An Incredible 19th Century Stoneware Jug that Recently Sold in Plainville, Connecticut

Many people have already seen this incredible four gallon nineteenth-century stoneware jug that sold on March 27, 2017 at Winter Associates, Inc. in Plainville, Connecticut. Presumably, this is a merchant jug that was marked 'SOLD BY / T.B. MERRICK / HALLOWELL (MAINE).' My limited research has shown that T.B. Merrick dealt in drugs and medicine.

According to WalterGrutchfield.net, "Thomas Belsham Merrick (1813-1902) was born in Hallowell, Maine on April 27, 1813 and died June 13, 1902 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."

The incised decoration is incredible! The jug is profusely decorated with a wonderfully executed bird, which has been surrounded by plants, flowers and leaves. This is easily a museum quality object that would fit nicely into any major museum's collection. It is also an object that would easily compliment the red earthenware and stoneware already owned by the Maine State Museum in Augusta, Maine. Coincidentally, Hallowell is located only a few miles south of Augusta.

This jug was given an incredibly low pre-auction estimate of $125-$275; although, it eventually sold at the auctioneer's podium for $7,000. But I feel this jug was still a bargain at that price. This is an important piece of stoneware that I feel is a significant piece of Maine's nineteenth-century history.

4 Gallon 19th Century Stoneware Jug with Incredible Incised Decoration

Marked 'SOLD BY / T.B. MERRICK / HALLOWELL (MAINE)'

 Stands 18 1/2" Tall

Sold: $7,000 Before Premiums

Photo Courtesy: Winter Associates, Inc. - Plainville, CT

View of Some of the Incised Decoration

 Photo Courtesy: Winter Associates, Inc. - Plainville, CT

View of the Mark 'SOLD BY / T.B. MERRICK / HALLOWELL (MAINE)'

Photo Courtesy: Winter Associates, Inc. - Plainville, CT

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

A Rare 18th Century Red Earthenware Pot with a History of Ownership in Lynn, Massachusetts

I saw a lot of great redware and stoneware over the weekend at the annual Connecticut Spring Antiques Show in Hartford, Connecticut, as well as at Nadeau's Auction Gallery in Windsor, Connecticut. But the piece that I eventually held out for sold yesterday at a small auction in Lynn, Massachusetts. I had never heard of this auction until last week when I came across an intriguing black-glazed red earthenware pot that was advertised generically. I suspected that it was manufactured locally in the eighteenth-century, but I was not sure of it until I held it in-hand yesterday.

The auctioneer told me that this eighteenth-century pot was consigned from an old estate in Lynn. The easy answer would be to attribute this refined object to the eighteenth-century potter's industry in Essex County, Massachusetts. However, the manufacture of this pot's handle is pretty much an exact match to a pair of handles found on a slip-decorated pot that sold a few years ago in Maine - that pot was properly attributed to the Charlestown, Massachusetts potter's industry, circa 1730-1760.

I have not seen this exact type of handle before outside of what was produced in Charlestown, where the center has been largely indented by what I assume was the potter's finger or some type of tool. Although, I have seen much more subtle examples produced in Essex County, but nothing that is exactly like this handle.

If you look closely at the side-by-side picture below, you should be able to tell that this handle really does resemble the handles that are seen on the Charlestown pot that sold in Maine, which was reportedly found in a house in Winchester, Massachusetts in 1976 (the Charlestown pot also reportedly has ties to famed collector, Nina Fletcher Little).

I should also note that the color of the black glaze that is seen on the pot that we bought yesterday in Lynn appears in-hand as it is seen in the picture below with my niece, Alexis - whereas, the remaining two photographs of the pot were taken under bright professional studio lighting.

Note: Here is a link to an article that I wrote for the February 2016 edition of the New England Antiques Journal, which further discusses the Charlestown, Massachusetts pot that sold a few years ago in Maine.

18th Century Pot Purchased in Lynn, Mass.

My Niece, Alexis with the Black-Glazed Red Earthenware Pot

This Photo was Taken Immediately After we Had Successfully Won the Lot

Note: This is How the Glaze Actually Appears In-Hand

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18th Century Black-Glazed Red Earthenware Pot

Likely Made in Either Charlestown, Mass. or Essex County, Mass.

Likely Made Before the American Revolution

Retains a History of Ownership in Lynn, Mass.

Stands 8 5/8" Tall

Note: This is How the Black Glaze Appears Under Bright Professional Studio Lighting

View of the Handle

The Manufacture of this Handle Appears Nearly Identical to the Handles on the Pot Below

Note: This is How the Black Glaze Appears Under Bright Professional Studio Lighting

View of the Interior

Similar Interior Glazes Are Found on Pottery Produced in Coastal Mass. in the 18th Century

Important Charlestown, Mass. Red Earthenware Pot

 18th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Pot Made in Charlestown, Mass.

