Featured 2nd time - stoneware crockery, with pictures.

Got all 3 of these for $5 at a thrift. Big crock w/ #3 is R. Ransbottom (thank you to Greg). That one is the keeper.
Can anyone help me with the other 2?? Beige one is about 6 1/2 in. tall; Bwon one about 8" tall. Staff at the store said all 3 were donated by the same person. I had thought there was a marking on the bottoms, but now I think not. Interested in age/origin, etc., even the appropriate descriptors so I can google with a degree of accuracy. Are they likely to also be Ransbottom? TIA

 

5$ seems like a heck of a deal.

 

The brown one looks like a preserve / canning type jar but need to see the top, should look like a wax seal type.

 

I agree. I find the brown one to be the most interesting of the group and likely the oldest/most collectable.

 

Never thought of a canning jar - I'll take another picture and add it to this thread.

I thought so too.

 

Here are pictures of the topsof both. The brown one does look like it could have been sealed; it is about 5 inches across. Please let me know your thoughts on it.

F.Y.I. the 3 gallon Ramsbottom is da maged where one of the handles is inserted, but will make me smile all summer long, once I get some geraniums into it.

 

Yep a canning / preserving crock with finger prints of the potter no less.

 

Finger Prints - that does make sense. Thanks for the tip. Now to track use the trace DNA to track down its origins.......

 

I just hope he's not in the FBI database!

 

The brown one looks like a nice old fermenting crock. The indentation/reservoir in the top is called a water lock. How deep is it? You put water in it and when you put the lid on it creates an air tight seal. They're used for making sauerkraut, pickles, and anything fermented. I'm a potter and I make them do you have the lid?

 

Hi Melissa,
Growing up on a farm we used the 30 gallon crocks for making sauerkraut. They had wooden tops and used to "burp" they would send clouds of obnoxious gas into the air. The top four inches of the kraut would turn blackish brown and be tossed.
To this day I HATE sauerkraut. My Gram used to sell gallons of the stuff. People would drive three and four hours to get some of Grams stuff. Everyone loved it but me.
greg

 

Hehhh...I think kraut is like cilantro, you love it or hate it! I love it. The best I ever tasted was made in Midway, Utah as a fund raiser for the town. They made it months in advance of this art show I'd do, bury it in the ground, and dig it up and put it on bratwurst on brown bread sandwiches!!! I can still taste them! I make my own kraut, but it's never as good as that Utah kraut!

And yes, that ferment burp

 

Try using Albany slip in your search for the brown one.

 

When my grandfather had a good day hunting, he would drag the deer carcass into the kitchen after it was dressed and had hung long enough, cut off a shoulder and put it in a crock slightly smaller than a battleship with his "secret" blend of spices and vinegar, put a board on the top and then retrieve "his stones" from under the scullery sink and put them on top. Every two days he would go down and "turn the meat".........and when you took the stones off the top, the damned board would "jump" about a foot with a whooshing noise.................I love sauerbraten, but I could never eat it if I had been the one to turn it just before it was cooked and served...........

 

Partially fermented meat...oh my. I'll bet it was really tender however.

 

Wow/ All this from a thread on crocks. After Manson's description, I don't think I'll be eating sauerbraten any time soon.
Melissa - the lip is 1 inch deep, and I do not have the lid, but it clearly was made to accomodate one.
S.I.S. - thanks for the Albany slip tip!