Very Rare Commemorative Red Earthenware Plates Made by a New JerseyPotter in the Early 19th Century

According to the New York State Museum (in Albany, New York), the ensuing plate is described as, "...(A) Redware plate with glazed interior; It is a drape molded circular plate with a serrated edge with a central relief medallion bust of (George) Washington in profile with an arch of thirteen stars (13 colonies) above the portrait and the name, "WASHINGTON" written below...This object was once part of the folk art collection of Elie Nadelman (1882-1946), the avante-garde sculptor. From 1924-1934, Nadelman's collection was displayed in his Museum of Folk Arts, located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx in New York. The Historical Society purchased Nadelman's entire collection in 1937."

The museum also says, "...Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change." No further information about this plate is cited; i.e. maker, region, state or date of manufacture.

 

19th Century Red Earthenware Plate

Ca. Early 19th Century

Center Shows a Portrait of George Washington Surrounded by 13 Stars

Ex Collection of Elie Nadelman

Measures 11 1/8" in Diameter

 Photo Courtesy: New York State Museum - Albany, NY

The reason I am writing about this subject is because I found a similar plate at a Leo Legare auction in Dover, New Hampshire a few years ago. I do not remember the exact year the auction took place; although I do know it was around the time when I first began collecting redware - so it must have been in the 2004 to 2006 period. I recall walking into the Elks Hall after the auction had already begun on a warm summer night in August. The plate was included in a box lot of ceramics that was sold in the first twenty-five lots. I was in line waiting for a bidder number when I opened the bidding. I raised my hand without a number - and I won the lot for an opening bid of $75. I didn't know much about the plate at the time, but the fact it had a portrait placed directly in the center seemed very-rare and rather interesting to me. I also did not know who the portrait was of - the plate sat on a shelf in my house for four or five years until I really thought more about it.

I initially showed a photo of the plate to long-time collector, mentor and friend - Lewis Scranton of Killingworth, Connecticut in 2011. He told me it was probably made in New Jersey - an attribution I would later find out was correct.

In 2012, I showed Brandt Zipp (Brand'ts Research) of Crocker Farm, Inc in Sparks, Maryland a photo of my plate along with a link to the New York State Museum plate. I wanted to know his thoughts. He said he hadn't seen anything like it before; although he said he would try to find some more information about the plates. He wanted to know for his own records. He told me to let him know if I came up with any additional information on my own. I never did, but in-time, Brandt found a historical society in New Jersey that actually knew the maker of these plates with a few related examples in their collection.

According to the Bergen County Historical Society in New Jersey - the plates were made by the early nineteenth-century potter, Henry Van Saun. The Historical Society writes, "...Earthenware pie plates are counted among the most treasured heirlooms of the (New) Jersey Dutch...Two celebrated Hackensack Valley potters, Henry Van Saun (d. 1829) and George Wolfkiel (1805-1867), produced pie plates at their pottery back shop, situated between Old Bridge (River Edge), New Jersey and New Bridge, New Jersey." Van Saun began the pottery, which was later purchased by Wolfkiel (of Franklin Township, Pennsylvania) in 1847. The businesses were well-known for their slip decorated plates (typically ranged from 5"-15" in diameter) that were sometimes adorned with a customer's initials, name and some plates were even dated. The businesses likely made more household forms than only flatware; however for the sake of this report - I am only explaining the plates, loaf dishes and related forms.

River Edge is located near the Hudson River and about twenty-miles northwest of New York City. The plates were probably intended for a local consumer, but the New York City marketplace was likely a strong destination as well.

