Two small slip-decorated redware dishes brought a combined $43,660 at John Hesss multi-consignor catalog sale on May 21 and 22 at Conestoga Auction Company. The highlights were from the Vera and Eugene Charles collection. The former Lancaster, Pa., dealer/collectors were known for ceramics, spatterware china, in particular. Some wondered why a single-owner sale was not done for the couples collection. Hess sold a number of things for them at a multi-consignor sale in the fall. There is still a chance for a stand-alone sale, as plenty of quality Pennsylvania country antiques from the Charleses remain. Vera passed away in 2017 at age 85. Eugene currently resides in a nursing home. The first of the two little redware dishes was eight-sided, 5.5 inches wide, with yellow and green slip design along with manganese splotch treatment. Form, size, and decoration all warrant the rarity of the pieces, and hence staggering price. The second was oval in shape, also with yellow and green slip designwork and four finger tip smears of manganese, again 5.5 inches wide, and sold for $22,420. Both had some minor chip damage to edges. The buyer for both lots was Alice and Art Booth of New Jersey. Greg Kramer underbid both. By the same hand, they are certainly Southeastern Pennsylvania in origin. Both sold at Walter Himmelreichs third sale on May 21, 1973, at Pennypackers for $2,000 and $1,200. Himmelreich was among the most well-known Pennsylvania collector/dealers of his generation and had four sales. He moved from Ronks, Pa., to Florida in his later years. He believed the two pieces were possibly by either John Speckt of Fritztown or Christian Shutter of Sinking Springs. We will likely never be able to firmly attribute the small group of these dishes. It doesnt mean much if they were discovered in Denver or Adamstown. Fritztown is only a couple miles from both, so regardless, if the 19th-century gems were from either Lancaster or Berks, they are rare finds for a specialized collector of folk pottery. Pennsylvania redware was the story of the auction. A small eight-sided redware dish, square form, with yellow slip decoration and embossed center tulip sold to Kramer for $5,900. Dr. Jim Bohne underbid. A nearly eight-inch diameter redware plate, possibly from Diehl Pottery, with yellow and green slip floral work brought $5,310, going to Kramer. The cataloging has room for improvement. Provenance and attributions were often left out; misspellings, a common occurance; and it is simply not as informative and descriptive as necessary. Another category of note in the sale was spatterware china. The unique color combinations, patterns, and forms from the Charleses collection went through the roof. Like antique toy collectors, spatter collectors care about provenance. A four-color loop pattern spatter cup and saucer (yellow, red, blue, green) sold to a collector in the salesroom for a strong $20,060. A John Boyer (1833-1901), Brickerville, Pa., paint-decorated seed chest went to a collector in the room for $28,320. This example had brass pulls, some have white porcelain pulls. If interested in the work of Boyer, read Dr. Don Herrs article from Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, April 2006. Some fine Pennsylvania jacquard coverlets from the Charles collection sold at the end of the sale. Crib-size coverlets are among the rarest. A crib coverlet, Isaac Brubaker, New Holland, Pa., 1834, with some minor staining and small hole repair, realized $1,062. This is a small sampling of the highlights. The captions tell more of the story. Prices include an 18-percent buyers premium. To contact Conestoga Auction Company in Manheim, Pa., call 717-898-7284.