Searching for a sea pottery shard's origins
By Kirsti Scott
The latest sea pottery mystery I came up against was identifying a small shard of sea pottery I found on the beach along Monterey Bay with just a portion of the maker's mark on it. With only a bit of content to work from, my Google searches turned up nothing.So, I asked on Instagram and got some immediate help. Someone suggested that one of the words might be "Buffalo" and another person suggested that it was probably hotelware. My next Google search landed me in an unexpected place that yielded the first clue.
In 2003, the Yosemite Research Center published Victory Culture: Archeological Investigations at Nine Trash Dumps at Yosemite National Park, California and mentioned the restaurant items found there. They included items created by "Dohrmann Hotel Supply Company, owned by A.B.C. Dohrmann, who was one of the backers of Park concessionaire Joseph Desmond in 1916."
My next Google search turned up a back stamp on a piece of china for sale that looks really close to the one found on the beach. From what it says on the similar piece, I can guess that my piece includes the following words, plus maybe a date and the number 9:
Furnished by Dohrmann Hotel Supply Co. San FranciscoBuffalo China Los Angeles. Calif. Plymouth. Patented.I did a quick search for Dohrmann Hotel Supply Co. and learned a bit about the company, started in the late 1800s in San Francisco, California. Frederick Dorhmann was an entrepreneur and philanthropist who built the company and expanded it to Stockton, Los Angeles, San Jose, and Honolulu, Hawaii.
One of his personal maxims was the following poem:
Will what’s right for those around you;
They in turn will wish you well.
Work in earnest: look before you;
Work done well will surely tell.
Watch yourself for time will try you;
Walk the path of duty straight. Wait!
Success will surely meet you;
only will, work, watch and wait.
Sounds like a great motto for a beachcomber, too: will, work, watch, and wait!
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