Extremely Rare Two-Gallon Stoneware Jar with Cobalt Leaf Decoration, Stamped "F.W. THOMPSON / Morgantown, WV origin, circa 1860-1870, cylindrical jar with rounded rim, its sloped shoulder accented with two incised lines. Front decorated with a finely-brushed leaf design and freehand cobalt stripe. Impressed on the reverse with the extremely rare maker's mark of Francis W. Thompson. Don Horvath and Richard Duez outline F.W. Thompson's life in their article in Ceramics in American 2004, "The Potters and Pottery of Morgan's Town, Virginia: The Earthenware Years, Circa 1796-1854." F.W. Thompson is listed as a potter who served as a Union Lieutenant Colonel during the Civil War. By 1880 he was serving as a justice of the peace and eventually became mayor of Morgantown. (Horvath and Duez, Ceramics in America 2004, p. 122). 6 1/2" crack from rim. Minor chips on interior of rim. H 12 1/2".
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