 Henry Van Saun Attributed Red Earthenware Plates - River Edge, NJ

Ca. Before 1820

Each Plate is Decorated in Slip with a Person's Name

Photo Courtesy: Bergen County Historical Society - River Edge, NJ

 River Edge, NJ Attributed Red Earthenware Plate

Written in Slip" Hard Times in Jersey"

Ca. 19th Century - Probably Before 1850

Photo Courtesy: Bergen County Historical Society - River Edge, NJ and Waadsworth Anthenium - Hartford, Ct

 George Wolfkiel Attributed Red Earthenware Plates - River Edge, NJ

Each Decorated in Slip Decoration, One Dated, 1848

Both Ca. 1848 and Earlier

Photo Courtesy: Bergen County Historical Society - River Edge, NJ

As I continued to read more about Van Saun's work through the historical society, "...Henry Jacob Van Saun, carpenter, purchased 11 acres between Kinderamack Road and the Hackensack River from Jacob Bogart in December 1811. Here he opened a brickyard and pottery, utilizing glacial clays that mantle the Hackensack Valley...He resided upon 34 acres, extending from Kinderkamack Road west to what is now Van Saun Park, and bounded south by Howland Avenue, which he had purchased from his father, Jacob Van Saun in 1802. Henry Van Saun made earthenware pie plates with embossed medallions of Washington (in a halo of thirteen stars) and Layfayette, probably in 1824-26 to commemorate Lafayette's visit to Hackensack and the 50th Anniversary of America's Independence." Henry Van Saun died in 1829.

Here is a link for more information into who General George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette were; and why Henry Van Saun likely chose these two men to decorate his commemorative plates.

Henry Van Saun Red Earthenware Plates - River Edge, NJ

Each Plates is Decorated with a Bust of Either Washington or Lafayette

Top Plate: Washington

Bottom Plate: Lafayette

Ca. 1824-1826

Photo Courtesy: Bergen County Historical Society - River Edge, NJ

It appears these are exceeding rare plates purportedly only made for a brief three year period from 1824 until 1826. They also appear to have been commemorative items so there were probably not a lot made. I do not know the history of the plate I purchased almost a decade ago, but I do know is was tossed in with a box lot from the contents of a New Hampshire home. All else is unknown. My parents always told me when I first began collecting and attending auctions that I had "...beginners luck." Maybe this is an example of that, which took me nearly a decade to learn how lucky I was to find such a plate in my beginner years. Here is what the plate looks like - it is decorated in a pumpkin-colored orange glaze with a prominent portait in the center.

What is so unusual about this plate is it does not appear like the other portraits seen above - despite the manufacture style being identical. This portrait is of a bearded man. Does anyone have any ideas? This is very likely a portrait from the 1824 to 1826 Van Haus period that has never been identified before. The Bergen County Historical Society has not identified this third figure yet. This plate's figure also appears to have been surrounded in stars just like the Washington plate.

 

Henry Van Saun Red Earthenware Plate -  River Edge, NJ

 Plate Decorated with a Portrait

Size: 12" in Diameter

The Plate Was Found at a Country Auction in a Box Lot in Dover, NH

Close Up of the Bearded Portrait
Appears to be Surrounded in Stars

To my knowledge - there are only four of these plates known; two are in the Bergen County Historical Society in New Jersey (1 Washington Plate, 1 Lafayette Plate), one is in the New York State Museum (1 Washington Plate)  and the last, is the plate I found in New Hampshire (Unknown Figure Plate). In all, there is one Lafayette plate, two Washington plates and an unknown plate that is a figure likely related to Washington and the American Revolution. There may be more out there, but I am not aware of them. I am sure glad I decided to raise my hand and take a chance on that box lot. In my opinion these plates are an important part of New Jersey's utilitarian potter's history; however I also view them as a part of New York City's utilitarian red earthenware history.

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

A Wonderfully Glazed Red Earthenware Flower Pot Found in Beverly, Massachusetts

Maine red earthenware is among the most-collectible American utilitarian pottery in the antique and decorative arts marketplace today. There are many reasons for this; 1) The glazes were often spectacular, 2) It's very rare, 3) The Maine red earthenware industry was a part of the state's succession from Massachusetts; the majority of the potters really emerged when the state of Maine was founded in 1820 - giving some of its first potters motivation to supply the newly formed state, and 4) There is still a lot to be learned about the Maine potters - and this desired knowledge is what drives many collectors when new forms and glazes emerge today.

About a month ago, I purchased a red earthenware flower pot from a person who cleans out homes in the greater Beverly, Massachusetts area. This particular pot is actually directly fresh from a Beverly home. It had a bunch of fake flowers stuffed inside of it when I first saw it. It looked terrible with the flowers. I'm not sure how anyone thought this looked good.

