SPARKS, MD. — The top two lots in Crocker Farm’s August 5 summer auction each achieved $120,000 and each sold to institutions. The first — the sale’s beginning lot — was a 20-gallon stoneware keg (right) with exuberant slip- and sponge-decorated cobalt landscape that had been made by the West Troy Pottery around 1875. It was immediately followed by a 2-gallon stoneware jar made by Thomas W. Commeraw (left), who is the first African American pottery owner and the subject of recent scholarship and a museum exhibition at both the New-York Historical Society and the Fenimore Art Museum. According to Mark Zipp, the result for the jar is the highest price ever realized by a work by Commeraw. Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house; the sale will be discussed more extensively in a future issue.