A Wonderful 19th Century Photograph of the Exeter, New Hampshire Pottery Works

This is a wonderful photo owned by the Exeter, New Hampshire Historical Society that shows four workers in front of the Exeter Pottery Works pot shop in the nineteenth century. At the time, the business was owned by Frank Lamson (1859-1936), as seen posted in the company's description on the building. The photo is thought to have been taken sometime in the 1880s. Aside from the workers, all of the pottery stacked in the windows is awesome to see!

Note: For more information about the history of this business, I suggest a feature story I wrote for the February 2018 issue of Maine Antique Digest, titled, The Dodges and Their Potteries.

Exeter, NH Pottery Works

The Exeter, New Hampshire Pottery Works

Circa 1880s

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Photo Courtesy: Exeter, NH Historical Society

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The Use of Kaolin in Essex County, Massachusetts and a Mug Made at the C.A. Lawrence Pottery

While getting organized for an upcoming pottery exhibit later this year that I am guest curating at the Custom House Maritime Museum in Newburyport, Massachusetts, museum specialist Sean Palmatier shared a link to a book titled, The Physical Geography, Geology, Mineralogy, and Paleontology of Essex County, Massachusetts, which was written by John Henry Sears in 1905 for the Essex Institute, now the Peabody Essex Museum. The book provides an excellent description of the type of clays available throughout Essex County, especially the clay beds that were used by both potters and brick-makers.

These four pictures are some of the photos included in a chapter titled, Clay. But an aspect of this chapter that I found absolutely fascinating is the discovery of a kaolin bed that was apparently used by the C.A. Lawrence Pottery in Beverly, Massachusetts.

According to Sears, "In Essex County was the beginning of brickmaking and the earthenware industries of New England. Over two hundred years ago it was famous for its manufactures from clay. Clay-beds have been worked for brickmaking in nearly every town and village in the County, and Newburyport, Beverly, Peabody, and Danvers still continue the production of earthenware. At the present time bricks are made in twelve different cities and towns in the County.

Residual Clays, formed from the decomposition of ledge rock in situ are rare in Essex County. One bed, which was probably decomposed from a ledge of felsite, occurs on the west end of Kent's Island, Newbury, and now a very fine white kaolin. The deposit has not been worked and its extent is unknown. A mug made from this clay at the Beverly Pottery burned out white. Another mass of residual clay occurs in South Lawrence, and is the result of the decomposition of a ledge of gneissic granite, quartz being absent."

The chapter then goes onto further discuss the various type of clays and levels in Essex County, but I would love to learn the whereabouts of the mug today that Sears cites from the Beverly Pottery. I'm curious to know if it still exists or if it was just a test conducted by the pottery to see how an object made entirely from kaolin clay would react once fired in the kiln. Although, I suspect they must have been aware of kaolin pipes made in America, and especially Europe for centuries.

The Physical Geography, Geology, Mineralogy, and Paleontology of Essex County, Massachusetts

 Courtesy: John Henry Sears, The Physical Geography, Geology, Mineralogy, and Paleontology of Essex County, Massachusetts

Courtesy: John Henry Sears, The Physical Geography, Geology, Mineralogy, and Paleontology of Essex County, Massachusetts

 Courtesy: John Henry Sears, The Physical Geography, Geology, Mineralogy, and Paleontology of Essex County, Massachusetts

Courtesy: John Henry Sears, The Physical Geography, Geology, Mineralogy, and Paleontology of Essex County, Massachusetts

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The Estate Sale of Russell Stahl in the Summer of 1987, Featuring More Than 1,000 Pieces of Pottery

I'm way too young to have attended the estate sale of the third generation potter Russell Stahl (1911-1986) in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania in 1987. But it's certainly a sale I wish I could have witnessed seeing that more than 1,000 pieces of red earthenware were sold a year after the potter died in August of 1986.

According to the newspaper The Morning Call, "Many of the fluted flowerpots, colorful pie plates and sgraffito vases had been collecting dust in the Stahl shop for more than 40 years. A number of the pieces offered were considered greenware, pieces that were never fired, and biscuit ware, which was fired once, glazed, but never finish fired.

