Ned,
 
I picked up most of a bisque plate at the Sweeney-Norwich potteries off of
what I believe to be one of the oldest of waster piles out there. That
would put it in the late 1780s or 90s. If I had to characterize the "ware"
by the clay-body, I'd probably call it "creamware." In researching the
pottery some years ago (why am I always following your trails???) I
encountered a letter from our old friend David Meade Randolph to his
nephew, the fourth Richard Randolph of Curles. Davies warned him to stop
his foolish attempts to start a "porcellain manufactory" and to do
something useful like a tannery. While we have found a few utilitarian
earthenwares at the sites, it is, as you know, mainly tons and tons of s-g
stoneware. Nonetheless, in one of the older dumps, with the gorgeous
incised stoneware, there was this bisque plate.
 
We have also revovered a bunch of bisque whitewares from a mid-19th-c
pottery near Hopewell, Va. There is a waster dump on the banks of the
James at Jordan's Point.
 
The late 18th c and early 19th c was a time when lots of folks tried their
hands at beating out the English pottery trade. A few--like the Trenton
works-- succeeded, but most failed. Wonder if you have the results of yet
another local experiment?
 
Dan Mouer
 
On Wed, 30 Apr 1997, Ned Heite wrote:
 
> In yesterday's digest, I asked:
>
> >Among the creamware sherds, we have found several sherds without glaze.
> >They look, superficially, like bisque. The "bisque" sherds bear several
> >different decorative patterns, and we apparently have no whole vessels in
> >the "bisque." We don't have any records of creamware potters near the site.
> >So I'm concluding that we have creamware from which the glaze has been
> >stripped.
>
> Tim Scarlett replied:
>
> >What is the condition of the sherds?  Are the surfaces smooth? Do they
> >have little crackling marks where the glaze may have been before removal?
> >I find it hard to imagine glaze being ground or flaked off without leaving
> >tool marks!  Also what is the time period of the site and assemblage?
> >Late nineteenth and early 20th century assemblages could contain
> >"blanks" that companies sent out to people, particularly women, for
> >hand painting that would be returned to the company to be fired.  Rather
> >late for creamware though.  More info needed...
>
> I'll try to answer these questions:
>
> The site dates 1768-1806, and the fine English ceramics are about half and
> half pearlware and creamware. The sherds in question resemble bisque in
> that they are smooth and unmarked, just like the documented bisque pieces
> in my collection from refined earthenware potteries. There are no signs of
> chipping, grinding, or crazing that would indicate mechanical removal of
> glaze. They just look like bisque.
>
>
>   _______
> . |___|__\_==
> . | _ |  | --]   Ned Heite,                ><DARWIN>
> . =(O)-----(O)=  Camden, DE 19934           / \  / \
> ---------------------------------
> "Baby" Series IIA 88" 2.25L petrol Land Rover
> Explore Icelandic wool:  http://www.dmv.com/~iceland---------
> Recent research:  http://home.dmv.com/~eheite/index.html ----
> -------------------------------------------------------------
>