Some of the suggestions were: peace sign, caltrops (my favorite), windmill, flux capacitor, trefoil, nuclear warning symbol, triquetra, and the Mercedes-Benz logo.
The winning term? Propeller
The suggestion was provided by Associate Archaeologist Eric Proebsting as the term he had used to describe the same unidentified mark from one of his previous research projects in Arkansas. A short internet search later led us to a pinterest account with numerous pages for images of historical ceramics, furniture, and paintings, which included this page. The accompanying text for one of the transfer printed pitchers provided us with the key to identifying this mark: a manufacturer’s name, Joseph Heath.
Godden’s encyclopedia (1964:318-319) provided four different Joseph or J. Heaths active in the Staffordshire region of England in the nineteenth century. Kowalsky and Kowalsky also listed several Heaths (1999:229-230) and provided photographs of the company’s marks. On two of their examples was the design in question, partially covered with an additional printed mark.
The formal term for this propeller enclosed within the dotted circle is the Impressed Potter’s Wheel. This mark, when unaccompanied by an additional printed mark, dates from 1828 to 1841, the span of operation for Heath’s company. Joseph Heath & Co. was located in the town of Tunstall, the northernmost town of the Staffordshire Potteries in England. Heath’s company produced earthenwares, including printed vessels displaying American historical vistas.
The production dates of these three mended sherds, all from the same context, will help us to generate a date for the layer in which they were found. The dates for when Heath was in business also allow us to begin linking the object to a time period of property ownership. In 1828, as Heath was getting started, Francis Eppes sold Poplar Forest to William Cobbs. This makes it unlikely that this particular vessel was associated with the short Eppes occupation of the property. William Cobbs ran the plantation until turning over its management to his son-in-law Edward Hutter in 1840, a year before the end of Heath’s operation. This allows us to make the interpretation that this ceramic vessel was most likely associated with the early Cobbs family household or the enslaved individuals living on the property at that time.