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First Semiannual Stoneware and Redware Auction

by Karl H. Pass

On Saturday, July 17, Anthony and Barbara Zipp and their three sons Brandt, Luke, and Mark held their first auction of American stoneware and redware. In business since 1983 under the name of Crocker Farm, the Zipps do several shows a year and conduct business on line through their Web site.

The Zipps put together a mix of quality consignments for the 322-lot sale. Originally thinking of holding an auction once a year at the Washington County Agricultural Education Center in Boonsboro, Maryland, they now plan to put together two sales a year. In the vein of present-day pottery auction entrepreneurs Wayne Arthur and Bruce and Vicki Waasdorp, as well as Donn Kinzle in the 1970's, the Zipps have successfully added their names to the fray of the pottery auction market.

The marketplace has remained steady for quality American stoneware and redware, while various sectors such as Shenandoah Valley wares and certain Mid-Atlantic and New England pottery have seen a noticeable increase in market value. One possible mitigating factor in the current specialized market of Bell pottery is the recent scandal of pottery fakes (see M.A.D., April 2004, page 11-A).

Possessing the expertise and quality consignment material needed for a good sale, the Zipps' leap into the auction market seemed to pay off. They advertised widely for their sale, charging a straight 10% seller's commission and a 10% buyer's premium, installed five phone lines, and offered absentee bidding. They were pleased with the outcome of the sale; with over 200 registered bidders, it grossed $436,750 (including buyer's premium) and came in at around the presale estimate.

The catalog was well written and informative, even contributing new scholarship to the field of Mid-Atlantic ceramics with its information on potters Ernestus Bacher and Henry Remmey, Sr. The latter is the subject of a forthcoming article by Luke Zipp to be published in Ceramics in America. Some attendees would have preferred a bound catalog as opposed to a stapled one, which tended to pull apart, yet the contents were well assembled. Many lots had useful, detailed condition reports, and the catalog pictures were of high quality for digital images. According to Tony Zipp, "People bought the catalog from as far away as Seattle."

Trying to bring a "festival atmosphere" to the event, the Zipps rented a large open-air pole barn for tailgaters next to the education center where the auction took place, and prisoners from the nearby Hagerstown Correctional Institution set up long rows of tables several days before. The tailgating was free to those who wanted to set up—first come, first served—and about 20 or 30 pottery dealers accepted the offer. Several significant sales were reported, one by longtime New York state stoneware dealer Warren Hartmann. The biggest private sale of the morning, however, was a Hagerstown, Maryland, redware plate in remarkable condition, attributed to Peter Bell, that changed hands for $29,000.

By noon, as the auction next door was getting ready to begin, virtually all of the tailgaters had packed up to come inside for the sale. The education center made for an excellent auction site and provided plenty of space for case display up front, plus tables and chairs in the back by the food concession. Forget your ordinary hot dogs and chips, the concession offered barbecued chicken platters and homemade pies. It was a hit among those who wanted to have a picnic at the plentiful tables and benches inside or outside the facility grounds.

Besides the tailgating, a popular component of the auction was a display set up by Maryland private collector Bonnard Morgan. What Morgan has called the "Motherlode Collection" consists of one of the largest groupings of Hagerstown area redware ever assembled. Bonnard's father, Leon Morgan, started the collection 75 years ago. A student at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Leon was a painter by vocation and spent time buying and selling antiques. Leon Morgan purchased the contents of potter John Bowman's shop in 1929. Bowman, a utilitarian potter working from 1868 until 1905, had a shop in Boonsboro, Maryland. It had remained largely intact for 24 years since production ceased in 1905. What began with Bowman redware has blossomed into an extensive and impressive assembly of Shenandoah Valley pottery.

Morgan created Plexiglas cases and set up several tables in the back of the auction facility to showcase a cross section of pieces. The exhibit included unusual work by well-known potters Anthony Bacher, Peter Bell, and John Bell. The majority has never been publicly displayed, but many pieces in Morgan's collection are in H.E. Comstock's well-referenced The Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley Region (Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, 1994).

Dr. George and Connie Manger set up a table to sell copies of their recently published catalog, Pottery from the Shenandoah and Cumberland Valleys. The book details their private collection, which had been on exhibit in 2003 at the nearby Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, Maryland. The book is available in that museum's bookshop.

Running from noon until around 5 p.m., the sale had surprises as well as disappointments. The majority of the crowd stayed throughout, minus a few buyers who left midway. Even with a slower than usual auctioneer, a handful of high-powered lots that were front-loaded into the sale got things going quickly and provided overall energy to the auction.

Announced prior to bidding as the last consignment accepted for the sale, an 1820's four-gallon stoneware water cooler stamped "H. Myers" and attributed to Henry Remmey Sr., Baltimore, Maryland, sold for $72,600, the day's most expensive lot. With its open strap handles, a large incised cobalt game bird, and cobalt swags and flowering vines, the cooler had several mentionable chips to its base, but its overall form and rarity took precedence over such flaws. The buyers were Maryland private collectors James and Julia Kappler, underbid by Westborough, Massachusetts, dealer David Wheatcroft.

The Kapplers didn't stop there. Again underbid by Wheatcroft, they purchased the second-highest priced lot, a one-gallon stoneware pitcher with incised bird, also attributed to Henry Remmey, Sr. The mint-condition pitcher brought $35,200.

One disappointment of the sale was the figural redware dog on base, incised "Ernestus Bacher/ January the/ 29 int/ 1863" on its underside. Over 7 inches long, with "coleslaw" hair, and likely from Adams County, Pennsylvania, it failed to meet its reserve and was bought in at $34,500.

The approximately 25 lots of stamped John Bell pottery, largely consisting of utilitarian redware, received a mixed reception. Although much of it brought what the marketplace dictates for such material, there were some collectors and dealers present who felt that the prices for Bell pottery were a little soft or under the current market. One possible explanation, as mentioned earlier, could be fallout from the recent scandal and subsequent arrest involving Bell pottery fakes. Although no one felt that anything in the sale was suspicious, it is possible that the fakery issue had a mild holdover effect on some buyers' confidence.

Already advertising for their next auction, the Zipps plan to hold another sale on October 30 in the same facility. For further information, contact Crocker Farm at (410) 337-5090; Web site (www.crockerfarm.com).