: Watch out pottery lovers, there is a new redware and stoneware
auctioneer in town, and his name is Tony Zipp. Along with the
other four members of the Zipp family, Tony has started up
Crocker Farm, an auction house specializing in redware and
stoneware featuring primarily pieces of Pennsylvania and Maryland
origin.
Crocker Farm conducted their first sale, a highly successful one
at that, on July 17 with substantial prices paid throughout the
day.
Zipp commented that in the early 1980s he and family members
began collecting local stoneware and redware and before too long
found themselves dealing. In 1990, Zipp quit his job as a
hospital administrator to become a full-time dealer, specializing
at first in pottery and then branching out into Americana. Along
the way, the Zipp family got interested in internet sales and
conducted specialty fixed-price pottery sales that began on a
specified day and time. Their success was so great that they
decided to go live and buck the internet trends.
"We decided to have an auction to see what would happen," said
Zipp, who was overwhelmed with the results. "It was just a great
day. Things got started early in the morning under the pole barn
with about 50 picnic tables filled with people buying, selling
and swapping pottery. Then at noon, they all moved inside and we
had the sale," he said.
The auctioneer reported a huge crowd with several heavy hitters
on hand including Americana dealer David Wheatcroft and a host of
determined local buyers.
"We had five phone lines installed the day before the auction and
were promised they would be working right away. We kept trying
them and trying them and not one had a dial tone. We were
starting to get real nervous, but then 15 minutes before the
auction was supposed to start they finally got dial tones."
Telephone bidding was active throughout the day, stated Zipp, but
the gallery was determined and claimed virtually all of the top
lots.
An Anna Pottery stoneware railroad pig flask with incised and
blue filled map and sayings did well at $23,100.
The first lot to be offered in the sale was an unusual
stoneware pitcher decorated with a flag, anchor and Masonic symbol
that was thought to have been of Ohio origin. The piece, in overall
good condition, set a spirited tone for the day as it hammered down
at $6,600.
The top lot of the auction came a short while later as a rare
four-gallon stoneware bulbous water cooler with vertical loop
handles and an incised bird that covered much of the front of the
piece was offered. The cooler, stamped H. Myers and attributed to
Henry Remmey Sr, 1821-1829, was one of only a couple known
examples from the Baltimore potter. The back of the piece was
profusely decorated with blue floral. Myers owned the Baltimore
Stoneware Manufactory in the 1820s, Remmey was the superintendent
of the pottery. "Given the close similarities between this cooler
and stoneware signed by Remmey (both from his New York and
Baltimore years), this piece was certainly made by the master
potter himself," stated the catalog.
Bidding on the lot opened at $5,000 with a flurry of hands coming
from all around the room. The initial bid was taken from a
stealth bidder seated in the front row, local collector Jim
Kappler, who sat motionless with his paddle in his hand stretched
across the top of his catalog and tipped slightly at the
auctioneer. Bids jumped in $5,000 increments quickly with Kappler
stealthily staying in the action. Numerous people in the gallery
pushed the cooler, including one bidder hiding in the doorway,
until the price got past $30,000. Wheatcroft got in on the action
and the bids bounced back and forth with Kappler never moving a
muscle until the lot was hammered down to him at $72,600,
including premium.
Kappler, a collector of Baltimore pottery, would later state that
he "came to the auction to buy three things," he got them all.
The next lot Kappler claimed was a one-gallon stoneware pitcher
with a large incised and dark blue filled bird on a floral sprig,
also attributed to Henry Remmey. In mint condition, this piece
was also actively bid by several in the crowd with it selling at
to the motionless Kappler at $35,200. A few lots later a
monumental seven-gallon water cooler with vivid blue decoration
covering the entire front and bending around the side was
offered. This straight-sided piece, made in Baltimore, circa
1840, also went Kappler's way at $18,700.
"He sat around for about five minutes after buying the last
cooler and then came out and wrote my wife a check for almost
$130,000 for the three pieces," said Zipp. The buyer would later
relate to the auctioneer that the day was "One of the high points
in his collecting career."
An Anna Pottery stoneware railroad pig flask with incised and
blue filled map and sayings did well at $23,100.
Several pieces of Bacher signed redware were offered, some by
Anthony and some by Errnestus, who is now believed to be
Anthony's brother. The expected top lot, a rare large sized
redware poodle with coleslaw decoration on the upswept tail and
large mane, failed to meet reserves.
A large Anthony Bacher redware vase with long upsweeping vertical
handles with applied floral and bird decoration in an olive
colored glaze did well bringing $18,700, while a rare pitcher
with brown and cream scrottled glaze realized $9,625.
A large five-gallon crock attributed to the Thompson Pottery in
Morgantown, W.V., with two individual decorated scenes, one above
the other, the top one of a woman holding a parasol, the lower a
bird on a sprig, sold at $16,500.
A large stoneware pitcher with a bold folky tulip on the front
and stars around the sides and across the neck did well at
$14,300, while a rare three-gallon jar marked "J. Miller, Alex"
went out at $10,450. The jar, one of five or six known marked
examples, was hotly competed for by a local collector who won out
over an agent representing the Virginia Historical Society.
Anthony Bacher redware vase, $18,700.
Other pieces of interest included a Cowden and Wilcox crock
with swimming duck decoration selling at $8,350, and a rare
cylindrical jar with horse head decoration on one side and a floral
sprig on the other bringing $1,540.
John and Solomon Bell pieces saw substantial interest with a
highly unusual plaster two-piece mold of a spaniel marked by
Solomon hammering down at $8,350, a sponge decorated redware
Turk's head mold brought $3,300, another realized $2,200, and a
John Bell butter tub with restored handle fetched $1,870.
The most unusual piece of redware in the auction was an
elaborately decorated large bulbous ovoid jar with green slip
squiggles surrounded by yellow dots. The jar, probably Moravian,
had the initials "S. G." and was dated 1784. Condition problems,
including a chunk missing from the rim, a large crack and glaze
loss, kept the price down to $7,150.
The buy of the auction came as a highly unusual quart sized jug
stamped "Cortland" and decorated in large bold letters with "1
Quart" sold for $385.
Prices include the ten percent premium charged.
