“Give me silver or give me gold/though they are dangerous to our soul /27 July 1840” – Dave (slave potter) Edgefield, SC
photo by Gavin Ashworth /for Ceramics in America
The Charleston Museum, was, in 1919, given the first inscribed jar by Dave, by a contributor named Stoney. The massive forty gallon jar so inspired the director at the time, Paul Rea, that he wrote, a few months after it arrived, that “the jars should be collected…to prepare a history of the old potteries.” That did not happen until Laura Bragg, subsequent director of the Charleston Museum, visited the Edgefield area in 1930, learning about the one legged potter who worked in the area all his life, from 1834 to about 1870. The Edgefield pottery collection at the Charleston Museum is a testament to Bragg as a preservationist. Bragg offered an article about the history of the South Carolina jug and pottery for International Studio, which had previously printed her work, but the pottery piece was never published.
Dave they say, lay on the railroad tracks when he learned he was to be sold and relocated to a plantation to the west. The train severed his leg, making him less valuable to the buyer who then refused him. Dave, now one legged, continued his work as a potter, working with am able bodied companion, named ‘Baddler”: the latter works, which can be seen at the Charleston Museum, were signed “Dave and Bladdler”. The great potter stayed and worked in South Carolina all the days of his life. He continued to produce pots – large, great pots, inscribed with short phrases of poetic wisdom, and bravely inscribed in his hand and signed with his name, a testament to an undaunted spirit.
The following couplets are some of the poetic inscriptions, on the pots of Dave, the slave potter, of Edgefield, South Carolina.
I made this jar for cash
Though it is called lucre trash
22 August 1857
I made this for our Sott
it will never – never – rott
31 March 1858
This noble jar will hold 20
fill it with silver then you’ll have plenty
8 April, 1858
When you fill this jar with pork or beef
Scot will be there to get a peace
(on the other side)
This jar is to Mr. Seglir
who keeps the bar in orangeburg
for Mr Edwards a gentle man
who formerly kept Mr Thos bacons horses
21 April 1858
I was called to be an artist. And as an old old midwife said to me "If the Lord wants you to do something, you won't have no good luck' til you do." So, here I am, sharing what I love, longing to illuminate the work of art, which is everywhere.
Charleston Through an Artist's eye 
Nice piece Charlotte. I remember seeing a book about Dave last year while in Augusta and told myself I needed to get it. Thanks for the reminder!
Many thanks for talking about Dave and his excellent work. Yes, indeed, we owe much to Laura Bragg’s early work. In 2001, I published my first reading of Dave’s poems. I am now about to publish my second reading his poems. Here I speak about the meaning of his poetry as well as his technique. Dave was indeed a gifted and highly skilled poet. Those interested by Dave and his work may send a note to hardman2828@yahoo.com or a letter to Samuel J. Hardman, 200 Barnes Circle, Commerce, Georgia 30530. A copy of my new work on Dave is absolutely free of charge, as is a copy of my paper on Dave’s known marks. I wish to do all that I can to bring Dave and his poetry to the attention of the public.