Rare SOUTH AMBOY, NJ Stoneware Advertising Jar for MRS. G. B. MILLER / TOBACCONIST / NEW YORK

March 14, 2015 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 25

Price Realized: $258.75

($225 hammer, plus 15% buyer's premium)

PLEASE NOTE: This result is 9 years old, and the American ceramics market frequently changes. Additionally, small nuances of color, condition, shape, etc. can mean huge differences in price. If you're interested in having us sell a similar item for you, please contact us here.

March 14, 2015 Auction Catalog

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Rare One-Gallon Manhattan, NY Stoneware Tobacco Jar, Impressed "MRS, G B, MILLER / TOBACCONIST / NO. 110 WATER ST. / NEW YORK." and "HUMISTON & WARNER / SOUTH AMBOY, N,J," circa 1830, cylindrical jar with rounded shoulder and thin, flattened rim, the front with cobalt-highlighted advertising for the New York City tobacconist, Mrs. G.B. Miller, as well as the maker's mark of the firm, Humiston & Warner, of South Amboy, New Jersey. Two cobalt-highlighted one-gallon capacity marks to shoulder. The history of the Mrs. G.B. Miller & Co. tobacco company is laid out in the 1884 book, New York's Great Industries, edited by Richard Edwards. The book states, "It is with pleasure that we are enabled to refer to the honorable and prosperous career of such an old established and prominent tobacco manufacturing house as that of the Mrs. G.B. Miller & Co. . . This house, which is without doubt the oldest in the tobacco trade, was originally founded in 1776. . . and was carried on by Mrs. G.B. Miller till about 1844. . . The Mrs. G.B. Miller & Co's tobacco goods have a worldwide reputation, great quantities being exported to Europe. . . More than a century has passed since the founding of this house, and the proprietors and officers can point with greatest satisfaction to an unblemished career. . . (Edwards, p. 235). While in 1884 this tobacco house was operating on No. 97 Columbia Street, this jar features an earlier location on Water Street. A wonderful and historically-significant jar with rare advertising for a female business owner, made for the oldest tobacco house in New York City. Provenance: Found decades ago in the northeastern U.S. A thin 7" spider line to left side of jar's front and a 6 1/2" Y-shaped crack on reverse, both of which converge on underside. 1 3/4" rim chip and a second small rim chip. A minor base chip. Minor in-the-firing chip to shoulder. H 11".