Rare COWDEN & WILCOX / HARRISBURG, PA Stoneware Batter Pail w/ Bird Decoration

Spring 2025 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 171

Price Realized: $7,200.00

($6,000 hammer, plus 20% buyer's premium)

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Auction Highlight: Spring 2025 Auction | Central PA Stoneware

Spring 2025 Auction Catalog

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Rare One-and-a-Half-Gallon Stoneware Batter Pail with Cobalt Bird Decoration, Stamped "COWDEN & WILCOX. / HARRISBURG .PA," circa 1865, ovoid form with tubular pouring spout, applied clay tabs with wood-and-wire bail handle, and handle at base on reverse, brush-decorated on the reverse with a bird featuring a spotted wing and cobalt-filled tail, perched on a stylized leaf or mound. Front decorated with two floral motifs with blossoms composed of graduated cobalt daubs, a foliate motif at the base, and a cobalt band around the base of the spout. Cobalt highlights to the maker's mark, capacity mark, and applied clay tabs. Prized Cowden form and desirable decoration, rarely found together. Provenance: Pook and Pook, Inc., Downingtown, PA, January 19, 2023, lot 608. Heavy chipping to spout. A thin, sealed X-shaped crack across underside, forming a Y ascending 3 1/2" up base on reverse, and a 1 1/4" vertical line at base on proper right side of pail. A minor rim chip and minor U-shaped line in top of rim. H 8 7/8".