Extremely Rare and Important Columbia, South Carolina Stoneware Merchant Jar att. L. M. Landrum, c1860

Fall 2025 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 37

Estimate: $5,000-$8,000. About Estimates   About Shipping

Minimum Bid: $1,500.

An estimate is an expected selling price for an item at auction. The price ranges for each lot are considered conservative in value, and are listed as a courtesy to our bidders to give them an idea of how much they may be expected to pay to win the item. It is entirely possible for an item to sell for less or more than the given estimate.

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Fall 2025 Auction Catalog

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Extremely Rare and Important Eight-Gallon Stoneware Jar with Dramatic Two-Color Alkaline Glaze, Inscribed "From / W / Reilly / Columbia / S.C.," attributed to Landrum Brick and Pottery, Columbia, SC, circa 1860, ovoid jar with tapered rim and flattened tab handles, the surface covered in a striking alkaline glaze featuring haphazard swathes of brown over a light-gray ground. Front inscribed in iron slip with the advertising, "From / W / Reilly / Columbia S.C." Incised "8" below one handle. A number of South Carolina advertising pieces are known bearing kaolin slip inscriptions over a brown ground, produced circa 1850 by Collin Rhodes at his pottery on Shaw's Creek in the state's Edgefield District. This jar, however, is the only example of Columbia-made slip-inscribed stoneware that we are aware of. "W. Reilly" must refer to local grocer William L. Reilly, whose store at 250 Main Street he advertised in the 1859 Columbia City Directory as having "EVERY DESCRIPTION OF GOODS, INCIDENT OR PERTAINING TO THE Grocery Business [and] ample facilities for the Sale ... of consignments, such as Cotton, Corn Flour, &c., &c." Combining both rarity and decorative appeal, this work's significance is enhanced by its unusually large size and sophisticated, modernist glaze treatment. Provenance: From a fifty-year SC collection. Rim with a 1 1/2" chip and a faint 2 1/2" hairline on front. Reverse with a thin 4 1/2" crack and 2" hairline from rim. A minor chip to proper left handle. Minor chipping to bottom edge. Some faint lines to interior, which appear to be in-the-firing and do not extend through to exterior. H 18 1/2".

Special Note: Due to this object's large size, we are unable to ship it using our normal in-house shipping service. It must either be picked up by the high bidder, or special arrangements must be made by the high bidder for pick up and / or shipping by a third party. If you have any questions, please contact us; we are certainly able to recommend options for third party shippers ahead of time that you can contact for a quote.

Extremely Rare and Important Columbia, South Carolina Stoneware Merchant Jar att. L. M. Landrum, c1860Extremely Rare and Important Columbia, South Carolina Stoneware Merchant Jar att. L. M. Landrum, c1860Extremely Rare and Important Columbia, South Carolina Stoneware Merchant Jar att. L. M. Landrum, c1860Extremely Rare and Important Columbia, South Carolina Stoneware Merchant Jar att. L. M. Landrum, c1860Extremely Rare and Important Columbia, South Carolina Stoneware Merchant Jar att. L. M. Landrum, c1860Extremely Rare and Important Columbia, South Carolina Stoneware Merchant Jar att. L. M. Landrum, c1860Extremely Rare and Important Columbia, South Carolina Stoneware Merchant Jar att. L. M. Landrum, c1860Extremely Rare and Important Columbia, South Carolina Stoneware Merchant Jar att. L. M. Landrum, c1860Extremely Rare and Important Columbia, South Carolina Stoneware Merchant Jar att. L. M. Landrum, c1860Extremely Rare and Important Columbia, South Carolina Stoneware Merchant Jar att. L. M. Landrum, c1860Extremely Rare and Important Columbia, South Carolina Stoneware Merchant Jar att. L. M. Landrum, c1860Extremely Rare and Important Columbia, South Carolina Stoneware Merchant Jar att. L. M. Landrum, c1860Extremely Rare and Important Columbia, South Carolina Stoneware Merchant Jar att. L. M. Landrum, c1860

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