The pot is in immaculate condition with what I describe as an oatmeal type glaze. It's covered in a grayish-glaze with brown particles scattered throughout it. I think it's a beautiful piece - and the glaze conforms with what part of the potter's industry in southern Maine was doing around the time of the Industrial Revolution. I am not able to specifically attribute this flower pot; although the colors are in keeping with what potters were doing in places like Hollis, Maine and Buxton, Maine in the 1840s, 1850s and 1860s. It's even still in tradition with the products that were made in the 1870s in Buxton. There were many businesses outside of Buxton and Hollis that made red earthenware in places like Portland - and other small towns to Portland's west and south that we still do not entirely understand today - and this pot could also be involved with one of those companies.

It's a form that I have not seen attributed to Maine before; however the trash pile that I saw at the Bickford Pottery (search past reports) in Buxton taught me that there is a great deal to be learned about every potter in the state of Maine. The Bickford Pottery trash pile showed extremely colorful glazes and uncommon Maine forms that I would never have suspected to be a Maine product prior to seeing what I saw. I think what the Buxton site can teach all people interested in Maine utilitarian pottery is that there is plenty more to be learned about each potter in this state. From my own personal experience - I have found that to understand many of the Maine potters that I must venture away from the expected forms (i.e. jugs, pitchers, pans and crocks) to see the vision that all of these potters possessed. This idea can likely hold true for much of the overall American utilitarian potter's red earthenware industry.

A good friend and mentor has said to me many times before, "There's a good chance that we only know as little as 10 percent of what was happening with many early American potters and their output." I completely agree with him. For example, newly found products have opened my eyes to forms made by the potter, William Pecker in Merrimacport, Massachusetts. These new forms have never been attributed before and it's 2014 - Lura Woodside Watkins wrote her important book, Early New England Potters and Their Wares more than sixty-years ago with Pecker being a major focus of her research. I personally feel there is still a lot to be learned about much of the early American red earthenware potter's movement.

Take a look at the flower pot below and be your own judge. It is pictured aside a small crock that was found in Maine by an antiques dealer in 2013 with a similar glaze. 

 (Right) 19th Century Red Earthenware Flower Pot - Possibly Made in Southern Maine

Recently Found in Beverly, Mass

Stands 6" Tall

(Left) Similar Glazed Small 19th Century Crock - Possibly Made in Southern Maine

Found in Maine in 2013 by a Maine Antiques Dealer

Two of These Smalls Crocks Have Now Been Found in Maine - This is the Second

Stands 4" Tall

 Interior of Hand-Turned Pot

 Base of Hand-Turned Pot

 The Clay Color is a Color Sometimes Seen on Southern Maine Red Earthenware Products

It is Similar to the Color Red Seen on Bricks

Wonderful Grey-Colored Glaze that is Covered in Brown Particles

Please Stay Tuned…Much More to Come...

Find: Large-Sized 19th Century Red Earthenware Mixing Bowl Found in North Reading, Massachusetts

"Beginning in the late eighteenth-century potters in Great Britain began manufacturing vessels of yellow firing clay - and with that  it mind, the trade began to spread. By the early nineteenth-century, potters skilled in yellow ware manufacture began to emigrate to the United States…By the latter half of the 1820s it began to gain popularity in America. Yellow ware was being produced en mass in New Jersey, Ohio, Vermont, New York and Maryland in the 1840s and 1850s. Undaunted by the Civil War, yellow ware reached its peak of production in the 1860s and 1870s. It then lost favor to white ware and the newer technology that allowed decorative porcelains to come into being.  Although yellow ware was produced well into the 1930s, for antiquity sake, the turn of the century saw the demise of this so-called utilitarian ware." (Yellow Ware: The Transitional Ceramic, Schiffer, Joan Leibowitz, 2002)

