Positive Results at Summer Ceramics Sale

Crocker Farm, Inc., York, Pennsylvania

by Karl H. Pass

Crocker Farm held its 11th stoneware and redware auction on July 19 in the Old Main Building at the York Fairgrounds in York, Pennsylvania. The 317-lot sale grossed $393,521 (including buyers' premiums). Prices consistent with expectations were achieved for the most part, and many lots sold well above estimates, showing strength in several categories of the market, including early New York City stoneware.

The star of the sale was an 8¼" high western Pennsylvania wax sealer jar with cobalt decoration of a baseball player's head in profile view. The circa 1875 cylindrical jar was probably made in either Greensboro or New Geneva, the pottery centers of the region. Opening at $20,000, the bidding escalated quickly, and the pot sold for $65,550 to Boston folk art dealer Stephen Score bidding by phone. The underbidder was local dealer Kelly Kinzle standing in the back of the salesroom.

"It came from an elderly gentleman in Ohio who received it as a gift over forty years ago," remarked Anthony Zipp of Crocker Farm. "We have received the most interest in this piece than probably anything we have ever sold. People have been calling from all over the country."

As with all Crocker Farm auctions, the Zipps put together diverse offerings. This sale included quality New York state stoneware, Shenandoah Valley redware, stoneware of the Midwest, early Manhattan stoneware, and Pennsylvania redware, to name a few categories.

The Zipps have especially had good fortune selling a range of Shenandoah Valley redware. For example, a 6¾" long redware wall pocket, signed and dated "Anthony W. Bacher/ 1879" and made during the potter's stint in Winchester, Virginia, sold to a dealer for $6785. That wall pocket, with its applied bird and floral decoration, had been sold lotted with another nearly identical Bacher wall pocket for $2587.50 in 1995 at Sotheby's Dr. and Mrs. Henry Deyerle sale.

A redware birdhouse, signed and dated "Anthony W. Bacher/ 1882" and decorated with streaks of manganese over a cream-colored slip with glaze losses, sold for $4025. Its applied figural bird and finial had been replaced. A multi-glazed redware triple-spouted pitcher, attributed to J. Eberly & Co. of Strasburg, Virginia, sold for a respectable $2300. One spout on the 7" high pitcher had been restored, and it had some losses to the glaze.

Crocker Farm seldom uses reserves. Six lots in this sale held reserves, and the only clear disappointment of the day was one of those reserved lots. A large six-gallon ovoid stoneware water cooler, stamped "Sam'l. I. Irvine/ Newville, PA," was estimated at $35,000/45,000, with the low estimate as its reserve. The consignor had purchased the piece in an antiques shop north of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 54 years ago for $17. The cooler failed to get a bid above its low estimate. The reserve effectively diminished its ability to sell, and the item is no longer fresh to the market.

The majority of Bell pottery was consigned from a single collection. Glazed John Bell flowerpots mostly sold in the $500 to $800 range. A green-glazed example with a hairline and stamped "John W. Bell/ Waynesboro, PA" sold for $862.50. A pot glazed darkly with sponged manganese and lead with the more typical "John Bell" stamp brought $546.25. It had some hairlines and chips. A John Bell mug with dark glaze of sponged manganese and lead over a yellowish orange ground sold for $920. It had some spots of glaze loss. A Bell Turk's head mold in lead glaze over a yellow ground in good condition sold for $977.50. A small-size stoneware Bell butter crock with a dotted cobalt tulip decoration in mint condition sold for $1840.

For more information, contact Crocker Farm, Inc. at (410) 337-5090; Web site (www.crockerfarm.com).

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