Extremely Rare Brotherton & Davidson / BALTIMORE "PATENT" Stoneware Water Filter, c1838

Spring 2024 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 12

Price Realized: $1,920.00

($1,600 hammer, plus 20% buyer's premium)

PLEASE NOTE: The American ceramics market frequently changes, often dramatically. Additionally, small nuances of color, condition, shape, etc. can mean huge differences in price. If you're interested in having us sell a similar item for you, please contact us here.

Spring 2024 Auction Catalog

◀︎ Back to Catalog

▶ Login

Extremely Rare Large-Sized Stoneware Water Filter with Elaborate Cobalt Clover Decoration, Stamped "Brotherton & Davidson. / PATENT. / BALTIMORE," Baltimore, MD, circa 1838, cylindrical form with squared rim, applied tab handles, and tubular base perforated with original filter holes. Body profusely-decorated on each side with brushed triple-stemmed clover motif. Each handle underscored by a series of vertical cobalt slashes and decorated along their tops and terminals with cobalt highlights. Impressed with the large cobalt-highlighted maker's mark, "Brotherton & Davidson. / PATENT. / BALTIMORE." This partnership's patented water filter is previously known only from advertisements in local Baltimore newspapers circa 1838. This filter is only the second example of stoneware signed by Captain Thomas Brotherton and George Henry Davidson that we are aware of, the other being a smaller filter, sold in Crocker Farm, Inc.'s March 23, 2019 auction, lot 102. Decades after this work was produced, Davidson would travel to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, establishing the partnerships, "Miller and Davidson" and "Kenner, Davidson, and Miller," in Strasburg. Significant loss to perforated tube at base of filter. Old wire around tube. A 10 3/8" Y-shaped crack from rim on reverse. A 2 1/2" crack from rim on front. A 1 1/8" handle chip. Shallow chipping to rim. Crazing to base area. Water glass staining to surface. H 14 1/2" ; Diam. 12 1/2".