ORIGINAL PUBLICATION DATE: FRIDAY MAY 8, 2009

Water Cooler Sets Record In Crocker Stoneware Sale

Crocker Farm Auction, specialists in Fine Antique American Stoneware and Redware Pottery, reached a new milestone at the beginning of their March 21 auction held at the York Expo Center in York, Pennsylvania. Lot number one, an Albany, New York, stoneware water cooler (estimate $20,000 to $30,000), sold for $103,500, (including a 15 percent buyer's premium), setting a new world record for highest price paid at a stoneware specialty auction. The cooler's sale also represents the first time a piece has sold for over $100,000 since auctions specializing in stoneware began over thirty years ago. Owner and operator of Crocker Farm, Inc., Anthony Zipp, notes, "Breaking the $100,000 mark was significant for our company and stoneware in general. It shows that stoneware is really catching up with the higher end of American folk art. We believe the sky's the limit for the finest examples."

Six phone bidders and one major floor bidder competed for the cooler, with it finally selling to New York dealer and collector, Leigh Keno, on the phone, for over three times its $30,000 high estimate.

The fact that the cooler was fresh-to-the-market certainly added to its appeal. It was consigned from a South Carolina man who purchased it over twenty years ago from a couple in the Southeast who told him it was made in Albany, Georgia. Only recently did the man realize it was not a Southern piece at all, and then decided to consign it to Crocker Farm. "Since the cooler was previously unknown and undocumented, it created a lot of excitement in the collecting community in the weeks leading up to the sale."

Fierce competition for the cooler, and its strong selling price, can be attributed to its rarity and decoration. Shaped like a keg and measuring only thirteen inches tall, the cooler bears the impressed mark "BOYNTON" on the reverse, a stamp used by brothers Calvin and Jonah Boynton, at their pottery on Washington Street in Albany, New York, circa 1816 to 1825. The cooler was decorated on the front with two finely-incised fish and bird designs, brushed over with cobalt slip, and underscored by the extremely rare inscription "Albany August 7, 1817." Zipp comments, "This piece had so much going for it: the decoration, form, maker, even the size. When we received it, I was thinking, "This is the best piece of stoneware we've ever handled. My feelings were validated on sale date."

Other highlights of the sale included several rare examples of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New England pottery. A Pennsylvania redware figure of a lion, which was consigned by a Florida man whose father purchased it in the 1960's, brought $15,525 against a $3,000 to $5,000 estimate. An extremely rare two-gallon Harrisburg stoneware batter pail with grapes decoration, marked by the firm Cowden & Wilcox, sold for $8,855 to a collector, above its $4,000 to $6,000 estimate.

From Virginia, an extremely rare Shenandoah Valley stoneware jar, stamped "J. MILLER / MAKER" and dated 1836, crossed the block at $7,590, above its $3,000 to $5,000 estimate. A Winchester, Virginia, redware syrup jug, which was signed "A.W. Bacher" and descended in the Bacher family, sold for $7,705, against an estimate of $4,500 to $6,500.

The sale also featured eight pieces of decorated Alexandria, Virginia, stoneware. "This was probably the best selection of Alexandria stoneware we've offered in a single sale. These jars came from consignors in five different states," Zipp said. Leading the group was an extremely rare two-gallon stoneware jar, stamped "J. SWANN / ALEXA," which was hammered down at $4,715. Estimated at $2,500 to $4,500, the jar is one of a small number of Swann pieces known with cobalt decoration. Until recently, it had been used by a Georgia woman to hold kindling on her hearth.

B.C. Milburn stoneware from Alexandria, prized for its elaborate brushed and slip-trailed floral motifs, brought strong prices. A half-gallon Milburn jar, decorated with slip-trailed floral and chain link designs and estimated at $2,000 to $3,000, sold for $4,255. A one-gallon Milburn jar with a slip-trailed floral motif extending from handle to handle was hammered down at $2,645, against a $1,000 to $2,000 estimate.

New England pottery sold well. Estimated at $2,000 to $4,000, a Bristol County, Massachusetts, redware jar with green glaze was hammered down at $4,888. A miniature redware jug, decorated with yellowish slip, manganese daubs, and a clear lead glaze, sold well above its $400 to $600 estimate at $2,675. A highly unusual stoneware bank with incised bird decoration included a 19th-century letter indicating it was made in New London, Connecticut. The bank crossed the block at $5,980, nearly five times its $800 to $1,200 estimate.

The oldest piece in the sale came in the form of a two-gallon stoneware jar with vertical open handles and brushed cobalt "watch spring" decoration. Described in the catalog as "in remarkable condition, particularly when considering its age," the jar was made circa 1775 by Captain James Morgan of Cheesequake, New Jersey. Despite being over 225 years old, the jar has survived with only a tiny rim nick. The condition and elaborate decoration translated to strong bidding between the floor and a phone bidder, with the jar finally selling to the floor well above its $3,000 to $5,000 estimate for $7,590.

A surprise of the sale was a three-gallon stoneware plantation jar, an addendum lot, which was received too late for the color catalog. Incised across the front "Smith / Airville / Va.," the jar was made circa 1830 in Baltimore, Maryland, for Thomas Smith, a merchant and delegate to the Virginia Legislature. Smith was owner of the plantation Airville, near Gloucester, Virginia, from 1827 until his death in 1840. The jar, which is one of a few Airville pieces known, was estimated at $3,000 to $5,000 and sold to the phone for $14,950.

Crocker Farm is currently seeking consignments for its next auction, which will take place on July 11 at the York Expo Center's Old Main Building in York, Pennsylvania. For more information, call Crocker Farm at (410) 337-5090, contact the company by e-mail at stoneware@crockerfarm.com, or visit its Web site, www.crockerfarm.com. All prices mentioned in this article include a 15 percent buyer's premium.