Description:
Tan-bodied stoneware jar stamp-impressed "T. CRAFTS & CO / NASHUA" in-filled with cobalt blue. Thomas Crafts (1781-1861) was one of the most successful potters in Whately, Massachusetts (a town just south of Deerfield). He started making glazed redware pottery in 1802, and later developed a successful black-glazed redware teapot business. He switched to salt-glazed stoneware in 1833, and was active until 1848, turning over the business to his sons. In 1838, the Crafts family built the first of the only three stoneware manufactories in New Hampshire in Nashua on the Merrimack River. Thomas Crafts had been shipping wares to wholesalers in Nashua for years (see HD 2003.50) and decided to establish a local branch. His son, James Monroe Crafts (1817-after 1899), was the first manager; this extremely rare mark dates to that period. James' brother, Martin Crafts (1807-1880) took over in the summer of 1838, and the wares were then marked "MARTIN CRAFTS / NASHUA, N.H." The baluster-shaped jar has a wide rim that supported a cover, two C-shaped lug handles, and beveled base.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+78.079 |
