Sold! $5,000.
Rare and Fine Five-Gallon Stoneware Crock with Elaborate Cobalt Floral Decoration, Stamped "F. STETZENMEYER & / G. GOETZMAN / ROHCESTER.(sic) NY," circa 1853-1860, cylindrical crock with tooled shoulder, semi-rounded rim, and applied lug handles, decorated with a large slip-trailed design of a flowering plant bearing two different blossoms. Heavy striped decoration to leaves and petals. Interiors of blossoms with crosshatched embellishments. Slip-trailed "5." to shoulder. Cobalt highlights to maker's mark. Desirable large size and strong decoration. This example features an error in the stamp, with the C and H in "ROCHESTER" transposed. Professional restoration to surface (presumably an exfoliation restoration) around the approximate bottom third of crock. Some additional restoration to right of decoration. Cobalt remains untouched exception for some very minor touch-up to bottom of design. Some light wear to cobalt. A 4 1/2" crack from rim on reverse. A 2" crack from rim above one handle. A small, in-the-firing contact mark to interior of rim. Tight spider lines to underside. Some light exfoliation to underside. H 12 3/4".