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Southern Folk Pottery Collectors Society, Bennett, North Carolina

Dave Jar Sets Record

by Marty Steiner

A signed Dave the Slave two-handle storage jar set an auction record in the Southern Folk Pottery Collectors Society absentee sale, which closed on December 2, 2000, when it brought $83,600 (includes buyer's premium).

Billy Ray Hussey, owner of the society, believes that there may have been private sales of this potter's work that have exceeded this price but none higher at public auction.

This jar was previously sold by the society on November 10, 1993, for $25,850. One side of the rim is marked "LM Jan. 30, 1858 - Dave," indicating Lewis Miles, Dave's owner. The other side of the rim bears the couplet "Making This Jar—I Had All Thoughts/ Lads & Gentlemen—Never Out Walks." The 15-gallon jar, indicated by as many slash marks, has traveled widely, appearing at the High Museum, Winterthur, and other places.

Other significant lots included another signed Dave jar with its own fascinating story. It was owned by a single family for over half a century and resided on their porch. Selling at $20,900, it demolished the presale high estimate of $9000. An attributed Dave jar, impressed with "L. Miles" and a horseshoe mark, brought $4400. A similar jar with significant rim damage was recently sold in southern Georgia for only $660.

The sale also was noteworthy in that every lot was sold. This is the second consecutive such sellout. The number of bidders is increasing at each sale, especially for the high-end lots.

Many of the society sales offer just a few figural pottery lots. In this sale a unique signed example of Horace Winfield Rogers's work was a black and red solid clay bust of a man with a hat. Featuring a prominent chin and with circular ears, it brought only the suggested minimum bid of $467.50. A figural bank of a seated man eating a watermelon, signed "D.X. [Dorris Xerxes] Gordy [and] W.J. Gordy," brought $2860. An earlier Gordy unglazed seated man holding a stick fetched only $880, and a similar style woman with an apron full of ears of corn sold for $660. Both of these examples featured finely detailed facial features.

Other figural pieces included a rusty brown slip-glazed man's head found in Columbia, South Carolina. Although marked "RL," the maker is unknown, even though two other nearly identical examples are known. It brought only $110. Another "mystery" sculpture was an unsigned "doll" with long hair flowing from beneath a large hat and with an olive alkaline glaze. Oral history in the Weaverville, North Carolina, area tells of four such dolls found in a hollow tree stump by the widow of the potter James Cheek near the site of the pottery. This one sold for only $88.

Much of Billy Ray Hussey's work is figural. Five examples included an early white-glazed elephant, an orange and buff pedestal dog carrying a basket in his mouth, a head bank, a buff and brown lion, and a ready-to-strike snake on base. These brought between $247.50 and $825.

Pots from three centuries of makers were offered in the 375-lot sale. Pots from the 18th century included five lots of North Carolina redware. Attributed to potteries in the Salem (Winston-Salem) area, four of these exceeded their presale estimates. A green and white slip trail decorated small plate with red lead clear glaze more than tripled the expected high, bringing $3080. A generously decorated large plate with green, white, and black slip trail floral work and dating from the third quarter of the 18th century brought $4510. A late 18th-century squirrel bottle with some professional repairs evident rocked the $700 high estimate and brought $2640. These pieces are the work of the master potters and/or apprentices in the highly structured Germanic church-based settlements of Salem or nearby Bethabara.

Similar but later works attributed to John Holland, called the Master Potter of Salem, from 1821-43 were also offered. An unusual cast opossum-form bank sold for $990, exceeding expectations. A group of six shallow plates without decoration but featuring the red lead glazes of Piedmont, North Carolina, included a bright orange example for $440 and a pumpkin-hued one for $715.

In addition to the Dave jars, a number of other Edgefield, South Carolina, works were available. An outstanding Amos Landrum lug-handled storage jar with two-clay slip decorations of floral leaves brought $4400. This jar marked "L" is historically important as a reference point for many pieces attributed to Landrum by construction, glaze, style, and technique of decoration.

Six other Edgefield decorated pots attributed to the Collin Rhodes (1811-1881) pottery followed. The equivalent of the rare woodworking plane in the barn is a two-handle storage jug with two-clay floral decorations that had been in a single family for generations and sat on an outside porch. It once failed to sell at a yard sale for $2. At this society sale it yielded $25,300. A churn-shaped jar with lug handles and undeniable Rhodes two-clay slip-decorated style brought $3850. Other Rhodes pieces included a pitcher with pinch spout, $2860; a single-handle commercial dispensary jug, $3080; and a flowerpot (unusual form) that once was painted green, $1870.

In 1994 the society presented an exhibition of pottery grave markers and urns. Although these items are scarce, this sale offered five examples. A salt-glaze funerary flower urn from the late 19th century brought $467.50. A gray-glazed urn marked "Faith Southern Methodist" made its high estimate of $440 and actually was once retrieved from a trash dump. Two Cagle family grave markers, attributed to North Carolina potter Daniel Cagle, brought $5500 and $6600, against high estimates of $3000 and $3500, respectively.

Virginia's rich potting heritage had only a small representation of four 19th-century utilitarian examples. These included a signed "John Bell Waynesboro" two-handle unglazed storage jar with applied floral lead and manganese decoration for $330; a signed unglazed cook pot, $132; and a later salt-glazed preserve jar signed "S. Bell & Son Strasburg," $165. An interesting redware vessel decorated with three applied mermaids, glazed with polychrome red lead and attributed to the Eberly Brothers Pottery, sold for $1155.

The work of Georgia's Meaders family was well represented. Six (Quinlan) Lanier Meaders lots included an unusual signed small churn with original lid that brought $412.50; a pair of darkly glazed table pitchers, $385; and a lidded bean pot with lug handles glazed an olive black, $247.50. Of the three face jugs, one was unusual as it was a double face jug with each face seeming to look around at the other. It brought $3740, well over the $2500 high estimate.

Other items by Meaders family members that fared well included Arie's quail figure in an alkaline glaze at $1760, which nearly tripled expectations. Due to the few face jugs produced by Lanier's brother John, an olive alkaline glaze devil face by him doubled its high estimate bringing $1375. Other brother Edwin's classic dark black-green mirror glaze pedestal rooster also doubled its estimate, selling for $2420.

A number of reference books and out-of-print show catalogs were included in the sale. Folk Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley, published in 1975 as part of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center exhibit with the same name, brought $110. A smoke-stained copy of Turners and Burners: The Folk Potters of North Carolina (1986) with signatures of Burlon Craig and his wife, Irene, sold for $33. A 1960's Jugtown flyer sold for $27.50; a Jugtown catalog and price list, also 1960's, made $110; and an accumulation of 18 technical books (clays, glazes, etc.) brought $412.50. Some photos and newspaper clippings sold also.

The closing process of the society's sales is somewhat like the recent presidential election. Although there is a stated closing date, a bidder can make a "pledged" bid before that closing, which indicates a high level of commitment to a specific lot. After the closing, the auctioneer contacts all pledged bidders for each lot, allowing advances to be made, until only a single bidder remains. This "call back" process puts a considerable burden on the auctioneer and takes some time to complete. The good news is that consignors get the best possible prices for their lots, and the serious bidders get every opportunity to compete for an item.

With this philosophy of running an auction, outstanding catalogs, and a wide range of material, what serious (or even novice) collector would miss bidding in a Southern Folk Pottery Collectors Society absentee auction?

For more information, contact the society at 220 Washington Street, Bennett, NC 27208, phone (336) 581-4246.