What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

“A NEAT Assortment of QUEEN’s WARE.”

When John Jenkins opened a shop in Providence in 1771, he placed an advertisement in the Providence Gazette to advise prospective customers of the merchandise he offered for sale.  He focused on “A NEAT assortment of QUEEN’s WARE” or creamware, listing cups, saucers, plates, dishes, bowls, mugs, tea pots, and mustard pots.  Thomas Wedgwood adopted the trade name Queen’s ware to describe his line of cream-colored earthenware with a lead glaze.  Staffordshire potters developed the technique around 1750 to compete with Chinese export porcelains popular throughout the British Atlantic world.  Wedgwood and his contemporaries crafted fashionable and refined styles similar to porcelain in their efforts to both meet and expand consumer demand.

Jenkins apparently thought that Queen’s ware would capture the attention of prospective customers, but he peddled other items as well.  He included in his advertisement “Spices of all Sorts,” sugar, tea, and coffee in his advertisement as well as pins, needles, thread, and fish hooks.  He devoted less space to those items, listing them in a single paragraph rather than two columns with only one or two items per line as he did for the Queen’s ware.  The format suggested which items Jenkins anticipated would most excite consumers and convince them to visit his shop.

The shopkeeper concluded his advertisement with a nota bene about repairs to “China Bowls and Glass Ware.”  Lewis Jenkins, presumably a relation, riveted broken or cracked items “with Silver or Brass, in the neatest Manner,” preserving them for further use or display.  This was a common technique for making repairs in the eighteenth century.  In marketing Queen’s ware to readers of the Providence Gazette, Jenkins also provided an option for maintaining and repairing items purchased as his shop as well as damaged items previously purchased elsewhere.  He saw to the longevity of his fragile wares rather than just getting them into the hands of consumers.