Very Rare and Important Redware Jar by African-American Shenandoah Valley Potter Abraham Spencer

Fall 2023 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 326

Price Realized: $1,320.00

($1,100 hammer, plus 20% buyer's premium)

PLEASE NOTE: The American ceramics market frequently changes, often dramatically. Additionally, small nuances of color, condition, shape, etc. can mean huge differences in price. If you're interested in having us sell a similar item for you, please contact us here.

Fall 2023 Auction Catalog

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Very Rare and Important Redware Jar, Incised "A" and "X," attributed to Abraham Spencer at the John Coffman Pottery, New Market, VA, circa 1827-1860, ovoid jar with distinctive squared rim and rounded mouth, incised with a small inverted "A" on the front and three crosses of differing form and size around the midsection. The incised letter "A" on this jar indicates it was made by free African-American Shenandoah potter, Abraham Spencer (ca.1806-1873). According to Brenda Hornsby Heindl's Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts article, "Freedom in a Slave Economy: Abraham Spencer and Pottery Making in the Shenandoah Valley," Spencer likely learned the trade while living in New Market, Shenandoah County, Virginia from one of his potter neighbors, either George Bodel or Jacob Adam. (See JESDA Vol. 41, 2020.) He was active in Rockingham, Frederick, and Shenandoah Counties of Virginia from the 1820s until the 1870s, most notably at the Bell Pottery in Strasburg, circa 1860-1873. Colorful stories about his involvement with the Bells are discussed in Rice and Stoudt's 1929 The Shenandoah Pottery, although some information is erroneous (see Heindl). An unglazed redware jar attributed to Spencer and bearing a "SOLOMON BELL / STRASBURG / Va.," maker's mark is illustrated in H.E. Comstock's The Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley Region, p. 476, fig. 7.86 as well as in Heindl, figs. 10-11. The jar in our Fall auction follows a form and rim construction consistent with pieces produced in New Market, Virginia for several decades of the 19th century and was attributed in 1995 by Shenandoah Valley pottery expert and author H.E. Comstock as probably made by Spencer at the New Market shop of John Coffman. A jar attributed to Spencer with large, inverted and incised "A" and exhibiting an almost-identical New Market form, likely made prior to his association with the Bells, is illustrated in Heindl, figs. 7 and 8. It is currently on display at The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, Virginia. Outside of the work of David Drake, the jar in this auction survives as one of a critical few 19th century American ceramic pieces with a form of signature attributing it to a specific African-American potter. Spencer's life can be viewed as one study of the lived experiences of black artisans in early America. While Edgefield, South Carolina's David Drake was forced as an enslaved man to produce pottery for most of his life, and Manhattan, New York's Thomas Commeraw saw freedom at an early age and ultimately established his own business, Abraham Spencer's story is one of a freeborn man developing and plying his trade in the antebellum South--a situation that may not have afforded him the success he deserved. Though learning the craft at an early age, Spencer was largely itinerant and there is no clear evidence that he ever owned his own shop. Physical evidence of his long career would be non-existent, but for a few jars inscribed with the first letter of his name. Provenance: Purchased in 1995 at the Florence Moomaw Estate Auction, Orkney Springs, VA. Excellent condition with a few rim chips, some wear to rim and interior, and two small in-the-firing pings to exterior surface. H 9".