SPARKS, MD. — Crocker Farm’s July 22 sale achieved a world auction record result for an American face jug as an Edgefield stoneware face harvest jug soared to $100,300 including the buyer’s premium. The jug featured a mottled green alkaline-glaze over an ovoid head form with a single handle at top. The piece was grouped together with an 1882 stereopticon image by photographer J.A. Palmer, entitled “The Aesthetic Darkey,” which featured an African American boy sitting at a table with an Edgefield face jug atop. The jug in the stereopticon had a large sunflower rising from it’s spout and came from the same hand as the pottery work in the lot. The record result comes in the midst of a white hot market for Southern pottery. We’ll have a complete report in an upcoming issue.