"The introduction of molds and mass production revolutionized the output of yellow ware. England exported huge quantities until the 1870s, when gas-fired kilns increased American production, causing a sharp decline in English imports. Larger, more automated factories were able to produce a wide variety of wares that were described in and sold through catalogs. From the mid-1860s to the mid-1880s, many of the bigger potteries were concentrated in Ohio, especially in Roseville, East Liverpool, Cincinnati, and later Crooksville. English potters had emigrated to the Midwest, and their experience, along with the area's abundant clay deposits, helped the factories thrive." (Kitchen Ceramics, Abbeville, Slesin, Rozensztroch & Cliff, 2007)

19th Century Yellowware Mixing Bowl 

Either an English or an American Potter

Height: 6 1/8" Tall

Diameter: 13 1/4" Across

Ca. 1820-1880

Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm, Inc. - Sparks, Md

On my way home from an appointment in Boston this afternoon, I came across a very interesting orange glazed red earthenware bowl with an applied foot or base in North Reading, Massachusetts. The reason for all the yellow ware discussion is because this red earthenware bowl reminds of some of those products - and it may have even been made in immitation; however unlike those products, it is actually a red earthenware product probably made by a New England potter in the 1850s, 1860s or 1870s. There's also a chance it was made earlier - I am merely going by what the American utilitarian trends were in the nineteenth-century.

The bowl has been glazed in a bright orange colored glass-like glaze. This color orange was popular with potters in Peabody (South Danvers), Massachusetts; Merrimacport (West Amesbury) Massachusetts and Exeter, New Hampshire. I am not going to specifically attribute this piece, but I will say the crazing (cracking) in the glass-like glaze is usually what happened to glazes in Merrimacport than the typical glazes by potters elsewhere in Essex County or southern New Hampshire. I compared the orange glass-like glaze crazing on the bowl to a few known Merrimacport pieces in my collection - and it is very similar, if not identical.

It's even more interesting when you look inside the bowl where three distinct stacker marks (kiln furniture) are seen (see photos below).

A chip on the side of the bowl shows the clay color is very similar to what is expected with clays of red earthenware products made throughout Essex County, Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.

Specifically in Merrimacport, the Chase family was an active group of potters using this glaze color; although the Joseph Reed Pottery in Peabody (South Danvers) and the Lamson Pottery in Exeter were also known for applying this type of color to some of their products. If I was forced to choose - I would lean heavily towards a Merrimacport attribution, but I am not positive of that so don't hold me to it.

These photos below depict the actual color of the bowl. It is really this bold!

 19th Century Red Earthenware Bowl - Probably a Massachusetts Potter

Found Today in North Reading, Massachusetts

Height: 6" Tall

Diameter: 12" Across

Ca. 1840-1880

 Interior of Bowl

Partially Glazed Base or Foot of Bowl

 Notice the Three Distinct Stacker Marks from Kiln Furniture at the Bottom of the Bowl

 Wonderful, Vibrant Colored Orange Glaze

Again,  Notice the Three Distinct Stacker Marks from Kiln Furniture at the Bottom of the Bowl

Bowls of this size were not unheard of in Essex County; here is a link to a report I wrote in April of 2013 - that shows a bowl made in South Danvers (Peabody) before 1840 (likely before 1820) that was dug up on Boston Common in Boston by Boston archaeologists. It is all very interesting to see a bowl like this emerge in North Reading. I have never seen anything like it before; although I am confident it was probably made  in Essex County, Massachusetts or southern New Hampshire between 1850-1870. I think it's a great find!

Please Stay Tuned…Much More to Come...

Rare 19th Century John Corliss Pottery Pot Recently Found at Local Flea Market

While listing a local Essex County, Massachusetts flea market last weekend, I was surprised to see an unusual nineteenth century red earthenware handled pot, which had been brought to the flea market by an antiques dealer from Cape Cod. The dealer told me that he had originally found this object in an old house on Cape Cod about twenty-years ago and since then it has sat on a shelf in his house.

This pot is really in remarkable condition decorated with a raspberry and cream colored glaze on the interior, rim and around the handle, which is also a glaze color that is found with red earthenware produced in places like western New York, Ontario, Vermont and Maine. Although, the handle on this object is unmistakable for the handles that were produced at the John Corliss Pottery in the Days Ferry neighborhood in Woolwich, Maine, circa 1825-1880s.

