Extremely Rare Stoneware Harvest Jug w/ Suffield, Ohio Inscription and Maker's Initials at Base

Spring 2024 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 211

Price Realized: $600.00

($500 hammer, plus 20% buyer's premium)

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Spring 2024 Auction Catalog

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Very Rare Stoneware Presentation Harvest Jug, Inscribed "Milton Slick / Suffield / Ohio," and "Made by N.M.H.," OH origin, circa 1890, beehive form with button-shaped finial and heavily-incised handle in the form of a sawed tree limb, the front and reverse with narrow spout for pouring and wide spout for filling; surface covered in a dark-brown Albany slip glaze with unusual omission of the glaze along the midsection of the handle, this area instead coated in a salt glaze over a grayish-white ground. Incised into the Albany slip on the front with the presentation inscription, "Milton Slick / Suffield / Ohio," and on the reverse with the signature at base, "Made by N.M.H." Originally from Ephrata, Pennsylvania, Slick (1865-1939) arrived in Suffield sometime between 1880 and 1889, when he married there. He appears in the 1900 federal census as a farmer, the same vocation as the George Swinehart of the previous lot, speaking to these vessels' use as harvest jugs. Slick's actual name was Milroy G. Slick, but even the 1920 census taker misspelled his name as "Milton," and based on thorough research, this was the same individual. As noted in the previous lot, it is likely that "N.M.H." was Noble Hope (born circa 1853), who appears as a 16-year-old potter working in Springfield, Summit County, Ohio, in the 1870 census. Little is known about Hope, and his later life is not properly documented. A fine example of a classic Ohio form that includes both the potter's signature and the person for whom it was made. Provenance: Robert and Nancy Treichler Collection, Tallmadge, OH. Full restoration to smaller spout. A few chips to ends of handle. H 12".