EarlyAmericanCeramics.com Website Shop Update!

Just a F.Y.I. for anyone interested - I updated the shop part of my website; all of my published books can be found there with links on how to purchase them from a number of retailers. All of my published articles since 2013 are also posted on this page by date, title and publication.

Link: https://earlyamericanceramics.shop/

Note: My new Hartford, Connecticut area book is now available from the Harvard Book Store and Porter Square Books in Cambridge and Boston, as well as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

EarlyAmericanCeramics.com Website Shop Update!

EarlyAmericanCeramics.com Website Shop Update!

Link: https://earlyamericanceramics.shop/

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

My Forthcoming 7th Book -- From One Town Came Many: The Red Earthenware Industry of Ancient North Yarmouth, Maine

This is a last call for anyone who may have some Maine red earthenware that they think they'd want to include in my forthcoming 531-page book, titled, From One Town Came Many: The Red Earthenware Industry of Ancient North Yarmouth, Maine. This will be the seventh installment in my New England pottery book series.

The book focuses on circa 1790s-1890 red earthenware production in the North Yarmouth and Portland, Maine area. I worked with dozens of museums, archaeologists and private collectors from around the country. But the book also defines production elsewhere in Maine, where I'm excited to say that the Dr. Brian Mills Collection will be illustrated in nearly its entirety, showing object after object, in what I consider to be the most significant and academic collection of Maine red earthenware ever assembled. 

Various other great collections and a lot of never before published archaeological evidence will also be included from around the state of Maine. However, the book also includes great red earthenware made in Vermont, Western New York and Ontario, demonstrating the crossover that happened with these areas and the similarities found in some of the glazes when compared to what was made in Maine.

I'm hoping the book will be available to purchase sometime in the next few months, perhaps towards the end of April or early May. The book will be available from various retailers across America, including my publisher Historic Beverly in Massachusetts, as well as Barnes & Noble, Walmart and Amazon, etc.

Update: Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to my forthcoming 7th 531-page book, titled, From One Town Came Many: The Red Earthenware Industry of Ancient North Yarmouth, Maine - I'm really excited over all of the privately owned pottery and archaeology that will be published for the first time in this book. The book has been sent to the printer for a proof copy.

And in case you missed it - here is a great red earthenware bottle made by John Alld in Biddeford, Maine (before he relocated to Hollis) in 1811. The book includes a number of never before published objects and archaeology from Alld, including signed and marked wares that are owned privately and by the Maine State Museum in Augusta that were made by him and his son, John C. Alld. The archaeology was discovered years ago when a college professor from the University of Maine in Orono renovated the Alld house in Hollis, finding all sorts of evidence of Alld's pottery production hidden in the walls and on the property surrounding the house.

My Forthcoming 7th Book -- From One Town Came Many: The Red Earthenware Industry of Ancient North Yarmouth, Maine

19th Century Red Earthenware Bottle with a Spotted Green Glaze

Made by John Alld in Biddeford, Maine

The Base is Inscribed "J Alld / 1811"

Illustrated in the Book The Early Potters and Potteries of Maine

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Photo Courtesy: Dr. Brian Mills

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

A Good Example of Chinese Blue Glazed Pottery from Jugtown in North Carolina

Here is another really good example of twentieth century Jugtown Pottery from Seagrove, North Carolina that I recently picked up, which is decorated in an excellent Chinese blue glaze with plenty of red in the glaze, as well. 

Presumably, the form of this vase is inspired after Asian design, although I am not sure whether that inspiration came from Chinese, Japanese or Korean pottery, whereas some of the influence for the shapes used in this type of design was drawn from ancient objects displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan.

For a brief history of the business -- In 1915, Juliana (1876-1962) and Jacques Busbee (1870-1947) set up a training and sales organization for what they named Jugtown Pottery. In 1921, they built a shop at Jugtown, North Carolina, and hired Ben Owen (1904-1983) as a potter in 1923. The pottery produced handmade pottery bowls, vases, jugs, candlesticks and tablewares, all made of local red or buff-colored clay. The Busbees moved the village store where the pottery was sold to New York City. Juliana Busbee sold the New York store in 1926 and moved into a log cabin near the Jugtown Pottery. The pottery closed in 1959. It reopened in 1960 and is still working near Seagrove, North Carolina today.

Note: An article I wrote about some of our best North Carolina discoveries over the last year in New England will be published in a forthcoming issue of Antiques & Auction News.

A Good Example of Chinese Blue Glazed Pottery from Jugtown

20th Century Asian Inspired Vase Made at the Jugtown Pottery in Seagrove, N.C.

Decorated in a Chinese Blue Glaze with Plenty of Red Colored Highlights

Probably Circa 1930s

Stands 6" Tall

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Another View of the Vase

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A View of the Brown-Greenish Glazed Interior

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A View of the Base

The Base is Impressed "JUGTOWN WARE"

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

A Rediscovered Edgefield, South Carolina Face Jug that Sold Today at Butterscotch Auction in New York

This great nineteenth century alkaline glazed stoneware face jug from the Edgefield District in South Carolina, circa 1845-1865 sold today for $46,000 plus the auction premium at Butterscotch Auction in Bedford, New York. The history of this object and how it was recently rediscovered is exciting, seeing that it descended through the family of Martha Buell Plum Moon (1856-1926) of Tappan, New York. In fact, whoever purchased this face jug may only be the third owner or so in this object's history since it was originally created before the end of the American Civil War by an enslaved African-American potter.

