Extremely Rare and Important "James Hamilton / Cheap Stoneware / Greensboro / Green Co / Pa" Jar
Summer 2025 Stoneware Auction
Lot #: 1
Estimate: $10,000-$20,000. About Estimates About Shipping
Minimum Bid: $3,000.
Extremely Rare and Important Stoneware Jar with Cobalt Floral Decoration, Inscribed "James Hamilton / Cheap Stone Ware / Greensboro / Green Co PA," circa early 1850s, semi-ovoid jar with incised banding to midsection, tooled shoulder, and slightly-flared collar with inner rim to hold a lid, featuring the large, freehand-cobalt inscription, "James Hamilton," in print followed by the words, "Cheap Stone Ware / Greensboro / Green Co Pa," in graceful cursive. Cobalt stripes underscore the four lines of writing. Spanning the remainder of the jar's circumference is a large, finely-brushed fuchsia motif with graduated leaves emanating from a scrolled stem. Inverted graduated swags decorate the jar's collar. Recently surfaced in California, this soon-to-be-iconic jar is not only highly decorative, but also expands our understanding of Hamilton's early years of stoneware production in Greensboro. Arriving from Beaver, Pennsylvania, circa 1850, Hamilton established a stoneware manufactory with his brother, Leet, on Water Street, implementing designs they had used at their old pottery. A uniform, light-gray clay was procured by Hamilton differing markedly from the darker clay used in Beaver, which had required a slip coating. This finer clay allowed the potter to showcase his artistic brushwork to his new clientele in dramatic fashion. A famous ten-gallon jar from this period has survived bearing the freehand cobalt inscription, "JAMES HAMILTON & CO / GREENSBORO / GREEN CO / PA / 1852," with related floral decoration and other elaborare brushwork. According to Phil Schaltenbrand's Stoneware of Southwestern Pennsylvania, this jar was "likely made to commemorate the start of the great James Hamilton factory established in Greensboro" (Schaltenbrand, p. 20, fig. 15). The jar in this auction, a contemporary of Waynesburg College's ten-gallon masterpiece, is possibly from the same firing or even one slightly earlier. Of interesting note is the lack of "& Co." in the inscription on this jar. Schaltenbrand notes in his Big Ware Turners that "the addition of CO. to James' Greene County products may indicate an early association with Leet but more likely proves James had acquired influential backers" (Schaltenbrand, p. 154). Could this jar, then, be one of the first few jars thrown and decorated by Hamilton in Greensboro, one made before his business arrangements had been fully established? The most extraordinary detail of this jar is the inscription, "Cheap Stone Ware," the first instance that we have seen this term used on an example of Western Pennsylvania stoneware. While highly appealing in its subject matter, this inscription also speaks to Hamilton's abilities as an enterprising businessman in a new town, marketing his ware as very affordable. Instead of simply advertising his ware as such on paper, Hamilton is using this jar, likely displayed in his or a local merchant's storefront, as both a representative example of his work and the advertisement itself. Combining several desirable traits, including its over-the-top inscription, decoration, size, form, and color, this work is the finest example of early-period Greensboro stoneware that we have ever offered. Provenance: Recently discovered in California. A short, thin sealed crack on underside, forming a thin sealed, approximately 5 1/2" crack at base. Otherwise excellent condition. H 10 3/8".
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