March 2002 Volume 3 Issue 1 TRENTON POTTERIES " . ,"' . ,~:~<,,»:\:~-,~~~ Newsletter of the." ,_"'_i:_c/':;~,!1~'~ Potteries of Tte:n~on: Sqt;l.e!y~-~ '-,::'" ,',;:'-'::,,'J'):,i\, . f Rebekah at the Marriott: Marriott Site Yellow Ware Waster Dump, Circa 1863-1868, Trenton, New Jersry Rebecca White and William B. Liebeknecht to date the deposit before 1868. The Editor's Note: This is the first ofa two­ dump was located approximately one part article on a ceramic dump in Tren­ foot below a layer offlint nodules and ton. Part 1 discusses the wasters and chunks of quartz and feldspar that identifies the maker; Part 2 will describe were deposited by the Golding & tile different vessel types and decorations Company Flint and Spar Mill which recovered from the dump. operated in this location from 1868 to c.1927. rchaeological monitoring by In the 1850s and 1860s Trenton was A Hunter Research, Inc. in the home to five manufacturers of yellow summer of 2000 at the Marriott Hotel and Rockingham wares: Taylor & site in Trenton, New Jersey revealed a Speeler's Trenton Pottery Works dump or deposit of yellow waref (1852 -1856 [maybe as late as 1871]); Rockingham ware sherds and related William H. Young's City Pottery or kiln furniture. The deposit, observed Excelsior Pottery (1853 -1857 [maybe in the side of a construction trench, as late as 1879)); Henry Speeler & was approximately 20 feet long and Sons' Assanpink Pottery Works (1860­ between 0.5 feet to 2.5 feet thick. It 1882); Captain Ira W. Cory's Mill contained thousands of sherds from a Street Pottery (1863 - 1870); and variety of vesselforms but was domi­ Charles Coxon's Ointon Street Pottery nated by shallow undecorated pie (1863-1868). Contents plates and nappies of various sizes. The sherds were compared to yel­ Most of the sherds were undecorated Rebecca at the Martiot: Marriot low ware pieces of known manufac­ Site Yellow Ware Waster Dump yellow ware, but some were decorated ture in the collection of the New Jersey Rebecca White and I'Villiam B. using relief-molds. Approximately State Museum and the private collec­ Liebeknecht l 40% of the sherds have a clear alkaline tions of respected yellow ware enthu­ glaze; half of these also display a Dish Discovery Day 5 siasts Jay Lewis and the late David streaked or mottled brown manganese Goldberg as well as photos of pieces Call for Papers 5 glaze known as Rockingham. from published sources. The closest Sixty percent of the sherds were match was to pieces manufactured by bisque fired and reflect variations in Charles Coxon. who was also the only the clay body which may be due to potter listed above not known to have The Potteries of Trenton Society is 4: multiple clay sources or imperfections a yellow ware maker's mark. non·profit organization dedicated to the and impurities in the clay. None of study and preservation of Trenton's ceramic past. OfJiCeTs: Presidmf­ the thousands of sherds examined Charles Coxon's Clinton Street Pottery Patricia Madrigal; Treasurer -Amy have a maker's mark, not too surpris­ Charles Coxon was born on April Earls; Secretary - Otristy Morganstern. been Board: fUen Denker, Barlnrr. Goldberg, ing since it has estimated "that 1,1805 in Longton, Staffordshire, Eng­ Richard Hunter, It\111iam l.iebeknechf, some 90% of all yellow ware is un­ land to a family of potters. He served Molly Merlino, George Miller, Brendtl marked"(Leibowitz 1985:9). Even apprenticeships in pressing and mold- Springs ted. Newsletter Editor. Patricia Madrigal without marks, however, it is possible (Continued an page 2) Page 2 Trenton Potteries Volume 3 Issue 1 Mamot Site Yellow Ware mark would nonnally have been placed (Goldberg 1994:60). Goldberg believed the pad was scraped off or filled in and may have been a mold designed by Charles Coxon for Ben­ nett and later used at SwanHill. In 1861 Charles moved to Trenton and worked for Millington & Astbury and William Young & Sons (both manufacturers of Rockingham/yellow ware) until the spring of 1863 (Goldberg 1993: 36-37). That year he opened a two-kiln pottery in Trenton called the Clinton Street Pottery, to­ cated on Clinton Street and Muirhead Street (the comer of North Clinton Avenue and Ott Street) (Woodward and Hageman 1883; Hunter Research Inc. 1999). A year later John S. Thompson became his partner and the company was renamed Coxon & (Continuedjrom page 1) Thompson. Their company reportedly concentrated on the production of making in the Staffordshire district. "creamware and white graniteware"; His younger brother, William, immi­ given that Charles established his gr~te~ to the and worked in pot­ u.s. reputation in modeling yellow and tenes m Jersey City; Bermington, Ver­ Rockingham wares, it is conceivable mont; and Baltimore. TIrree years that his pottery would have produced