One of the nice things about living in New York is that I get to see world famous landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge every day. I pass it on the subway on my way to work as it dominates the East River on the south eastern part of Manhattan just south of the Manhattan Bridge.
Its fame is international and people come from all over just to walk it and marvel over its 129 year old walkways, but to us here in NY its utility is generally all we really think about.
Imagine my surprise when I stumbled into the Park Slope Gallery Web site to discover there is actually a majolica plate celebrating this marvel of Victorian architecture!
Among their collection of articles created in celebration of Brooklyn, the gallery has a majolica advertising piece created by Choisy-le-Roi for Ehrich Brothers, a dry goods store, the equivalent of what we today call a department store. The company specialized in clothing but they also had a home goods department. Originally located on 8th Ave and 24th Street the company moved to a new location on 6th Avenue and 22nd Street in 1889 on a stretch of the Flatiron District called the "Ladies' Mile.” The store operated from 1857 to 1911.
Its fame is international and people come from all over just to walk it and marvel over its 129 year old walkways, but to us here in NY its utility is generally all we really think about.
Imagine my surprise when I stumbled into the Park Slope Gallery Web site to discover there is actually a majolica plate celebrating this marvel of Victorian architecture!
Among their collection of articles created in celebration of Brooklyn, the gallery has a majolica advertising piece created by Choisy-le-Roi for Ehrich Brothers, a dry goods store, the equivalent of what we today call a department store. The company specialized in clothing but they also had a home goods department. Originally located on 8th Ave and 24th Street the company moved to a new location on 6th Avenue and 22nd Street in 1889 on a stretch of the Flatiron District called the "Ladies' Mile.” The store operated from 1857 to 1911.
Ehrich Brothers dry good store
Interior of Ehrich Brothers dry goods store
8th Avenue store
On the gallery Web site they date the piece to 1915 which seems improbable considering the company closed in 1911. Most likely it dates to the store's most profitable period from 1880 to 1905, which coincides with the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883. It was also a period of prodigious majolica production in Europe.
Within the next few years another NY store in the same neighborhood, Higgins & Seiter, would contract a line of majolica that would keep them famous among majolica collectors to this day.
If you're a collector of majolica, the name Higgins & Seiter means only one thing: Choisy-Le-Roi bunny plates!
Higgins & Seiter 1903 catalog cover
Higgins & Seiter 1903 catalog page
Higgins & Seiter 1903 catalog page
Higgins & Seiter 1903 catalog page
They also listed Wannopee majolica Lettuce Leaf ware in the same catalog.
Higgins & Seiter 1903 catalog page
Wannopee Lettuce Leaf bowl
The retail establishment of Higgins & Seiter was actually better known in their heyday as an importer of fine European china and cut glass. The company operated from the late 1860's until it filed for bankruptcy in February 1915, most likely because the onset of the first World War brought about the end of their import business. The company had several locations in the city on W. 21st Street, 22nd Street and E. 37th Street all within walking distance of the "Ladies' Mile."
Higgins & Seiter ad 1899
Interior of the Higgins & Seiter store
The company also had a seasonal boutique store at 170 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, RI, which no doubt catered to the Oelrich's and Vanderbilt's insatiable appetite for extravagance.
Of course the company carried other majolica as well, but the Choisy bunny plates are what we associate with them today. Trademarked in 1900, the plates are usually marked with the Higgins & Seiter retailer's mark though not always which implies that they were not exclusive to that retailer. The companion plates in the Choisy game bird series do not have this mark.
Higgins & Seiter ad 1895
Higgins & Seiter 1900 catalog cover
The Higgins & Seiter building today
The company also had a seasonal boutique store at 170 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, RI, which no doubt catered to the Oelrich's and Vanderbilt's insatiable appetite for extravagance.
Of course the company carried other majolica as well, but the Choisy bunny plates are what we associate with them today. Trademarked in 1900, the plates are usually marked with the Higgins & Seiter retailer's mark though not always which implies that they were not exclusive to that retailer. The companion plates in the Choisy game bird series do not have this mark.
Other Choisy-le-Roi majolica with the Higgins & Seiter mark are a series of fruit plates. I have seen six different matching designs.
There are also other French fruit plates with the Higgins & Seiter mark that don't match the series above. They are also marked MADE IN FRANCE. Only the grape plate has the Choisy-le-Roi mark but the others could possibly also be by the pottery. I have only seen three designs but there are likely others as well.
One of the more interesting pieces made specifically for a New York company is the majolica Copeland triple eagle pitcher made for importer James M. Shaw & Co. who operated two stores, 25 Duane Street and 78 Chatham Street (now Park Row) in lower Manhattan. The company made its fortune as the supplier of dinnerware for the U.S. Navy.
Advertisement for Shaw & Co.,
New York Tribune, Dec 23, 1872
They were the exclusive retailer for this majolica item made to commemorate the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. The piece is marked on the base “Manufactured By W.T. Copeland & Sons solely for J.M. Shaw Co. New York.” They also sold an exclusive china Copeland souvenir Centennial china mug.
Copeland majolica eagle pitcher
with a similar mark to the one above
James M. Shaw & Company had been in operation at least as early as 1838. The company was a major retailer and importer who sold a variety of wares for the home. They had a devastating fire in 1875 at the Chatham Street location and were probably in the process of restocking inventory in 1876 when they offered the Copeland eagle. The company was in operation for almost a century, eventually being acquired by Nathan Straus Jr. in 1936.
Chambers Street in lower Manhattan c.1908. You can see a sign for
Shaw China Glass in the background
Another piece with a connection to the Straus family, part owner of Macy's and Abraham & Straus department stores, and no doubt sold through those stores as well as through the Astor gift shop is this majolica souvenir of the Hotel Astor which stood at the corner of Broadway and 44th Street from 1904 through 1967. With an intaglio image of the hotel in the front surrounded by a wreath of thistleleaf aster flowers and a German maker's mark on the reverse, the plate certainly dates to the period between 1904 and WWI when the hotel was new.
W.C. Muschenheim, an immigrant chef from Germany was proprietor and responsible for managing the hotel built by William Waldorf Astor in 1904. Known at the time as a business visionary, Muschenheim is credited with making Times Square a business area as well as entertainment mecca. His name is written below the image of the Astor building on the plate. He died in 1918.
Interior of the Hotel Astor c. 1907
W.C. Muschenheim, an immigrant chef from Germany was proprietor and responsible for managing the hotel built by William Waldorf Astor in 1904. Known at the time as a business visionary, Muschenheim is credited with making Times Square a business area as well as entertainment mecca. His name is written below the image of the Astor building on the plate. He died in 1918.
These kinds of giveaways and souvenirs have today been replaced by disposable plastic items but thanks to the potters of Europe we have an idea of the way things used to be.
