Antiques Roadshow

APPRAISER

I love stoneware. You know, my twin brother and I collected it when we were 12 years old.

Awesome. APPRAISER

So anytime I see salt-glazed stoneware, I get excited. But, but these have a special history. What's the family part of it?

GUEST

Years ago, Albert Gallatin, which was the secretary of the Treasury...

APPRAISER

Yes.

GUEST

...at the time, uh, met these Germans.

APPRAISER

Was it the, in the early 19th century?

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

Yeah, okay, yeah.

GUEST

And my great-great- grandfather was Adolf Eberhardt.

APPRAISER

Uh, yes.

GUEST

And he was one of the Germans there. They founded the New Geneva Crock Factory. And the reason it was called New Geneva was because Albert Gallatin was from Geneva, Switzerland.

APPRAISER

Yes.

GUEST

He named the town, and he subsidized them, and they named the pottery New Geneva.

APPRAISER

New Geneva. In this area, Western Pennsylvania, they hadn't really found any clay.

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

Most of the great white clay was found up in the north coast, South Amboy in New Jersey. So they hadn't found a clay source. And then, in the early 19th century, all of a sudden, down in the river, near New Geneva, they found this incredible clay source.

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

So this became a real center for, for stoneware production.

GUEST

Yes, it did.

APPRAISER

And there were many potters that worked, right?

GUEST

Yes,

there were. APPRAISER

There was the glass factory, right?

GUEST

The glass factory, also.

APPRAISER

And didn't they also start using some of the glass factories to make pottery, as well?

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

On the front, you see the 12. It's a salt-glazed stoneware jar, 12-gallon. They made them, believe it or not, in New Geneva as big as 30 and 40 gallons.

GUEST

This is the largest one I've ever seen.

APPRAISER

And these were turned on a wheel. Can you imagine turning something like this on a wheel? And decorated it in blue. They put the, the stoneware in the kiln. They shoveled salt in there when it hit about 2,200 degrees. And that salt vitrified and it coated the piece. Do you see this orange peel effect?

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

That's the salt glaze that's covering the piece. And that made this

piece impermeable to all sorts of things

acids, turpentine. This stuff was strong stuff. But before they fired it in the kiln, they often decorated it, and in the 1870s, they started using stencils to wrap it around, apply the cobalt blue. It's something that has a great appeal, okay?

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

It's really neat that you have these two other pieces. This little piece, which was made probably across the river, probably in the 1870s or '80s, this was a really popular, in Greensboro and in New Geneva...

GUEST

Uh-huh.

APPRAISER

They were really popular, a little brushed-on, hand-done effect. This little jar... Hamilton and Jones, Greensboro, Pennsylvania.

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

Very close by, across the river. They're using the same clay source. The wonderful thing here is that you brought in this image of the pottery. You have Hamilton Robbins Pottery, right in New Geneva. So here they are working.

Yes. APPRAISER

And they could make upwards of, like, 200, 300 pots a day. It's ironic that there was glass made there and there was pottery made in the same area, because you know what put the potters out of business?

GUEST

The glass.

APPRAISER

You got it. For insurance purposes, these would be valued at upwards of $5,000, as a wonderful group that, uh, has stayed in your family. Okay?

GUEST

Oh,

dear. APPRAISER

So it's nice to know that.

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

Now, if this stencil had an eagle here, this would probably be about $8,000 or $9,000.

GUEST

Really?

APPRAISER

If it had a free-hand decoration, it would probably be $20,000-plus.