My Garden Archaeological Finds

Greenwood China Trenton, NJ 1876 Reg. US Pat.















The Trenton Historical Society

Potteries of Trenton Society

Provenance:

From: Larry E. Goines Jr. [mailto:legoines@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 3:19 PM
To: president@potteriesoftrentonsociety.org
Subject: Archaeological Find

To Potteries of Trenton Society,

This summer at my garden in the Fenway Victory Gardens along the Boston Emerald Necklace I had an archaeological find.

I was digging a hole in the ground for a fence post and found these artifacts: http://notesnlinks.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-garden-archaeological-finds.html.

They were about 4 feet below the surface.

Frederick Law Olmsted, the founder of American landscape architecture (http://www.nps.gov/frla), built the Emerald Necklace in the late 1870s which would place these pieces around the 1876 date on the back of the plate.

Do you have any information about the provenance of these items?

I can send higher resolution photos if youd like.

Sincerely,
Larry E. Goines Jr.

Reply:

From: Patricia Madrigal [mailto:madrigal@hunterresearch.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 3:22 PM
To: William Leibeknecht (William Leibeknecht); Brenda Springsted
Subject: FW: Archaeological Find

Dear Larry,

The Greenwood Pottery Company has been in business since at 1862 under various names. It was run by James Stephens and James Tams who experimented with various clays and glazes to make the first hotel china. As he refined his china formula they created another company, the Greenwood China Company in Trenton.

This mark though was first used around 1910. So your post was planted post 1910 or the china was added after.

We have a Olmstead designed park in Trenton, called Cadwalader Park, around the Trenton City Museum, Ellarslie. It has a good permanent collection of the many Trenton Potteries including Greenwood.

Good luck. Brenda Springsted
on the POTS board

FYI

Patricia A. Madrigal
Principal Investigator/Business Manager
Hunter Research, Inc.
120 W. State Street
Trenton, NJ 08608
609-695-0122 x 100
609-695-0147 (fax)
madrigal@hunterresearch.com
www.hunterresearch.com