Retains a History of Ownership in Winchester, Mass.

Reportedly Found in a Home in Winchester, Mass. in 1976
Sold a Few Years Ago in Maine

Circa 1730-1760

Photo Courtesy: Private Collection

View of One of the Two Handles

The Manufacture of the Handles Are Nearly Identical to the Handle on the Pot Above

 Photo Courtesy: Private Collection

View of the Lid

Photo Courtesy: Private Collection

Comparison of the Handles

A Comparison of the Handles on Each Pot

The Manufacture Closely Resembles Each Handle

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

An Important Collection of 19th Century American Stoneware that will Sell Tomorrow in Windsor, Connecticut

This weekend will be a busy weekend for the antiques industry with Crocker Farm holding its annual spring redware and stonware auction in Sparks, Maryland, Nadeau's Auction Gallery in Windsor, Connecticut will sell the late Dr. Steven Leder's important collection of American stoneware and the annual Connecticut Spring Antiques Show will take place at the Armory in Hartford, Connecticut.

The highlight of Dr. Leder's collection is an extremely rare (and important) nineteenth-century five gallon stoneware butter churn that was made in Fulton, New York, which is just north of Syracuse, New York. The decoration is what really makes this churn special - it has been hand decorated in cobalt depicting an older man smoking a pipe. The capacity mark was also hand decorated with cobalt.

Remarkably, this decoration transforms this piece of utilitarian stoneware into a fabulous example of American folk art - this is easily a museum quality example of pottery that would fit nicely into the collection of any of New York's major museums.

Nadeau's Auction Gallery has given the churn a pre-auction estimate of $80,000-$120,000.

Overall, the collection also consists of a variety of rare stoneware objects mostly from the northeast, where many have been decorated with unusual cobalt decorations.

The sale will also include Dr. Leder's lifelong collection of stoneware ephemera - the majority of the collection is kept in a binder, but there are also some framed pieces, as well. Personally, I feel it is nice that this entire collection will remain together since it took a lifetime for Dr. Leder to assemble it.

The sale will begin tomorrow (March 25th) at 11:00 am - for more information, I would suggest contacting the auctioneer. Here is also a link to the full auction catalog.

Lot #0343

Extremely Rare 19th Century 5 Gallon Stoneware Butter Churn

Made in Fulton, NY

Hand Decorated in Cobalt with a Man Smoking a Pipe

Stands 17 1/8" Tall

Pre-Auction Estimate: $80,000-$120,000

Photo Courtesy: Nadeau's Auction Gallery - Windsor, CT

Another View of the Butter Churn

 Photo Courtesy: Nadeau's Auction Gallery - Windsor, CT

View of the Lid

Photo Courtesy: Nadeau's Auction Gallery - Windsor, CT

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

The Red Earthenware Consumed in Ipswich, Massachusetts in the 18th and 19th Centuries

I'm honestly surprised today that more red earthenware is not associated with Ipswich, Massachusetts in comparison to the prolific furniture industry that once existed locally in the seventeenth and eighteenth-centuries; however, there was also important variations of silver (ex. Daniel Rogers, circa 1765-1780), iron and other household utilitarian production, as well.

According to the Ipswich Museum, "The museum preserves an extensive collection of art, furniture, books and documents with a historical (and architectural) significance to Ipswich, as well as later centuries of Ipswich history."

But I have always wondered where Ipswich's source of domestic utilitarian pottery originated from in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. The town never sustained an industry - and the only record that I have been able to find for any red earthenware production in Ipswich before 1900 was accomplished by Jacob Davis, circa 1662-1717/18. Although, it is also pretty-much guaranteed today that no pottery can (currently) be accurately tied to Davis' production. So where did all of the domestic red earthenware come from?

The United State Bureau of the Census indicates that there were 3,305 citizens in Ipswich in 1800 - that is almost three times smaller than Salem, Massachusetts in 1800, where there were 9,457 documented citizens.

Newburyport's population was 4,837 in 1790 - and, Newburyport was also the location of a potter's industry. A comparison between Ipswich and Newburyport would lead me to believe that Ipswich must have sustained its own red earthenware production, but that does not appear to be the case today.

Archaeological evidence has proven that red earthenware was shipped to Salem from Charlestown, Massachusetts, Peabody (formerly South Danvers), Massachusetts and Newburyport, Massachusetts in the eighteenth-century. Whereas, the potters in Peabody were the predominant suppliers of pottery for Salem in the 1800's; although, there are cases that can be made, where small amounts of pottery also appear to have been shipped from Philadelphia and Boston in the early nineteenth-century, as well.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to gather any amateur or professional archaeological evidence for Ipswich; although, in theory, I suspect that the type of red earthenware that was found in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Ipswich homes was similar to what was found in Salem during the period. Again, it is only theory, but I imagine that the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company (circa 1764-1799) must have exported from Newburyport to Ipswich in the 1700's, while Peabody was also likely an industry that capitalized on the financial opportunity, which Ipswich presented in the 1700's and 1800's.

