Buyers in late colonial New York could visit a retail store and buy colorfully enameled stoneware mugs that were imported from England. But they also could walk to King Street where craftsman Myer Myers crafted similarly shaped mugs made of silver. While it took longer to hand-hammer the silver mug into shape than to throw, trim, decorate and fire the stoneware version, the high base price of silver made Myers’ mug much more expensive.

 

The black and gold coffeepot, decorated to look like Japanese lacquerware, was made of slightly cheaper red clay than the “tortoise-shell” cream-colored example on the right. Both pots needed two kiln firings—one to harden the body and another to vitrify the glaze. The blackware coffeepot required another firing to adhere the intricate, hand-painted gilt decoration. This additional procedure, along with the higher cost of gold leaf decoration, limited the number of coffeepots decorated like this rare example.

The colorful posset pot cost 20% more than the plain white version. This extra sixpence covered the price of the three different metallic oxides used to create the blue, green and yellow spots. White tin-glaze appealed to buyers for its similarity to pure white Chinese porcelain. The plain and spotted versions sold in large numbers in London and English settlements abroad.

Pewter was a common, mid-range tableware in early America. It could be polished to resemble silver but cost a fraction of the price. An alloy of tin and copper, pewter was easy to cast into useful and stylish forms. However, wares made of this soft metal gradually wore out from daily wear and tear. Owners often returned their old pewter to be melted and re-cast. Copper offered another less expensive alternative to silver.