Very Rare Small-Sized Alkaline-Glazed Stoneware Jug, Impressed "P" Five Times, Edgefield District, SC origin, possibly Pottersville Stoneware Manufactory or John Presley, Martintown Road Pottery, Kirksey's Crossroads, circa 1825-1840, ovoid jug with tooled spout, the surface covered in a grayish alkaline glaze over lighter clay ground. Impressed at shoulder with a serifed, boldfaced "P." An additional P stamp appears at the shoulder on the jug's opposing shoulder. Two conjoined P stamps are additionally impressed at the midsection beside a diagonally-impressed P stamp. In her Great and Noble Jar, Cinda K. Baldwin notes that "[t]he earliest direct reference to a stoneware factory in the [Kirksey's Crossroads] area is an 1840 advertisement in which John Presley offered the following property for sale: the Plantation on which he now resides, about eighteen miles above Edgefield C. House and one and a half miles southwest of Mr. Williams' Steam Saw Mill. Also his stone ware manufactory with excellent furnace and everything necessary to carry on the Stone ware business, all in good order" (Baldwin, p. 49). According to Baldwin, the site was purchased in 1841 by Reverend John Trapp, a future partner of Thomas Chandler (Baldwin, p. 50). A jar sold in Crocker Farm, Inc.'s Spring 2021 auction, lot 62, and illustrated on page 50 of Baldwin, bears a different glaze and P stamp, and is attributed by Baldwin to Presley. The jug in this auction exhibits fine potting and color perhaps more reminiscent of earlier Pottersville stoneware. Provenance: Richard and Cindy Pearce Collection. Excellent condition with a small oval surface crack in spout, which does not extend through to interior, including some shallow chipping along crack. H 11 1/4".
