Plate
Maker: John Ridgway
Age: c. 1840
Materials: Pottery
Marks: Town Ridgway incised
Construction: Cast
Description: Perfect Condition. This plate is "Columbian Star" dinner ware, manufactured by Ridgeway specifically for the US Presidential Campaign of 1840. John Ridgway of Staffordshire, England, patented a design in October of 1840 that he called "Columbian Star." It was exported to America in conjunction with the "Log Cabin and Hard Cider" campaign of William Henry Harrison. It has a star-spangled border with a wreath of laurel leaves. The pattern was produced in many colors and on every type of pottery imaginable, this one in rose.
Provenance: NY estate
Size: 7.5" D.
Weight: 9.6 ounces
Condition: Excellent craquelure in glaze.
History: The United States presidential election of 1840 was the 14th quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, October 30, to Wednesday, December 2, 1840. It saw President Martin Van Buren fight for re-election during a time of great economic depression against a Whig Party unified for the first time behind war hero William Henry Harrison and his "log cabin campaign". Rallying under the slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too", the Whigs easily defeated Van Buren.This election was unique in that electors cast votes for four men who had been or would become President of the United States: current President Martin Van Buren; President-elect William Henry Harrison; Vice-President-elect John Tyler, who would succeed Harrison upon his death; and James K. Polk, who received one electoral vote for vice-president, and who would succeed Tyler in 1845. 42.4% of the voting age population voted for Harrison, the highest number in the history of the United States.[2]The 68-year-old Harrison, the oldest President elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, died little more than a month after his inauguration. The choice of Tyler for Vice President proved to be disastrous for the Whigs: while Tyler had been a staunch supporter of Clay at the convention, he was a former Democrat and a passionate supporter of states' rights who blocked the Whigs' political program in office.