Note: This is the only time that I have ever seen this form from the John Corliss Pottery in Days Ferry, Maine, circa 1825-1880s.

Rare John Corliss Pottery Pot from Maine

 19th Century Red Earthenware Handled Pot

Attributed to the John Corliss Pottery - Days Ferry, Woolwich, Me
Reportedly Found on Cape Cod in the 1990s

Circa 1825-1880s

Stands 5 1/2" Tall

Rim is 7" in Diameter
See Article for More Information

 View of the Handle
See Article for More Information

View of the Interior Glaze
See Article for More Information

Please Stay Tuned…Much More to Come...

A Traveling Tour of Some of the Potters Who Worked in Newburyport, Massachusetts

This is a map I made for the following report - which will help guide you through a bike ride my nephew and I took last week. It shows the location of three potter's businesses in Newburyport, Massachusetts. All are located very-close to each other with a body of water known as the Bartlett Mall in the center. Two of the businesses operated simultaneously together in the eighteenth-century - while the third was in business in the latter years of the nineteenth-century that continued into the early years of the twentieth-century.

 

Map of Newburyport, Ma with Some of Its Potters

------------------------------------

While riding my bike through parts of Newburyport, Massachusetts last week with my nephew, Jason - we briefly stopped at St. Paul's Church on High Street, which is the resting place of the eighteenth-century potter, Daniel Bayley. Resting alongside Daniel are additional Bayley family members most of who were involved with the area's eighteenth-century red earthenware industry. Immediately next door to the church (heading west) is where Bayley's overly successful red earthenware company operated from roughly 1766-1799. Almost all of the remains from this business were removed in the 1930s - when a Route 1 underpass was paved directly through the center of the city. Author, Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wares) salvaged a large amount of broken shards before demolition completely destroyed all of the important remains that tell the story of who the Bayley potters were - and how many of their products appeared. Most of the shards are now kept at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.; although I've heard rumors that some boxes still remain with the Watkins family.

Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Mug - Newburyport, Ma

Ca. 1766-1799

Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Slip Decorated Deep Dish or Pan - Newburyport, Ma

Very Similar to a Bowl I Recently Found in a Newbury, Ma Trash Pile

Ca. 1766-1799

Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

(See the 15th and 16th Photos for a Similar Pan Found in Newbury, Ma -- June 2 Report)

Many of the Bayley shards collected by Watkins are very colorful - especially-so for an eighteenth-century American potter's business. The glaze colors were sometimes vibrant, rich colors - and when there was a more mute glaze color used - the products were often adorned in a large amount of slip decoration. When I first saw the Bayley shards at the Smithsonian last fall, I was surprised to see some glaze colors that were in keeping with colors usually associated with nineteenth-century potters in Maine.

 Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Shards - Newburyport, Ma
Impressive Group of Colors
Ca. 1766-1799

Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

 Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Shards - Newburyport, Ma
Ca. 1766-1799
Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin
Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

  Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Slip Decorated Shards - Newburyport, Ma

Ca. 1766-1799

Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

 Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Mug Shard - Newburyport, Ma
The Glaze Appears Like Some Products Made in Maine in the 19th Century
Ca. 1766-1799

Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Milk Pan Shard - Newburyport, Ma

 The Glaze Appears Like Some Products Made in Maine in the 19th Century

Ca. 1766-1799

Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

Lura Woodside Watkins actually did excavations at a number of places where the Bayley family worked throughout Essex County  in the eighteenth-century. Those places included; Josph Bayley's operation in Rowley, Massachusetts (before 1735) and Daniel Bayley's place of operation in Gloucester, Massachusetts (before 1766).

Joseph Bayley operated in Rowley from roughly 1720-1735 before he left for Newburyport for religious reasons. He is not thought to have re-entered the potter's trade once he left Rowley.

Daniel Bayley worked in Gloucester, Massachusetts before he moved to Newburyport and began his company in 1766. The Newburyport company was the more established of the two businesses.