It is also certainly possible that Ipswich can be viewed as a similar study today when compared to the type of pottery that was available in Rhode Island in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. There was very little red earthenware production in Rhode Island after the American Revolution, which forced the state to rely heavily on pottery that was produced nearby in southeastern Massachusetts. Overall, I suspect it is a similar situation in Ipswich, where the dozens of potter's businesses in Peabody were likely the major supplier with possibly smaller amounts of pottery exported from other locations.

Peabody, Mass. Red Earthenware

(Left) Late 18th or Early 19th Century Red Earthenware Pitcher

Attributed to Peabody, Mass.

Circa 1770-1820

Stands Approximately 9" Tall

(Right) Late 18th or Early 19th Century Red Earthenware Pitcher

Attributed to Peabody, Mass.

Circa 1790-1840

Stands Approximately 9" Tall

Photo Courtesy: Historic New England - Haverhill, Mass.

Late 18th or Early 19th Century Red Earthenware Pitcher

Attributed to Peabody, Mass.

Circa 1780-1840

Stands Approximately 9" Tall

Photo Courtesy: Old Sturbridge Village - Sturbridge, Mass.

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

A Rare 19th Century Maine-Made Pot Decorated with the Bust of a Man

I have previously written about this small manganese decorated lidded red earthenware pot, which was likely used as an herb pot in the 1800's. I also believe that it is likely a unique object for New England red earthenware, where it has been decorated with what I perceive to be a bust of a man (possibly a black man). I have seen similar decorations on red earthenware produced in the Mid-Atlantic region (ex. Pennsylvania) in the nineteenth-century, but I have never seen this style of decoration on New England red earthenware before. The pot has also been decorated with a band of incised lines that have been highlighted with manganese just above the man's bust.

The reason that I am showing this small pot, again today is a result of its manufacture, which I just realized yesterday is very-similar to a nineteenth-century red earthenware pot that I own - I acquired this red eartehwanre pot last year from Limington, Maine antiques dealer, Bill Kelly, who discovered the pot in an early context of ownership in a house in Otisfield, Maine. The manufacture for both of these objects closely resemble each other, especially the bases, which are nearly an identical match.

I have not been able to accurately develop an exact location for the pot that was discovered by Bill Kelly, but I have always felt that it was produced in southern Maine or in the North Yarmouth, Maine potter's industry. I feel a similar attribution can likely be developed for the small pot, as well.

Red Earthenware Pot from a House in Otisfield, Maine

(Right) 19th Century Red Earthenware Pot that is Attributed to Maine

Probably Made in Southern Maine or North Yarmouth, Maine

Found in a House in Otisfield, Maine in 2016

Manufacture is Very-Similar to the Small Pot

Circa 1820-1860

Stands 8 3/4" Tall with the Lid

Red Earthenware Pot Decorated with the Bust of a Man

 19th Century Red Earthenware Pot Likely Produced in Maine

Possibly Made in Southern Maine or Coastal Maine

Manufacture is Very-Similar to the Larger Pot Discussed Above

Circa 1800-1860

Stands 4 3/8" Tall with the Lid

 Another View of the Small Pot

 Another View of the Small Pot

View of the Handle

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

Red Earthenware Boston Baked Bean Pots that were Produced in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

There are many commemorative miniature late nineteenth and early twentieth-century red earthenware bean pots known to exist today impressed with the marks, 'Necco BOSTON BAKED BEANS' or 'BOSTON BAKED BEANS.' Presumably, the objects that were stamped with the 'BOSTON BAKED BEANS' mark may have been made in the late nineteenth and early twentieth-centuries; although, the objects marked, 'Necco BOSTON BAKED BEANS' likely date from the early twentieth-century.

According to Wikipedia, "The New England Confectionery Company (or NECCO), a manufacturer of candy was established in 1901, by the merger of several small confectionery companies located in the greater Boston area."

I have never been able to accurately identify where these small commemorative pots were produced, but I have always assumed that they were made in Essex County, Massachusetts at either the Charles A. Lawrence Pottery (circa 1866-1906) in Beverly, Massachusetts or the Moses Paige Pottery (ca. 1876-1930's) in Peabody, Massachusetts. Both companies are known to have manufactured a large number of bean pots during this period, especially the Lawrence Pottery, which is (partially?) responsible for Boston's nickname 'Beantown,' as a result of a group of commemorative bean pots, which the company was commissioned to produce in 1890.