A number of historical finished pieces also sold, including an 11 1/2-inch tall Bob Adam ewer with stopper and a sgraffito 10 3/4-inch green glazed dish with squirrel and oak leaf designs. Other objects included medallions, plaques, lidded sugar bowls, rooster & kitten figures, in addition to pots of every description.

Russell was the third generation of Stahls to produce red earthenware on the site in Powder Valley, Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Charles Ludwig Stahl (1828-1896) began the enterprise in 1847.

The sale also featured the wood-fired kiln and pot shop; included in the shop were molds, potter's wheels, slip cups, assorted tools, a small library, and an old potter's hat and apron left hanging on a nail after the last pot was thrown in 1953."

Unfortunately, I don't have access to any pictures from the auction since it took place more than 30 years ago, but I can share this picture, which shows Russell Stahl (right) in front of his kiln in 1985. Many pieces of pottery are seen in this photograph, all of which probably sold at the estate sale in 1987.

Russell Stahl (1911-1986)

Russell Stahl (Right) in Front of His Kiln in Powder Valley, PA in 1985

More Than 1,000 Pieces of His Pottery Were Sold from this Estate in 1987

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Photo Courtesy: http://www.stahlspottery.org

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The Albert Hastings Pitkin Collection Feature Story Published in the April 12, 2019 Issue of Antiques & Auction News

Published in the April 12, 2019 issue of Antiques & Auctions News is a feature story I wrote about the Albert Hastings Pitkin (1852-1917) Collection at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. The article tells the story of Pitkin, a native of Hartford, as well as illustrates a dozen red earthenware objects from his collection, and how some of these pieces were influential in the early-1900s with museums and authors.

Interestingly, a feature story I also wrote about The Bradford Family Potteries in Massachusetts is published in the May 2019 issue of Maine Antique Digest, which mentions Pitkin's name, so the timing was perfect for both of these stories to be published.

Nonetheless, here is a link to The Albert Hastings Pitkin story posted on Antiques & Auction News' website. The photos posted below reveal how this story appears in print.

April 12, 2019 Issue of Antiques & Auction News

 My Niece Alexis Holding the April 12, 2019 Issue of Antiques & Auction News

A Story I Wrote About Albert Hastings Pitkin is Published in this Issue

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 My Niece Alexis Holding the April 12, 2019 Issue of Antiques & Auction News

A Story I Wrote About Albert Hastings Pitkin is Published in this Issue

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My Niece Alexis Holding the April 12, 2019 Issue of Antiques & Auction News

A Story I Wrote About Albert Hastings Pitkin is Published in this Issue
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The Research, Photography and Ephemera of Frederick H. Norton

A few years ago, I acquired some pottery from the estate of Frederick H. Norton (1896-1992), a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and descendant of the famed Norton family of potters in New England. Although, Norton was also a potter himself, and much of Norton's antique and original pottery collection is actually owned by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston today. But recently I purchased much of Norton's research notes, original hand-written articles, original pottery manuscripts, original photography and New England pottery ephemera.

Norton's research and ephemera was largely referenced in 1950 when Massachusetts author Lura Woodside Watkins' (1897-1982) book, Early New England Potters and Their Wares was published. Norton also published some of his own information in the 1920s and 1930s through places like MIT and The Magazine Antiques, such as an original article with original photography written about the nineteenth century Osborn pottery in Gonic, New Hampshire. 

Nonetheless, I have just been able to acquire Professor Norton's original hand-written pottery articles, archaeology notes from Dogtown in Gloucester, Massachusetts, original photography of Gonic pottery, original photography of potteries in Peabody, Massachusetts and Exeter, New Hampshire, original photography of the Crafs pottery in Nashua, New Hampshire, notes on the Norton pottery in Worcester, Massachusetts, ephemera from the Norton pottery in Worcester as well as Bennington, Vermont, along with some original bills of receipt that Watkins actually wrote about from potteries in Dublin, New Hampshire and West Sterling, Massachusetts. I'm really thrilled over this, and I hope in the near future that I can publish some of this information in a magazine or newspaper.

