An excellent example of a five gallon nineteenth century stoneware crock made at the Cowden and Wilcox Pottery in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania sold earlier today as part of Richard P. Murry's 24th annual winter antiques auction in Shermans Dale, Pennsylvania. The crock was adorned in one of the best deers known from Harrisburg; furthermore, last fall a three gallon circa 1865 crock made by Cowden and Wilcox also decorated with a deer, sold for $54,000 plus buyer's premium at Conestoga Auctions in Manheim, Pennsylvania: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2024/09/circa-1865-cowden-wilcox-stoneware.html.
According to Karl Pass of Antiques & Auction News, "The prancing eight-point buck in cobalt is an unusual decoration for the prolific Harrisburg pottery operation. In 2016, Crocker Farm sold a C&W four-gallon crock, slight-sided versus slightly bulbous, with a deer in profile for $13,800. It had restoration. The auction record for C&W stoneware was set over 10 years ago in 2014, when Crocker Farm sold a two-gallon stoneware jug with a Civil War soldier in profile for $97,750. As a side note, John Cowdens son, the potter, Frederick Cowden, served in the 201st Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry C during the Civil War. It was during the war, in 1863, the partnership of John Cowden and Isaac Wilcox was formed in the capital city."
Nevertheless, the aspect about the decoration on this crock that sold today, which really makes it special is the addition of trees, whereas many of the deer crocks that exist from Cowden and Wilcox are decorated with a deer, but lack any trees. This crock has also never been sold before having resided in the same family's ownership in Pennsylvania for over 150 years.
According to the auctioneer, "This piece of stoneware has remained in the same family's ownership since it was originally created in the 1800s. In the early years, this crock was owned in the Cherry Valley in the Green Roof Farm District of Perry County, Pennsylvania. Although, most recently, it was owned by an heir of the family in Camp Hill, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania."
For a brief history of this business: John Wallace Cowden (1817-1872) and Isaac Wilcox (1831-1906) initially established and ran this pottery in Harrisburg, although the company was also known as C.W. Pottery. The factory was a ceramic manufacturing company that was established in 1861, after Harrisburg was incorporated as a city on March 19, 1860, whereas the factory produced pottery until about 1923. This business mostly produced stoneware, but they also made some red earthenware, where production from this company was distributed locally, although it was also marketed in parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The crock sold for $36,000 plus the buyer's premium; there was a hole in the back of it, which kept the price lower than other less-decorated examples.
Cowden & Wilcox Stoneware Crock with a Cobalt Decorated Deer and Trees
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