The sale’s highest price — $6,250 — was earned by this three-gallon “I. Seymour / Troy Factory” incised ovoid stoneware jug from Troy, N.Y., 15 inches high ($8/12,000).
Review by Carly Timpson
EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y. — The Arthur J. Dell, Jr, Collection of Capital Region Stoneware was auctioned by Schillaci & Shultis (Two Feathers Antiques & Auctions Services) on April 19. Comprising 400 lots of blue decorated stoneware, White’s of Utica, Rockingham-glazed pottery and more, the auction finished with an above-estimate total realized of more than $115,000 and a 100 percent sell-through rate.
Co-owner Ed Schillaci reported, “It was our largest sale. There were around 300 registered bidders on LiveAuctioneers and about 70 in the room and we handed out around 50 bidding cards. For how things are nowadays, it was very well-attended. Art was very well known in the bottle collecting and stoneware community; a lot of people knew him and wanted a piece from his collection, and they showed up in person for it.”
Before the sale, the firm announced: “Schillaci & Shultis is honored to have been selected to sell the many collections of our friend Arthur J. Dell, Jr (1952-2024). Art’s collections were many and will be sold in their entirety without reserve over the course of the next one and a half to two years.” Debriefing after the sale, John Shultis said it did very well. “Art was one of Ed’s very close friends from childhood. He collected and his father collected before him, so it’s going to be a great endeavor for us to sell the items. It’ll take close to two years to sell the entire collection. It will span several sessions with many different categories. The next sale from Art’s collection — session two, part one — is on June 14 and it will have his stoneware bottles, glass bottles and poison bottles, with a little bit of his advertising items.”
Ed Schillaci called this W. A. Lewis, Galesville, N.Y., five-gallon double handled jug with an unusual turkey decoration “a wonderful piece.” Bidders agreed and took the 18¼-inch-high jug to $5,313 ($2/3,000).
Earning top-lot status was an ovoid jug by Israel Seymour at the Troy Factory (Troy, N.Y.) with a double-incised bird decoration. According to Schillaci, “One of the birds was typical, but the other was a large eagle and below it, held in its beak, was a banner incised with ‘I. Seymour Troy’ for Israel Seymour and ‘March 18,’ but we couldn’t figure out what that date related to… It was clear this piece was made in some kind of special order.” This three-gallon jug was in outstanding as-made condition and sold to an online buyer from New Jersey for $6,250, underbid by someone in the audience, according to Schillaci.
Another rare and unusual jug was an example stamped for W. A. Lewis of Galesville N.Y., circa 1857-60. The straight-sided five-gallon jug had double handles and was decorated with a strutting turkey. Schillaci said, “Art bought it at Pook & Pook for around $3,000 in 2021 and it had some schmutz on the bird that was never cleaned off. I cleaned it off and it was a lovely piece. I believe it was a turkey, which is a very unusual bird on a piece of stoneware, and it was double handled, plus the condition was outstanding.” All of that to be said, the turkey jug was bought by a Vermont collector, bidding online, for $5,313, exceeding its $3,000 high estimate.
In addition to jugs, the sale saw great success with crocks. The selection was led by a four-gallon example made at the West Troy Pottery, circa 1860-90s. Decorated with a spread-wing flying eagle holding a banner reading “Union / Liberty” in its beak, this piece soared nearly four times its high estimate to achieve $5,625. Bearing a similar design of an eagle with banner, a six-gallon “Fresh / Butter” crock made circa 1872-92 at the Ottman Brothers & Company pottery in Fort Edward, N.Y., brought $4,688.
Made in West Troy, N.Y., circa 1860-90s, this 11¾-inch-high four-gallon stoneware crock, marked with an eagle and reading “Union / Liberty” on its banner, flew to a New Jersey buyer for $5,625 ($800-$1,500).
A more unusual decoration was found on a three-gallon crock with a scarce “G. S. Guy & Co. / Fort Edward N.Y.” impression. Made circa 1882-92, this piece was “very unusual, in that if you look at it closely — if you put your thumb on the top eye where the owl is — you’ll see it’s pretty much a typical bird, but they just drew a straight line for the horn of an owl. The amount of work to make it such a valuable piece was very little. Despite the fact that it could be so easily done, you don’t see many of these.” It sold to a New York State buyer for $4,063.
William E. Warner’s pottery in West Troy, N.Y., was active circa 1843-59, and this sale included 18 pieces and several notable above-estimate results for the maker. Hopping to the top of the selection was a one-gallon jug decorated with a running rabbit above ornate florals ($3,500). Schillaci told us this was one of Dell’s “favorite pieces, and he would always bring it to Bottle Club meetings around Easter.” A three-gallon elaborately dotted eagle jug, likely decorated by James Reiley, brought $3,250. Also likely by the hand of Reiley was a dotted eagle-decorated six-gallon churn with an Albany slip glazed dasher top, which was bid to $2,691.
In closing, Schillaci commented, “Southern stoneware is hot right now, but some of these [N.Y.] pieces are just as rare as those pieces, but Northeast isn’t as popular these days. If you had any of these pieces with similar designs and marks but they’re Southern, they’d really bring a lot of money. However, individual, hand-decorated pottery has gone up while more mass-produced pieces have gone down, especially with the advent of the internet.”
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house.
The firm’s Arthur J. Dell, Jr, Stoneware & Glass Bottles auction is set for June 14, and the catalog is already available on LiveAuctioneers and AuctionZip. For information, 518-766-3865 or 518-463-8542.