Additionally, while the auction house was going through the contents of this family's estate, this face jug was discovered all by itself in an old cardboard box tucked away in the home's attic. It is anyone's guess as to how long this object had been sitting in the attic, whether it be for years or decades.

Furthermore, Tappan is located along the New York and New Jersey border, just to the north of New York City, and about 25 miles west of the Connecticut border.

And whether more examples of face jugs made in Edgefield will be discovered in these types of ownership contexts in the future is yet to be determined, although this is definitely not the only example in recent history. For instance, it was just a few years ago that a pair of face jugs sold together at Gustave White's Newport County auction gallery in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Those jugs were found in the estate of a descendant of Samuel W. Bridgham (1775-1840), the first mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, whereas they later sold individually in July of 2018 and November of 2018 at Crocker Farm in Sparks, Maryland.

Note: For more information about this type of production -- see two articles that I recently posted to this website about the exhibit, Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

MET Article: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2022/12/now-on-display-at-met-in-new-york-city.html

MFA, Boston Article: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2023/03/now-on-display-at-mfa-boston-hear-me.html

A Rediscovered Stoneware Face Jug from Edgefield, South Carolina

A Rediscovered Edgefield, South Carolina Stoneware Face Jug

Circa 1845-1865

Stands 7 1/2" Tall

Descended in the Family of Martha Buell Plum Moon (1856-1926)

Sold for $46,000 Plus the Auction Premium

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Photo Courtesy Butterscotch Auction

Another View of the Jug

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Photo Courtesy Butterscotch Auction

Another View of the Jug

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Photo Courtesy Butterscotch Auction

Another View of the Jug

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Photo Courtesy Butterscotch Auction

Another View of the Jug

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Photo Courtesy Butterscotch Auction

A View of the Base

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Photo Courtesy Butterscotch Auction

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

Now Available From Barnes & Noble: A City on the River: The Early Red Earthenware of the Hartford, Connecticut Area

My new 6th 540-page book that just came out on Thursday from my publisher Historic Beverly in Massachusetts, titled, A City on the River: The Early Red Earthenware of the Hartford, Connecticut Area is now available from Barnes & Noble. More retailers should follow from around the country.

Link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-city-on-the-river-justin-thomas/1143249127?ean=9781891906251

Now Available From Barnes & Noble

Now Available From Barnes & Noble

A City on the River: The Early Red Earthenware of the Hartford, Connecticut Area

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

An Unusual 20th Century Stoneware Presentation Vase Recently Discovered Near Tampa, Florida

I think this is a wonderful and probably unique example of American twentieth century stoneware that sold a few weeks ago on eBay that was recently discovered just to the north of Tampa in New Port Richey, Florida. Presumably, this is a presentation stoneware vase that is signed in cartouches "Warren Johnston / From Doc Bailiff / 1929." 

The object is entirely hand-thrown and hand-modeled. It was also described by the seller as having been made from sewer tile, although it appears to me that it is more likely made from stoneware. 

I also know this is a type of production that happened in places like Tennessee in the 1900s, but I'm sure it also took place in some of the other Southern and Midwestern states during the same period.

An Unusual 20th Century Stoneware Presentation Vase

20th Century American Stoneware Presentation Vase

Signed in Cartouches "Warren Johnston / From Doc Bailiff / 1929"

Stands 14" Tall

Recently Discovered Near Tampa, Florida

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Another View of the Vase

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Another View of the Vase

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Another View of the Vase

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Another View of the Vase

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Another View of the Vase

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A View of the Base

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

A 19th Century Rustic Style Red Earthenware Smoking Stand Recently Discovered in Ohio

I have seen a handful of nineteenth century stoneware and earthenware smoking stands and tobacco boxes through the years, and typically most of the objects that I have handled were made in places like Europe and Canada. Although, I had never seen anything like this object before. 

This is a nineteenth century rustic style hand-modeled slip decorated red earthenware smoking stand that was recently discovered in an estate in Ohio. The figures include a frog with some slip decoration, a lizard and a tree stump. There is also traces of slip decoration elsewhere on the object. 

Furthermore, I believe the basic shape of this smoking stand (not the rustic part) is inspired after European production, but this is not European made. And by no means am I making this attribution, although among the places that produced this type of rustic ware for tobacco use in the 1800s was the Prince Edward Island Pottery in Canada after 1880.

For more information about the Prince Edward Island Pottery - here is a link to an article written by D.B Webster and available through the University of New Brunswick: https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/17148/22851

Nevertheless, I would also not rule out the possibility that this object was manufactured in Ohio, seeing there was an influx of European trained potters who migrated there in the 1800s, and a Pennsylvania origin is certainly a possibility, as well.

Update: After posting this article, some feedback believes this object was made in Ohio after 1860.

A 19th Century Rustic Style Red Earthenware Smoking Stand

My Niece Alexis Holding the Smoking Stand

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19th Century Hand-Modeled Rustic Style Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Smoking Stand

Recently Discovered in an Estate in Ohio

Most Likely Produced in Either America or Canada

Measures 7 3/4" Long

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A View of the Hand-Modeled Frog

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Another View of the Smoking Stand

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Another View of the Smoking Stand

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A View of the Base

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