RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Not many people are familiar with the name Isaac Lefevers, but in pottery circles, he’s known as the James Dean of North Carolina pottery.

Like the actor known for Rebel Without a Cause, Lefevers was talented and died young. The Lincoln County potter also was his own kind of rebel, dying in 1864 at the age of 33 of an injury suffered in the Civil War. Because he died so young, few of his pots survive and even fewer are available for sale.

But on Sept. 28, a pot that Lefevers may have thrown will be one of about 200 pots auctioned at a benefit for the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, a museum that’s in the midst of a $100,000 fundraiser. Supporters believe the auction could raise as much as $20,000.

Potter Mark Hewitt of Pittsboro, co-author of the book The Potter’s Eye: Art & Tradition in North Carolina Pottery said he believes Lefevers threw the 3-gallon, unsigned jug with a badly repaired handle.

“Even with no stamp and with a damaged handle, it’s an iconic piece of North Carolina pottery,” said Hewitt, who is organizing the auction and is one of the main backers of the overall fundraiser.

Lefevers didn’t sign all his work, and the pot’s firing is very similar to one that’s in The Potter’s Eye that Lefevers did sign, Hewitt said. “It’s very well made, it’s light, it’s extremely well-thrown,” Hewitt said. He couldn’t say for sure it is a Lefevers, but said, “it has all the characteristics.”

The jug belongs to Dr. Everette James of Chapel Hill, who began collecting pottery in the mid-1990s when he was researching his book North Carolina Art Pottery 1900 to 1960, published in 2003. He has donated more than 180 pieces to the auction, some of which will be combined and sold as box lots.

“It really is a North Carolina phenomenon,” James said. “We’re the pottery capital. My gosh, we’ve got three distinct regions _ Seagrove, Catawba Valley and the west. That’s why I think the Pottery Center is such an incredible resource because that is really the craft by which North Carolina is most uniquely known.”

The 70-year-old James, who is on the center’s board, decided to donate the pottery for auction this summer. The state Department of Cultural Resources had requested that it be allowed to take over the center, which has struggled financially since it opened in 1998, but legislators didn’t bite.

The center’s director resigned as a cost-saving measure, and the center hopes to raise enough money to stay open until the next legislative session, when its supporters will try again to bring it under state auspices.

James’ donation led to others offering to sell their antique pots for an auction at Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales in Hillsborough, which is providing its services at no charge. Another auction in spring 2009 at the center will feature contemporary North Carolina pottery.

The auction house has a history of selling valuable pottery. In 2007, for example, a 2-gallon storage jar from the Webster school (pots attributed to Randolph County potter Chester Webster and his apprentices) sold in June 2006 for $35,000. At that same auction, a 5-gallon storage jar by Lincoln County potter James Franklin Seagle, who was Lefevers’ mentor, sold for $2,700.

Another collector has donated a 1-gallon preserve jar by Seagle that Hewitt estimates has a value of $2,400 even though the rim is slightly damaged.

Other names of potters or pottery operations included in the donations are: J.M. Hayes, J.B. Cole, A.R. Cole, Pisgah Forest, Log Cabin and North State. There’s also a rare “Samaritan plate” from Dorothy Auman, who had an early version of a museum at the pottery shop that she and her husband, Walter, operated in Seagrove.

The plate is painted with a good Samaritan aiding a man on the ground. The back includes the initials “D.A.” and a reference to Luke 10:25-37, the good Samaritan parable from the Bible.

“I don’t know how many she did,” Hewitt said. “It may be unique.”

Tim Blackburn, chairman of the center’s board, said the center has raised about $40,000, with another $15,000 pledged. In addition, a couple has offered a $10,000 pledge if the center raises $90,000.

“We’re actually in very good shape,” Blackburn said.

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