American History: Premier Auction

Transferware ewer, 8.5 in. tall, featuring William Henry Harrison's North Bend, Ohio, cabin and showing him plowing the land himself. With maker's mark on underside, "Columbian Star / 444 / Oct. 28th, 1840 / Jno. Ridgway." This pattern was produced for Harrison's successful 1840 presidential campaign. We have seen a handful of pieces from the same series over the years, including the teapot and plates, but have never before offered the design in this form.

The Harrison campaign of 1840 is generally regarded as the first American presidential race for which supporters of both sides produced ephemera used to promote their candidates. Harrison, known familiarly as "The Farmer From North Bend" (Ohio) is shown here with a horse-drawn plow outside the door of his humble cabin. In reality, by 1840, Harrison was a wealthy landowner, residing at Grouseland, his Indiana Territory mansion. Nonetheless, the Columbian Star pattern was designed to promote Harrison's supposed backwoods origins.