According to writer, Mark Mancini, "Boston hosted a Civil War veteran's convention during the summer of 1890. To commemorate this gathering, the Beverly Pottery Company handed out small, ribbon-bound bean pots as souvenirs. Afterwards, when asked where they'd gotten such neat little gifts, many of the vets supposedly replied, 'Bean-Town.'"

1907 Souvenir Post Card that Shows a Red Earthenware Bean Pot

The Bean Pot is Marked 'BOSTON BAKED BEANS'

Photo Courtesy: Boston Public Library

Nevertheless, this is a commemorative bean pot that I recently found listed on eBay - the seller described it as "a rare pot with printed information on both sides about a specific event that happened in Boston in 1897.

The initials 'HMMBA' that were printed on one side of the pot indicate the group for whom the pot was made: the Hotel Men's Mutual Benefit Association. This group began in 1897 to provide insurance for hotel owners. 

The printed date, June 9, 1897 was the time of the group's annual meeting, held in Boston that year. Hundreds of hotel men from the United States and Canada attended. Although, the date is the week before the annual convention, perhaps for a preliminary meeting of only executives. The pot represents a baked bean pot, which was symbolic of Boston's famous dish since Pilgrim times. The other side of the pot indicates that it was a gift from Bernard & Frank, 174 Fulton Street, New York. The company manufactured novelty items in the 1800's, but it is no longer in business today."

I would not be surprised to learn that this pot was also commissioned from a local Boston-area manufacturer, such as the businesses, which I have previously cited from Essex County. It is also worth noting that the Lawrence Pottery in Beverly is known to have used painted stencils to mark pots for clients in the late nineteenth-century.

Late 19th Century Souvenir Red Earthenware Bean Pot

Possibly Made in Essex County, Mass.

Circa 1897

Stands 3" Tall

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: eBay

View of the Bernard & Frank Information

Photo Courtesy: eBay

View of the Interior

Photo Courtesy: eBay

View of the Base

Photo Courtesy: eBay

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

Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker: An Early Collector of 18th and 19th Century Pennsylvania Red Earthenware

According to the Allentown, Pennsylvania Leader from June 9, 1909, "The exhibit of earthenware, made at the early potteries of Eastern Pennsylvania, especially in Bucks County, attracted much attention at the rooms of the Montgomery County Historical Society at Norristown, Pennsylvania. Former Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker (1843-1916) was on hand early and not a piece escaped his critical eye. He had none in the cases (from his collection), but said he had quite a collection at his Schwenksville, Pennsylvania home."

Allentown, PA Daily Leader, June 9, 1909

An Article About Local Red Earthenware was Published in this Edition

Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker is Cited as a Collector of Redware

Photo Courtesy: Newspapers.com

Governor Pennypacker's appreciation for early American red earthenware is also documented in the book, 'Creating a Dignified Past: Museums and the Colonial Revival:' In addition to writing more than 50 books and papers, Samuel Pennypacker joined many historical organizations. He was a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania for 44 years, and served as its president for the last 16 years of his life. He also belonged to the Sons of the Revolution, the American Philosophical Society, the Society of the War of 1812, and the Philobiblon Club. He was also a founder and officer of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. 

While governor, his administration established the State Museum, including a Department of History, and he began the preservation and cataloging of all state records. He also served as a trustee for the University of Pennsylvania and as a member of the Valley Forge Park Commission.

Pennypacker displayed an equally strong interest in material culture, often concentrating on folk examples or the mundane items of daily life. In some ways he was a forerunner of today's material culture historians.

He traveled widely through the rural counties of Eastern Pennsylvania, saturating himself in local traditions, visiting elderly natives, and exploring old houses. While others at the historical society collected Revolutionary War records, William Penn's private papers, or drafts of the United States constitution, Pennypacker avidly sought the documents of everyday life: journals, diaries, wills, old deeds and bibles. Decades later such material is widely valued. As one historian noted of Pennypacker's activities, 'He made the field of Pennsylvania Dutch history his own.'

Pennypacker displayed a similar appreciation for the creations of rural artisans, collecting fraktur, redware, pewter, and provincial linens, as well as raw flax from historic houses, farm kitchen tools, even colonial umbrellas. It was most important for him to know the original owner's name, or to have an item associated with an event."

Unfortunately, I have not found any red earthenware that can be directly linked to Pennypacker today; although, he appears to have been an early proponent of domestic red earthenware, similar to some of the individuals who actively sought pottery at institutions like the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Historic New England in the late nineteenth and early twentieth-centuries.

Note: This nineteenth-century black glazed red earthenware teapot is owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art today. It is also an object that the museum acquired in the late nineteenth-century.

19th Century Black Glazed Red Earthenware Teapot

Attributed to the Thomas Haig Pottery - Philadelphia

Circa 1840-1850

Stands 5 5/16" Tall

Acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1892

Photo Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art

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