IMPORTANT SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA MORAVIAN POLYCHROME-DECORATED EARTHENWARE / REDWARE PLATE OR DISH, single lead-glazed, shallow interior featuring a central tulip design of copper- and white-slip over a red slip ground, rim having a concave booge profile with two-color concentric-circle slip decorations to top surface. Unmarked. Late 18th/early 19th century. 1 1/4" HOA, 8 1/4" D rim.
Literature: Parallels Hunter (ed.) - Ceramics in America 2009, "Eighteenth-Century Earthenware from North Carolina: The Moravian Tradition Reconsidered" by Luke Beckerdite and Johanna Brown, p. 27, figs. 40 and 41.
See also: The North Carolina Earthenware Collection Database, which can be accessed online at the University of Madison - Wisconsin, Libraries, contains numerous closely related objects, some of which can be seen here, here, here, and here. All of these relate to the dish fragment seen here, which was recovered archaeologically in Salem.
Catalogue Note: This exceptional dish appeared recently in an online auction. No provenance could be obtained from the auction house. Regardless, our own provenance research has unexpectedly identified it as a "lost" piece from a well-known collection, thought to have disappeared decades ago under mysterious circumstances. The truth, in this case, is stranger than fiction.

The dish bears a sticker on the rear from Sotheby's sale number 7867, that of the Appell Family Collection, assembled by the late Louis and Helen Appell, primarily during the Great Depression. Much of their collection was acquired from their lifelong friend, Pennsylvania scholar/dealer Joe Kindig Jr., and in fact, the foreword to their sale's printed catalogue was written by Joe's son, Joe Kindig III. The present dish appears to have been a treasured part of the Appells' collection; one North Carolina earthenware scholar can recall seeing the dish in a photo of the Appells' home at some point, prominently displayed on a cupboard with their other earthenware. That same scholar was at the 2003 sale, and distinctly recalled that the dish "never made it to the sale". In the course of our provenance research, that scholar was shown a photo of this dish, to which they replied, "That's the one."

It is impossible to overstate their surprise upon discovering, over twenty years after the fact, that the dish DID make it into the sale. Investigation of the catalogue reveals that lot 1209 was an eight piece lot containing a handful of poorly-described objects, six of which were not even pictured in the catalogue. And a startling phrase appears at the end of the lot's description: "Together with a Mexican or Continental plate, pot and pitcher."

It is hard to imagine how such an iconic and easily-identifiable example of Moravian pottery was so badly miscatalogued and allowed to disappear into a box lot; but given the circumstances, there can be little surprise that it flew under the radar at the sale. The lucky purchaser of lot 1209 has not been identified, but at least one other item from lot 1209 was sold as part of the auction where this plate recently resurfaced, suggesting that it may have stayed with the same owner since the conclusion of the Appell collection's sale. It is unknown whether they ever knew the significance of the plate they bought; but thankfully its provenance has now been rediscovered, and it can be correctly identified as a rare and early product of the Salem pottery, skillfully thrown and decorated in the distinctive style proliferated by Gottfried Aust and his former apprentices.

Excellent condition with a few minor rim chips, and a remarkably intact glazed interior surface having generally light scratching/wear and a localized region of heavier wear to cavetto.

Recently re-discovered in a Midwestern estate auction.
Sotheby's, 1/18/2003, lot 1209 (partial).
Ex-the Appell Family Collection, Sinking Springs Farms, Manchester Township, PA.
Purchased from Joe Kindig, Jr., date unknown.