Exceedingly Rare Gurdon Robins & Co. / Fayetteville, NC Jug - Earliest North Carolina Stoneware Mark

Spring 2021 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 162

Spring 2021 Auction Catalog

Exceedingly Rare and Important Cobalt-Decorated Stoneware Jug, Stamped "Gurdon Robins / & Co. / Fayetteville / III," Edward Webster and Timothy Savage, Fayetteville, NC, circa 1819-1820, ovoid jug with footed base and heavily-tooled spout, featuring the impressed mark, Gurdon Robins / & Co. Fayetteville," brushed over in cobalt slip. A series of three impressed Roman numeral 1's, indicating three gallons, appears below. Brushed cobalt highlights to handle terminals. Surface covered in a salt glaze with brown slip coating to interior, a drip of which is visible at the spout. According to Quincy J. Scarborough, Jr.'s North Carolina Decorated Stoneware, pieces bearing a Gurdon Robins mark were made by the Hartford, Connecticut-trained potter, Edward Webster, born 1801, who moved to Fayetteville, NC in 1819 to produce stoneware for Robins, a local merchant and pottery owner (Scarborough, pp. 12, 19). Webster was most likely trained by his uncle, McCloud Webster, and cousin, Horace Goodwin, of the prolific firm, "GOODWIN & WEBSTER", which operated at 18 Front Street in Hartford from 1810 to 1840 (Scarborough, p. 19). Evident in the potting of this jug is its Hartford style, semi-ovoid with a heavily-tooled neck and girthy handle. Scarborough notes that the jug's stamp, which includes "& Co.," involved a partner named Timothy Savage, and is the earliest Webster family mark used in North Carolina, as well as the earliest maker's mark known in the state's entire stoneware industry. A closely-related jug, bearing a slightly later stamp, was sold as lot 5 in Crocker Farm's November 3, 2018 auction. Among the most important examples of North Carolina pottery to come to auction in years, this jug is emblematic of the very early beginnings of stoneware production in the state, a tradition continuing to this day. Literature: Illustrated on pp.8-9, figs. 2,3 of Scarborough, North Carolina Decorated Stoneware. pp. 8-9, figs. 2,3. Missing handle. Some light surface wear. H 16 3/4".