What's the good word on this lid?

andy g · May 19, 2009

Any ideas about rarity, specific date range, or anything else? We found this in a NYC privy a couple of week's ago hugging the wall where it, thankfully, had not been dipped out by the honey dippers in the late 1860s or early 1870s.

Thanks much for any help.

GuntherHess · May 19, 2009

Nice historic lid. I have seen a few of them.
Thomas Worsley is mentioned in this 1867 doc as being on 114 Arch St.
Est'd in 1846.

http://books.google.com/books?id=LXGNmx_ii68C&pg=PA557&lpg=PA557&dq=%22worsley%22+philadelphia+perfume&source=bl&ots=vUxT9gVQzJ&sig=CfFMSK8rlFFdESG5kbxdIGupH5o&hl=en&ei=d-MSSsn3H8-EtwfouuyUBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1

GuntherHess · May 19, 2009

You can prob also use the image of the capital dome to help date.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Capitol_dome

Your lid appears to show the first earlier dome.
So your lid would date approximately between 1846 and 1855.
(possibly a little later (1866) if an existing image was used and it was made during the new dome construction)

Gidday · May 19, 2009

Nice lid. Probably the most common of the Worsley series. It also comes in purple.

andy g · May 22, 2009

Thanks much for the comments. Matt's analysis does narrow the timeframe pretty well albeit, as Matt points out, Worsley could have used an antiquated image of the Capitol when he got a batch of potlids made or even used the same transferware engraving for a while so that could extend the life of the (expensive to make) engraving at least a few years too.

Also, I have the potlid book by Barbara & Sonny Jackson and their information conflicts a bit as to location and rough timing -- suggesting Worsley was at Strawberry Street starting in 1852, Prune Street after 1855, and then Arch Street after 1866. Yes, the Freedley book from 1867 suggests Worsely was in business starting in 1846 at an Arch Street address -- although I think that is an error on Freedley's part. Double-checking my "google library," I found an earlier Freedley book from 1857-59 that says Worsely was at 518 Prune Street in the mid-1850s. And further checking of various historical directories and other originial sources documents roughly corresponds to the Jackson addresses & dates.

This is probably more than folks wanted to know, but I was hoping to offer up this research in trade for a bit more information from the potlid gurus about rarity, numbers known, where do they show up, etc. Any takers?

Thanks again,

andy g.

GuntherHess · May 22, 2009

This is probably more than folks wanted to know

no we want to know EVERYTHING, and we are not beyond waterboarding[

]

Gidday · May 22, 2009

These have a great pictorial but are not rare. You will see them offered on ebay every few months. $500 is the most I have seen somebody pay for a black transfer in good condition. Hagenbuch got $650 for his purple example a few years back. Looking for the latter if somebody has a spare.

Stardust · May 22, 2009

very nice pic. thanks for showing. [

]

Dabeel · May 23, 2009

Where's "Trog" when you need him.......he knows a heck of a lot about potlids

Send him a PM about it,

Doug

TROG · May 24, 2009

Hi Andy,

This is a very nice lid and has been mentioned is the most common version of the 3 Worsley lids although would still not class this lid as common compared to say Bazins lids. I have seen these sell on ebay for a low of about $350 up to around $800 and in the Hagenbuch auction of March 2000 this version went for $1,000 and the purple print example for $950 + 10% buyers premium on both.

ORIGINAL: andy g

Any ideas about rarity, specific date range, or anything else?Â We found this in a NYC privy a couple of week's ago hugging the wall where it, thankfully, had not been dipped out by the honey dippers in the late 1860s or early 1870s.

Thanks much for any help.

What's the good word on this lid?

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