This is a nineteenth alkaline glazed stoneware pot that I saw last summer while visiting a prominent collection in New York City. I know it is southern in origin, although I have not been able to determine where it as made. But it does remind me of production from both North Carolina and South Carolina.
A few facts about this object that I noticed - first, the color of the clay is the reddish colored clay that is sometimes found with stoneware made in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. The base was also wire-cut from the potter's wheel. It also appears that the exterior of this pot is heavily applied with rutile, which covers much of the olive or dark green colored alkaline glaze.
Furthermore, there are a number of similar forms known from North Carolina in the 1800s and early 1900s, which are usually referred to as "milk crocks" or "cream risers." Among the potters who reportedly made this form was J.H. Owens (1866-1923) in Moore County, North Carolina. This form was also produced by red earthenware potters in North Carolina, such as a pot that was signed by Albert F. Loy (1874-1955) in Alamance County, North Carolina.
Interestingly, I came across a story that included milk crocks and buried gold in West Virginia; according to the August 26, 1951 issue of The Stars and Stripes, "Henry Sheff, a diamond importer who died last November, buried $21,000 in gold coins over his 43-acre estate (in Parkersburg, West Virginia) as a cushion against inflation or financial embarrassment.
Discovery of the hidden horde was disclosed by the jeweler's son, William H. Sheff Jr., who found the treasure buried in glass jars and a milk crock over a period of nine months.
The younger Sheff used an Army mine detector manned by two Air Force recruiting sergeants to help find the gold coins, some of them rare collector's pieces. One two-gallon milk crock was filled to the brim with gold pieces."
Nevertheless, are there any thoughts on the origin of this object? North Carolina versus South Carolina? Or another Southern state?
Update: According to Alabama scholar Gary Price -- the cream riser is probably from Randolph County, Bacon Level Community in Alabama; it could probably could be as early as 1840 through the 1870s, and perhaps made by John Leopard or John Barnes. John Leopard left in 1848 for Texas and John Barnes passed away in the early 1880s.
A 19th Century Southern Alkaline Glazed Stoneware Pot
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