I agree with Nancy,

The probate records listing estate sales for St. Mary's County, Maryland are
very detailed well into the 19th century and they list the persons
purchasing the item, the price paid.  Sometimes purchases by
African-Americans do not list there name.  Lynne Herman, John O. Sands and
Daniel Schecter used the probate records from St. Mary's County to study
ceramic consumption patterns, but not the second hand purchases of them.
There study "Ceramics in St. Mary's County, Maryland during the 1840's: A
Socioeconomic Study" was published in Volume 8 of the Conference on Historic
Site Archaeology Papers 1973:52-93.

Peace,
George L. Miller

On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 9:11 AM, O'Malley, Nancy <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> A very common means of acquiring secondhand ceramics and other household
> goods was at estate sales. The estate sales in Kentucky even list who bought
> what. The ceramic and glass tableware I excavated at a post-Civil War urban
> African American house site in Lexington was in many cases clearly older
> than the initiation date of the household. The couple who settled the site
> were freed slaves and this was the home they established very soon after
> their emancipation. Documentary evidence suggested that some of the
> tableware and decorative items were probably given to the woman of the
> household by an employer (she was a cook for a family at various times) but
> she would have had ample opportunity to acquire dishes and other household
> items from local estate sales.
>
> Nancy O'Malley
> Assistant Director
> William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology and
> Office of State Archaeology
> 1020A Export Street
> University of Kentucky
> Lexington, Kentucky 40506
> Ph. 859-257-1944
> FAX: 859-323-1968
> ________________________________________
> From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lyle E.
> Browning [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, October 19, 2009 7:58 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Second-Hand Shops in the 18th & 19th Centuries
>
>  On our site today, discussions got around to pottery distribution in
> the 18th & 19th century and secondary markets. The phenomenon of hand-
> me-downs from plantation owner to overseer to slave is documented. But
> in an urban environment, was there a mechanism for distribution of
> wares "not of the latest fashion" to secondary markets and/or
> distributees in any formal manner or was it an ad hoc arrangement.
> And, has anyone looked at the archaeological record to show same, if
> it exists? Did what we now call second-hand shops exist except as 20th
> century inventions? How common were the Dickensian Old Curiosity Shops
> as mechanisms for redistribution of goods for the middle/lower classes
> outside major metro areas?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Lyle Browning, RPA
>