Salt Glazed Stoneware Temperance Keg, ca. 1885
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GUEST:
Well, it came from my great-great-grandmother. We call it a whiskey crock, really don't know what it is. It just was passed down from generation to generation. And I wound up with it. I'm the oldest child in my family.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
I always thought it was just a piece of art. I mean I didn't think it was anything that was functional, that was used for anything, I just... something to look at.
APPRAISER:
What you have is what's known as a temperance jug.
GUEST:
A temperance jug.
APPRAISER:
A temperance jug. And during the Victorian period, when they were kind of prudish about things, the movement against alcohol consumption was full steam ahead by the 1870s, 1880s. So what you have here is a salt-glazed stoneware temperance keg. There are a number of jugs with snakes, and with serpents, and with all kinds of things. The bottom line was they were meant to say that alcohol was bad for you. And in this case, the serpent that you see here-- which is actually a rattlesnake, if you look down on the bottom you'll notice it's a rattlesnake-- that guy goes all the way up in this beautiful salt glaze with cobalt blue and Albany slip. It comes all the way up to the top where he is looking in that hole. And if you look at the top, he's looking in that hole to see how much is in there. And on the front here incised-- so cut in freehand-- it says "A whisky gauger." And now down at the bottom here, it says-- it's of course incised, which you've seen-- "By Jacob," and it's very hard to read, but it looks like "B-A-C-K," and then "L-A-Y." Now I searched and searched in the time that we had here, and I could not see his name under potters. So what do you think?
GUEST:
$50.
APPRAISER:
No, no. You got to think more than that. Raise it a little bit.
GUEST:
$200.
APPRAISER:
We're playing poker. $200. I'll up you. I can't... okay, you bet $200, I'll up you $8,000.
GUEST:
You've got to be kidding me.
APPRAISER:
No.
GUEST:
$8,000?
APPRAISER:
An auction estimate on this piece would be $8,000 to $12,000.
GUEST:
Wow. I did not expect that. (both laugh) Absolutely.
Appraisal Details
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