A Western Pennsylvania Stoneware Jar That Knocked It Out of the Park

One of my all-time favorite Crocker Farm objects is the Western Pennsylvania stoneware baseball player jar sold all the way back in our July 2008 auction. Back then, we hadn't even acquired our historic gallery yet; we were still holding our sales at the York Expo Center in York, Pennsylvania.

The Western Pennsylvania Baseball Player Jar, sold in July 2008 for $65,550.

This was an example of a phenomenon we've been blessed to see transpire time and again: A prospective consignor contacts us with very little idea of the importance of the object they own. In many cases, this consignor might have interested parties attempting to purchase it from them and is completely in the dark as to how to proceed. In the end, by offering their item to our unrivaled customer base and allowing us to use our knowledge--knowledge of American stoneware in general, but also knowledge of the market and how to properly present these objects to the highest end of the American ceramics market--consignors are left with a result that in some cases is actually life-changing. I recall, for instance, very vividly the woman who called us from the Midwest with a redware dog she had purchased for a few dollars at a flea market; it was marked multiple times on the bottom, "JOHN W. BELL / Waynesboro, Pa." She happened to be in dire financial straits due to a large medical bill, so we were absolutely thrilled when it realized $41,800--the world auction record for John Bell family redware.

John W. Bell (Waynesboro, Pennsylvania) redware whippet dog that changed the life of a consignor.

We have seen, time and again, prospective consignors come to us with objects they have oftentimes stumbled into, only to see how powerful the auction process can be when their pieces are offered to the highest end--and broadest base--a market has to offer. By working very hard over the past twenty years to cultivate an unsurpassed customer base that trusts us implicitly, we have created an environment that consignors can count on to ensure they are realizing the prices they deserve. All-time great examples that immediately come to mind are the stoneware memorial jug the consignor found in a closet (realizing $138,000); a Thomas Commeraw stoneware jug that broke the world auction record for his work (at the time, $28,750) after being found in a barn; the Geddes, New York, Broadway water cooler, a family heirloom that realized $480,000; the New York State stoneware soldiers churn, a museum deaccession that helped fund a long-standing institution (realizing $402,500); the $600,000 Anna Pottery Liberty Monument I recently wrote about.

Found in a closet, this northeastern American stoneware jug brought $138,000, at the time a world auction record for American stoneware.

But back to the baseball player jar, when I first laid eyes on this object over email, the inner child in me resonated so strongly with this iconic image of a man ripped from the earliest days of America's favorite pastime. I had treasured baseball cards as a child and here, in clay, was something like a proto baseball card--an object I still think should be regarded as a forerunner of the cardboard that holds such an iconic place in America's collecting pantheon. In the lead-up to the auction we tried to drive this point home, and indeed I recall the crossover between the stoneware and sporting worlds becoming apparent as we heard from prospective bidders in the weeks prior to the sale. I don't believe the consignor was fully prepared for what this object ended up bringing, $65,550--still the world auction record for Western Pennsylvania stoneware.

A fantastic Hamilton & Jones (Greensboro, Pennsylvania) 20-gallon stoneware jar that realized $34,500, despite significant damage.

15 years is a long time for a record to stand, and I imagine it's about time that record fell. It will take the right object to come along, but we continue--40 years after my father founded our business--to be as excited at the prospect of ferreting out newly discovered examples as we were when we began. As always, please feel free to have a conversation with us about your objects if you are interested in having us sell them for you--we are always more than happy to give you our honest assessment of your pieces and how they will fare in the current market at our sales.