manufactured in Western New York

I spent the better part of last month writing about nineteenth century red earthenware potteries located in upstate New York, much of which was focused towards the potters employed in Western New York. In fact, this is a region that deserves a lot more attention today, seeing that some of this production is responsible for some of the most dramatic red earthenware produced anywhere in America in the 1800s. Among the better known Western New York potters is Nathaniel Rochester, whom Rochester, New York is named after today.

According to the Genesee Country Village and Museum, "After the American Revolution, when land in Western New York opened up for settlement, men and women left their rocky farms in New England and moved west. Pennsylvanians and Marylanders migrated from the south. 

The pioneers who rushed to clear and develop the rich frontier were all hoping to improve their lot. Some would turn back. Some would be struck by Genesee Fever, a form of malaria. Some would move on to Ohio and Michigan. But many would stay.

In 1801, Colonel Nathaniel Rochester left his comfortable circumstances in Hagerstown, Maryland, to move north to 155 acres in Dansville, New York, that had been bought on his trip to the Genesee Country in September 1800. The perilous 275-mile journey north through almost impassible mountains took three weeks.

On horseback the Colonel led a procession of carriages bearing the younger children and women of the household and three great Conestoga wagons with household goods, his ten slaves and some of his neighbors who came along to help. The Colonel moved north, he said, "to escape the influence of slavery, to set his slaves free and to rear his family in a free state."

In Dansville, Colonel Rochester purchased from David Scholl a plank house, believed to have been built around 1797 - and once settled in Dansville, he purchased most of the water rights at Canaseraga Creek. Colonel Rochester erected a large paper mill and a gristmill. In the meantime, he began to survey the 100 acre-tract at the falls of the Genesee River that he and his colleagues had purchased in 1803.

After five years in Dansville, Colonel Rochester moved to a large farm in East Bloomfield, New York, and continued his work laying out what would become the Village of Rochester. In 1818, he and his family finally moved near the falls into a house with a large garden and grounds sloping down to the river. In 1824, he erected a brick house on higher ground where he resided for the rest of his life."

As I have recently noted, Rochester also offered some of his property in the Village in 1818, to be used as a pottery; he was not the potter himself, but the business is known by his name today. The potter or potters who worked at the Rochester Pottery produced some of the earliest wares in this region. Although, to my knowledge, the name is not known of the potter or potters employed here, but they were clearly skilled in their craft by what is known about this pottery from both archaeology and surviving objects.

This multi-colored marbled red earthenware jar is attributed to Western New York, and thought to have been manufactured at the Rochester Pottery. I also cannot recall having seen this form from this business or region before, suggesting that it is quite a rare form to find today.

Nevertheless, while this jar currently resides in a private collection, it was previously owned for many years by Camden, Ohio antiques dealer, David Good.

Exceptional Marbled Red Earthenware Jar from Western New York

19th Century Marbled Red Earthenware Jar

Attributed to Western New York

Very Likely Made at Nathaniel Rochester's Pottery in Rochester, NY

Very Likely Circa 1818-1831

Stands About 6 1/2" Tall

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: David Good

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