These two stoneware teapots were crafted in Staffordshire, England in the mid eighteenth century. The dark blue example was more expensive to make for a number of reasons. It needed three separate firings: first to harden the clay body (“biscuit firing”), second to vitrify the dark blue glaze (“glost firing”), and third to adhere the white enamel decoration. Firing large-scale production kilns, which required constant attention and several days’ worth of coal, constituted the a considerable expense for eighteenth-century potteries. Added into the retail price of this teapot was the cost of hiring a skilled enamellist to apply the hand-painted floral decoration. The customer also would have paid a premium for William Littlers’ innovative deep blue glaze. A more economical alternative would have been the smaller white teapot on the right, which features simple “scratch-blue” decoration that was quickly applied before being fired once.

 

Silver goods in colonial America had high intrinsic value because raw silver still was used as currency. For the stylish silver candlestick seen here, the customer paid a base price per ounce for the precious metal itself, and then an additional amount for the maker’s labor and the retailer’s mark up. Similar candlesticks made of less expensive materials also were available. A brass candlestick, which sparkled in candlelight much like a silver one, would have cost almost 95% less. Priced somewhere in between were porcelain candlesticks. The imported Chinese example was valued for its delicate enameled decoration.

Westerners have long esteemed Chinese and Japanese porcelain for its whiteness and delicate glass-like surface. Because of the exotic allure and high transportation costs, porcelain was beyond the means of most consumers. By the mid eighteenth century, European potters had mastered the complex formulae and specific techniques associated with making fine porcelain but the cost remained high. After 1800, a low-priced alternative to porcelain was “China Glaze” earthenware today often called “pearlware.” Featuring a refined, white body and blue-tinted glaze, this product replicated the look of porcelain at about a sixth of the cost.