Frederick H. Norton (1896-1992) Collection

Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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 Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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Norton's research notes, original articles, original photography and New England pottery ephemera 

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Upcoming Museum Exhibit: Three Centuries of Earthenware Production on the Merrimack River

I would like to announce that I am guest curating an exhibit later this year at the Custom House Maritime Museum in Newburyport, Massachusetts, which will focus on the pottery made along the Merrimack River in the Newburyport-area from Colonial times through 1908. I am working on the exhibit with museum specialist Sean Palmatier and the curator of the Custom House Museum, Kevin MacDonald. The title of the project is Three Centuries of Earthenware Production on the Merrimack River.

The exhibit is bringing together a lot of objects from private collectors and museum collections that will represent the wares made at the circa 1764-1799 Daniel Bayley Pottery Company in Newburyport, the circa 1790-1820 William Pecker Pottery in Merrimacport, Massachusetts, the circa 1820-1880s Chase family potteries in Merrimacport, along with Thomas Nickerson's circa 1897-1908 Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport. There will also be a lot of archaeology included, such as a large amount of stoneware artifacts from William Pecker's business.

A publication should also be available in the museum bookstore that will highlight the history of these potteries and everything on display.

I will post more information as opening night draws near, but you can read more about the exhibit by clicking this link.

Three Centuries of Earthenware Production on the Merrimack River

Upcoming Museum Exhibit: Three Centuries of Earthenware Production on the Merrimack River

August 26, 2019 to May 30, 2020

Custom House Maritime Museum in Newburyport, Mass.

Click this Link for More Information About the Exhibit

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A Great Green Glazed Jug Acquired Yesterday in Brimfield, Massachusetts

This is another one of my purchases this week at the antique shows in Brimfield, Massachusetts, which was recently acquired directly from a house in Connecticut by Sheffield, Massachusetts antiques dealer, Sam Herrup. It was found along with a late-eighteenth or early-nineteenth century lead glazed red earthenware stew pot from the William Pecker pottery in Merrimacport, Massachusetts.

This jug stands almost 12-inches tall and is decorated in a beautiful green glaze with orange halos and some faint use of manganese for decoration. Although, when I initially saw this jug on Tuesday, I could remember seeing a nearly exact handle, however I could not remember where I had seen it.

But I realized last night that the handle and base on this jug seem to match a pitcher illustrated in my most recent feature story published in the May 2019 issue of Maine Antique Digest, titled The Bradford Family Potteries in Massachusetts. This story identifies the significance of the Bradfords and their impact within the pottery industry in southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod. However, it wasn't identified until recently by a grad student from the University of Massachusetts Boston that this was a four-generation family business, which began before the American Revolution and continued into the 1870s.

Comparison of Handles and Finger Impression

Comparison of the Handles

The Manufacture of Each Handle and Finger Mark Appears to Match

Also Notice the Similarities in Glaze and the Orange Halos in Each Object

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The pitcher that I reference was illustrated among a group of other pitchers, all of which can be linked to archaeological evidence collected by Massachusetts author Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wars), and owned today by the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. All of this information was discussed in the MAD article, but I also suggested that a lot more pottery was made by the Bradfords than what may be realized today. I also noted that Watkins found extensive archaeological evidence to prove that various green glazes were produced at the Bradford family pottery in Kingston, Massachusetts.

Nevertheless, upon comparing the jug to that pitcher last night, I found that the handles and finger impressions on each object appear to match, both objects show orange halos in the glaze (which may have been a reaction that happened in the kiln), both objects exhibit the use of some manganese for decoration, the glazes are also similar and the manufacture of the bases appear to be very similar.

Red Earthenware Jug and Pitcher

My Niece Alexis Holding the Large Lead Glazed Red Earthenware Jug

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Early-19th Century Lead Glazed Red Earthenware Jug

Possibly Made at the Bradford Family Pottery in Kingston, Mass.

Recently Found in a House in Connecticut

Stands 11 1/8" Tall

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Another View of the Jug

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View of the Handle

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View of the Base

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Another View of the Handle

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 Early-19th Century Lead Glazed Red Earthenware Pitcher

Attributed to the Bradford Family Pottery in Kingston, Mass
Attribution Based on Archaeological Evidence
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Photo Courtesy: Private Massachusetts Collection

 View of the Handle

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Photo Courtesy: Private Massachusetts Collection

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