Maine Antique Digest, April 2017

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Maine Antique Digest, April 2017 25-C
- AUCTION -
25-C
Persian forms with what are referred to as Chinese glazes, frequently
blood reds, blues, greens, and turquoise. Vivid reds and blues
appeared together on a four-handled Persian jar with a draped rope
decoration around the shoulder that brought a strong $22,550. With
the early 1930s impressed mark of an encircled jug, an Oriental
ornamental two-handled jar by Ben Owen had white clay slip that
was blended with salt glaze. The result was a $4730 sale.
Four lots of redware, all from an area known for its potters of
German descent, included three from the Solomon Loy family
of Burlington, Alamance County, North Carolina. Two of these
featured multicolor lead-glaze decoration, including at $19,800 a
deep plate, 11" diameter, with bottom decoration and two bands of
side and rim decoration in three colors. A small pitcher, perhaps pint
size, with encircling horizontal decoration below the handle and
vertical decorative lines above reached $8800 in spite of old spout
and rim damage.
Likely from the same area as the redware was one of the mystery
lots in this sale, a lidded two-handled sugar jar. Nearly doubling its
high estimate, this vessel reached $14,300. The puzzle begins with a
form that is sometimes found in Alamance County, North Carolina,
and with a glaze that is indigenous to England. The clay slip appears
to be from the mid-Atlantic area and the glaze application similar
to that of Bennington, Vermont, work. This piece had been broken
but had been professionally restored, no doubt because of its rarity.
Kaolin slip decoration is an entirely distinct segment of the
Edgefield, South Carolina, potting heritage. This decoration
frequently includes dates and signatures along with swags, flowers,
and other images. With significant professional repair, a circa 1850
three-gallon one-handled jug by Collin Rhodes, signed “C. Rhodes
Maker,” brought $14,850. This jug has a significant publishing and
exhibition history.
The work of Isaac Lefevers is seldom seen. He produced a small
quantity after an apprenticeship under Daniel Seagle, and his
production ended in 1862 when he enlisted in the Confederate army.
He died in 1864. A rotund ovoid two-lug-handled storage jar by
Lefevers bearing a crisp incised “I – L” mark on one handle top sold
for $9075, well over expectations.
Many of the earliest examples in this sale, as in all SFPCS sales, are
basic utilitarian forms such as storage jars. Handles are provided that
are practical for moving filled and heavy vessels, not as ornaments
to exhibit a potter’s skills. Capacities, expressed in gallons, are also
for practical purposes. An 1850s-60s Daniel Seagle ten-gallon jar
was clearly marked with “10” on one lug handle and “DS” on the
other. It is remarkable that only a small chip under one handle had
occurred over its many years of use. Exceeding estimates, it sold for
$8800.
Storage crocks in general are squatter in form than storage jars.
This sale featured a salt-glazed stoneware crock with two lug
handles, impressed “J – WCARPENTERWILES NC,” that brought
a strong $3960.
In cataloging the sale, the SFPCS researches its records to
determine scarcity of a particular marking, signature, decoration, or
other detail. In the case of a slave-made early Landrum family jug in
this sale, an impressed “Y” mark at the base appears to be the first
seen. The flared base, extreme bulbous shape, and oatmeal-color
alkaline glaze lead one to date the one-handled jug to around 1820.
It met the catalog high estimate at $3850.
History and pottery converge in a somewhat unusual pottery
medicine bottle, impressed “J. Gibbs,” almost 6" tall, formed of dark
brown clay and glazed with an iron clay slip. Jasper Gibbs was a
medical doctor but also an investor in the Pottersville Manufactory
and subsequent potteries from 1838 to 1843 in the Edgefield area.
The bottle is the first such piece known, and it nearly tripled its
estimate when it sold for $3520.
Salt-glazed pots are an entire universe unto themselves. As does
redware, salt-glazed pottery has a Germanic and European origin,
and many of these objects originated in the western North Carolina
and Salem areas. With a crisp, nearly stencil-like precision, the
“E.J.V. Craven” signature impressed on the shoulder of a 9" tall one-
handled salt-glazed stoneware jug led to a strong $3410 price.
Another salt-glazed stoneware jug, considerably larger at over
14" tall, nearly doubled its high estimate at $3410. This example by
Himer Jacob Fox features finely tooled lines inscribed around the
shoulder and a sharply defined spout rim. This jug was impressed
with “H FOX” and “2” for the two-gallon capacity.
This sale catalog included a significant description of South
Carolina potter Thomas M. Chandler by Howard Smith. Chandler
worked from 1837 until the early 1850s, primarily in the Edgefield
area. Many of Chandler’s pots are attributed based on shards that
have been recovered at his known pottery sites. Featuring a very dark
olive alkaline glaze with kaolin slip chain decoration surrounding the
“2” gallon capacity mark, a one-handled jug attributed to Chandler
fetched $3300.
While headlines report the top items based on high or record sales
prices, the average collector looks for interesting, curious, unusual,
or mainstream items at fair prices. The SFPCS sales are filled with
these items. In fact, 110 lots of the 425 sold for under $100, 63 sold
for between $100 and $200, and 99 for between $200 and $500.
That’s more than half the lots for $500 or less.
Look for the first SFPCS sale of 2017 sometime around May, and
expect a well-documented and well-illustrated spiral-bound catalog
with extensive descriptions and references. For information about its
absentee auctions and other SFPCS events visit the website (www.
) or call (336) 581-4246.
North Carolina salt-glazed pots are not
widely seen in most pottery sales. They
represent the German influence and
craftsmen found in specific communities
in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. This
example reached $3960.
Redware is scarce because of its
fragility and intended everyday
use. This small (6½" tall) decorated
table pitcher, attributed to Solomon
Loy, 1830-50, bears a variety of slip
decorative patterns. It sold for $8800.
This outstanding early Daniel Seagle
storage jar with two lug handles,
signed “DS” and marked with the
capacity “10,” brought $8800.
Every once in a while a mystery pot shows
up. This two-handled sugar jar is just such an
object. It is in a form that is sometimes found
in Alamance County, North Carolina, and has a
glaze that is indigenous to England. The clay slip
appears to be from the mid-Atlantic area, and the
glaze application is similar to that of Bennington,
Vermont, work. At $14,300 it more than doubled
its “best guess” catalog estimate. It had been broken
but had been professionally restored.
This 1930s curious combination of an Oriental
form with Germanic salt glaze bears the Jugtown
Pottery marking and is a work by Ben Owen I. It
sold for $4730.