Archive For July, 2009
Many agree that John Bell was one of the most creative American potters of the 19th century, with a highly diverse product line unlike most of his contemporaries. His career spanned over fifty years in Hagerstown, MD, Winchester, VA, and Waynesboro, PA, and during that time his products included cobalt-decorated utilitarian stoneware, simple and high-styled [...]
The pottery form known as a gemel, also gemel jug or gemel bottle, is one of the rarest forms in American stoneware. The word is derived from the Latin word “geminus,” meaning twin, double, paired, or half-and-half. The plural of this same word, “gemini,” is used to refer to the constellation composed of twin brothers, [...]
William Burchnell London, Ohio Redware Jar — Morgantown, Virginia School
By Luke Zipp | July 8, 2009
A redware jar featured in our July 11 stoneware and redware auction is both extremely rare and important to the study of American pottery. The jar, stamped, “W. BURCHNELL / LONDON,” is one of the only known vessels signed by William Burchnell of Madison County, Ohio, and, therefore, serves as an important resource for understanding [...]
Stoneware produced by the Black family in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, is some of the most respected of all Southwestern PA wares. A stoneware pitcher impressed “G & A BLACK” graces the cover of Phil Schaltenbrand’s Stoneware of Southwestern Pennsylvania and many examples were featured in The Westmoreland Museum of American Art’s 2007 exhibition, “Made in [...]
We’ve taken a month-long hiatus from blog posts as we prepared the catalog and otherwise geared up for this Saturday’s auction. We’re getting back into the swing of things now, and will resume posting things regularly. We should have a couple of more articles up by the weekend, with more to follow. Thanks for reading, [...]