Exceedingly Rare and Important Three-Gallon Stoneware Cooler with Cobalt Federal Eagle Decoration, Inscribed "LIBERTY / 1853," Southeastern PA origin, 1853, cylindrical cooler with tooling to shoulder, squared rim, ribbed lug handles, and circular bunghole. Front decorated with a painterly design of a spread-winged eagle clutching arrows atop a large brick structure. Inscribed above with the word, "LiBERTY," above the date, "1853," flanked by stars. Reverse decorated with a large brushed design of a heart with arrow at its center, flanked by flowering plants and surmounted by a fern-like stem. Cobalt garland decoration below each handle extending from cobalt-highlighted terminals. Distinctive small-sized three-gallon capacity mark under one handle. Cooler includes an early pewter spigot sealed onto the bunghole. Among the finest-decorated stoneware coolers known from the region. Broken into pieces and reglued with chips along crack lines. A few shallow, glazed-over rim chips. A small, glazed-over raised piece of stone or clay to surface on front. H 13 1/2".