Outstanding Stoneware Presentation Harvest Jug, Stamped "ALX. REITER. ALLIANCE. OHIO.," probably O.H. Heusted, Alliance, Stark County, Ohio, circa 1875, ovoid form with footed base, wide and narrow pouring spout, and flattened top with oval handle, the top decorated with a series of four-petaled flowers surrounded by scroll motifs, underscored by a hanging leaves. Base decorated with additional scroll motifs. Midsection adorned with a wheel-thrown and applied clay medallion, bearing the impressed inscription, "ALX. REITER. ALLIANCE. OHIO. / G.," incorporating impressed floral and scroll motifs. The jug's original stoneware lid for the larger spout remarkably survives and is decorated with an impressed and cobalt-highlighted flower on the knob. An original piercing, formed prior to the firing, appears partway down the neck of the smaller spout. Alexander Reiter appears in the 1870 federal census as a prosperous jeweler living in Alliance. Also listed nearby is Oren J. Heusted (born in New York about 1822), recorded as the superintendent of a pottery. It is unclear who actually owned the stoneware shop at this time, but by the late 1870's, "Heusted & Co." appear as proprietors of the "Alliance Stone-Ware Manufactory." (See Treichler, More History of Ohio Stoneware, pg. 15 for a billhead noting this.) By 1880, Reiter was listed as a paralyzed "Invalid," and it is likely that the manufacture of this jug would date to a time when he was actively running his jewelry business. A prized form, with unusual use of impressed and applied-clay decoration. Jug with chips to rim of larger spout, wear and a tiny nick to tip of smaller spout, chips to edge of applied medallion, and shallow chipping to top edge of foot. Additionally, a 2 1/2" vertical line at base. Lid with a loss and chipping to knob and two minor chips to its underside. H 10 1/2".
