Exceedingly Rare Serren & Donaldson, Denton County, Texas, Stoneware Jar

Spring 2021 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 177

Price Realized: $6,600.00

($5,500 hammer, plus 20% buyer's premium)

PLEASE NOTE: This result is 3 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.

Auction Highlight: Spring 2021 Auction | Southern Pottery | Texas Stoneware

Spring 2021 Auction Catalog

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Exceedingly Rare One-Gallon Salt-Glazed Stoneware Jar, Stamped "SERREN & DONALDSON," Denton County, TX origin, circa 1860, cylindrical jar with rounded shoulder and flared rim with inner ledge designed to hold a lid, impressed near the base with the large circular maker's mark of potters Augustus H. Serren and Thomas Donaldson. Surface covered in a heavy salt glaze. A. H. Serren is documented as a potter working in Denton County, Texas, circa 1854-1878. (See the Museum of Fine Arts Houston's Artisans & Artists Archive. See also "Research Note: Nineteenth Century Stoneware Makers of Madison County, Kentucky" in JESDA 33 (2012) which documents the New York-born Serren as previously working at the Huffman pottery in Madison County circa 1850.) Thomas Donaldson was the brother-in-law of John Cranston, another documented Denton County stoneware maker; Donaldson would take over Cranston's operation later in the century. To our knowledge this is the only known example bearing the mark of what was probably a short-lived partnership--indeed, one we cannot find documented apart from this jar. An important new discovery in the field of Texas stoneware. Shallow chipping and wear to interior of rim and along ledge on interior of rim. H 10 1/4".