later, in 1849, Charles and his family these wares during the company's moved to the u.s. He located his early years of production (Barber brother in Baltimore and secured work 1903). there in the pottery business. In July 1868, Charles Coxon fell (Goldberg 1994:32, Lee 1907:333-335). victim to sunstroke and died. The pot­ While working for the Bennett Pot­ tery, re-named Coxon and Company, tery in Baltimore Charles, a senior continued on under the direction of modeler, was credited with creating a his wife, Mary and their sons John, number of important pieces. In1858 Charles, Frank and Jonathan with he left the Bennett Pottery to operate various partners (M.M. Bateman, the Swan Hill Pottery in South Am­ James E. Darrah, J.G. Foreman and S. boy, New Jersey where he produced M. Alpaugh) until it was sold in 1883 Rockingham-glazed Bennett-like to Alpaugh and F.A. McGowan pieces until 1860. These pieces are (Goldberg 1994:43). The pottery was identified by an unmarked raised rec­ eventually named the Empire Pottery tangular pad with clipped comers on and became part of the Trenton Potter­ the base, similar to the one used by the ies Company in 1900. Bennett Pottery, where a maker's (Continued on page 3) Trenton Potteries Volume 3 Issue 1 Page 3 Marriot Site Yellow Ware VVlIO made the wares ill the waster dump? fore opening the Coxon Pottery, it is Charles was not the only Coxon in unlikely. Millington & Astbury, the pottery business. John, his eldest where both Charles and John worked, son, came to the United States with his ceased manufacturing yellow ware the parents in 1849. In1850 he was em­ year before the Coxons were em­ ployed as a presser (along with his fa­ ployed. William Young & Sons, where ther) by the Bennett Pottery in Balti­ Charles worked, marked its yellow­ more Maryland. In 1858 he joined ware pieces; none of the wasters from members of his family at the Swan the Marriot dump have a mark. Hill Pottery in South Amboy. In 1860 Stephens & Tams Company, which he returned to Baltimore for a short employed John for a time, is not time before arriving inTrenton to known for manufacturing yellow work for Richard Millington and later ware. Therefore, if the Coxons are re­ Figure I: Ayel/ow warefood for James Tams, Sr. as a molder. In sponsible for this yellow ware, it most moldwith com motif 1863 he joined his father's new com­ likely came from their plant on Clin­ pany where he remained until the pot­ ton Avenue. tery was sold in 1883 (Lee 1907:335). Coxon-like parallels from the Mar­ Charles' neph'ew, Jonathan, joined riott dump include the Cherub pitcher, his uncle's new company in 1863 as a the Cavalier creamer, a toby creamer, foreman and remained for three years the Rebekah at the Well teapot and the before moving on to the Mercer Pot­ women having tea teapot. The spout tery Company. Like other members of of Rebekah teapots with trailing bell the family, Jonathan was a well­ flowers or lily of the valley and side trained potter who mastered all of the portrait are remarkably similar to details of the business (Lee 1907: 334). pieces made by the Edwin Bennett Charles' brother William, who came to Pottery in Baltimore, MD (c.l846­ the U.s. in 1846, also ended up in 1865). There is less detail on the Tren­ Trenton, where he lived for many ton pieces but the position and compo­ years. William's connection with the sition of elements are the same. It ap­ Coxon Pottery is unknown. pears that the designer (presumably After careful comparison and con­ Coxon) may have made a cast of a fin­ sultation with Jay Lewis and the late ished Bennett piece or owned a worn David Goldberg, it is the opinion of mold. (See Denker and Denker 1985 the authors that this assemblage be­ page 125, plate 22 and Goldberg longs to the Coxon Pottery c. 1863­ 1994:31). Coxon was also reported to 1868, and the vessels were designed have manufactured a number of pitch­ by either Charles or his son John. The ers with hound or branch handles, styles suggest strong links to Charles styles which were also recovered from but the lack of sharpness and attention the waster dump (Goldberg 1994:33, to detail suggest that perhaps his son Barber 1903:52). Hound handles from John was the artisan responsible for the Marriot dump are rather simple making the molds. with few details present. The hound's While it is possible that the wast­ nose rests on or close to the rim of the ers could have come from the potteries vessel, unlike those of other manufac- where Charles and John worked be- (Con/inned on page 4) Page 4 Trenton Potteries Volume 3 Issue 1 Marriot Site Yellow Ware References Barber, Edwin Atlee 1903 "Early Ceramic Printing and Model­ ing in the United States," Old China 3, no.3 Figure 3: Remains ofa pitcher Denker, Ellen and Bert Denker with a hunting motif.