Stahl Pottery
The Stahl family of potters were the last in Pennsylvania to work in the early tradition of a large round wood-fired kiln and saggers. They produced distinctive wares, often with rope-twist handles, incised decorative motifs, and applied floral and foliate ornament.
The Powder Valley Pottery was founded in 1847 by Charles Ludwig Stahl (1828 to 1896) in Powder Valley, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. Following Charles’s death the pottery was continued by his sons Isaac (1872 to 1950), Thomas (1863 to 1942), and James (born 1861) until it closed in 1903. The Pottery reopened in 1934 as Stahl Brothers. Russell R. Stahl, son of Isaac, joined the pottery operation in 1946. After 1950, Russell Stahl, Isaac’s son, ran the pottery and fired the kiln for the last time in 1956.
Russell R. Stahl died in 1986. In the summer of 1987 approximately 1,000 lots of Stahl pottery remaining at the Zionsville site were auctioned, realizing $25,000. According to auction Ted Maurer, the top lot of the pottery wares auction was $925, paid by Sidney Gecker, a New York dealer, for a two-handle urn with a dark-blue-green glaze. A ewer with a stopper sold for $510. In late September of that year the land, buildings and equipment of the property came to public auction and were purchased for $70,000 by the Stahl Pottery Preservation Society, Inc. an organization newly formed by 27 Stahl descendants seeking to preserve the three-generation old pottery as a historic site. The site is considered a significant example of rural arts and crafts revival pottery, and for the survival of the round, bee-hive, wood-fired kiln built in 1933.
The Stahl Pottery Preservation Society has been successful in their work, publishing a book, Stahl’s Pottery of Powder Valley, and holding an annual Fall Pottery Festival. Today, in addition to the 16′ by 16′ kiln, the pottery site includes the Thomas and Alice Stahl house, the stone barn/potting shed, and a building in which cheese was made by Thomas Stahl.
p4A acknowledges the exhibition catalogue A Cultural Celebration: Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans from a Berks County Private Collection, curated by Louisa Bartlett, held from 10 June to 26 September 2010 at the Reading Public Museum for providing a portion of the biographical and pottery information in this note. Additional information has been provided from local Berks County press reports.
-p4A reference note, November 2011.
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Incised on bottom “Made by R.R Stahl In the Stahl pottery the weather cloudy + rain, 12/30/48″, 6-1/8″h. |
Made by R.R. Stahl 11/20/51″ Height – 4″. | Rooster: signed “By R.R. Stahl 1/4/51″. 4.5″h. |
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| By R.R. Stahl 4/7/50″. 6″h. |
Incised on bottom “made by R.R Stahl, 11/10/47″, Stahl Pottery, Lanc. Co., Pa., 3″h. |
Rare sgraffito leaping stag plate made by Isaac Stahl of the Stahl Pottery in Powder Valley, PA. The plate is bordered with a PA German script along with trailing vines. It is dated July 20, 1936. |