Extremely Rare and Important 1859 "Balsely / Detroit" Monumental Stoneware Jar w/ Marshall, MI Advertising
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- Sold Date
- Source Crocker Farm
Extremely Rare and Important Ten-Gallon Michigan Stoneware Advertising Jar, Signed "From Balsley Detroit," Dated 1859, ovoid jar with heavily-tooled shoulder, squared rim, and applied lug handles, the shoulder with incised and cobalt-highlighted inscription "From Balsley Detroit". Body of jar cobalt-decorated with heavy, leaf-shaped brushwork surrounding the incised and cobalt-highlighted inscription, "L. Bradley / Wholesale Grocer / Marshal". Base inscribed in cobalt "No 10 / 1859". Large cobalt highlights to handle terminals. The incised maker's signature at the top of this jar, "From Balsley Detroit" refers to father and son stoneware potters, Samuel and Theodore Balsley. Both men were born in Pennsylvania and were living in Pittsburgh in 1850, the family having relocated to Detroit by 1859, when this jar was manufactured. While a number of stoneware vessels representing the Balsleys' Detroit products survive, impressed "T.S. BALSLEY / MANUFACTURER / DETROIT, MICH.," this jar most likely represents the earliest-known surviving example of their work. The 1860 Federal Census for Marshall, Calhoun County, Michigan, lists a grocer named Samuel Bradley with a wife named Laura. The elaborate script on this jar says "L. Bradley" or "S. Bradley," referring to either Laura or Samuel Bradley. This large, showy piece was presumably displayed
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