Joseph Bayley Red Earthenware Shard - Rowley, Ma

Ca. Before 1735

 Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

 

Daniel Bayley Kiln Furniture - Gloucester, Ma
Ca. Before 1766
 Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

 

While on our bike ride, I was surprised to see shards from Daniel Bayley's operation in Newburyport protruding from the ground at St. Paul's Church. A half-dozen or-so were easily seen without even having to put any effort into looking for shards.The frozen soil appears to force shards above ground each year.

 Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Shard - Newburyport, Ma
Ca. 1766-1799
Seen on the Property of St. Paul's Church in Newburyport, Ma

  Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Shard - Newburyport, Ma
Ca. 1766-1799
Seen on the Property of St. Paul's Church in Newburyport, Ma

This next group of photos shows where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company used to operate in Newburyport (Ca. 1766-1799). The pictures also show St. Paul's Church and the Route 1 underpass that was built in 1934.

 St. Paul's Church Graveyard in Newburyport, Ma

 St. Paul's Church Graveyard in Newburyport, Ma
Daniel Bayley is Buried Here

 St. Paul's Church - Newburyport, Ma

 This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated
The Brick Wall of St. Paul's Church Can be Seen to the Right

 This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated
The Route 1 Underpass

 The Route 1 Underpass Was Built in 1934

  This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated
St. Paul's Church is in the Background

  This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated

  This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated
The Route 1 Underpass 

  This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated
The Route 1 Underpass 

  This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated
The Route 1 Underpass 

 This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated
St. Paul's Church is in the Background

 This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated

St. Paul's Church is in the Background 

Route 1 Sign is Seen

As we continued on our bike ride through Newburyport, we came to the place where Ebenezer Morrison (Ca, 1741-1803) operated in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth-centuries. Many Bayley family members were employed at the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company (5 in all) - and some of those family members traveld back-and-forth between the Bayley and Morrison businesses. As a result, many products took similar appearances at both companies. It was only a few hundred yards that separated the two businesses.

Ebenezer Morrison Kiln Furniture - Newburyport, Ma

Ca. Late 18th Century - Probably After 1775

 Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

We probably rode our bikes for another 1/10 of a mile before we came to the place where Thomas Nickerson operated the Merrimac Pottery Company from 1897-1908 making high-end floral wares, garden products, formal household pottery and ancient-style Grecian wares. Once again, we could see shards sticking out of the ground. All of the following shards correspond with products seen at the Historical Society of Old Newbury in Newburyport. Historical society curator, Jay Williamson and past Vice President, Chris Snow dug the site in 1998 as a condominium development was about to be placed over Nickerson's company, which burned in 1908. All of the shards seen below are in keeping with the shards I reviewed at the historical society earlier this year. All of the shards also appear to be the remains of floral products that are somewhat utilitarian in purpose.

 Area of Newburyport, Ma that Used to be the Back-End of the Merrimac Pottery Company
Merrimac Pottery Company Operated from 1897-1908

 Interior Brown Glazed Terracotta Shard
Found Near the Site of the Merrimac Pottery Company - Newburyport, Ma
Ca. Probably After 1900

 Terracotta Shard Found Near the Site of the Merrimac Pottery Company - Newburyport, Ma
Ca. Probably After 1900

  Terracotta Shards Found Near the Site of the Merrimac Pottery Company - Newburyport, Ma
Ca. Probably After 1900

  Interior Orange Glazed Terracotta Shard
Found Near the Site of the Merrimac Pottery Company - Newburyport, Ma
Ca. Probably After 1900

Terracotta Shard Found Near the Site of the Merrimac Pottery Company - Newburyport, Ma

Ca. Probably After 1900

These were not the only potters who worked in Newburyport; however they were likely the most prominent. Clement Kent (died 1747 or 1748) was another potter who worked in town, but I do not know much about his work. He was reportedly (Early New England Potters and Their Wares) responsible for training Ebenezer Morrison. There were also Newburyport brick makes in the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth-centuries. The potter's businesses were also probably responsible for many apprentices and even possibly traveling potters. Newburyport is not the largest city, but it certainly has an interesting history of important potter's businesses.

Much More to Come...