From: Gary Tefft / locustent@aol.com
Location: Menomonee Falls, WI
Date: 08 Nov 1998
Time: 00:33:32
Your decorated, 2-gallon, stoneware jar was made sometime before the turn of the century. Although it is impossible to possitively attribute unsigned pieces to any particular pottery you jar was likely made by one of the factories in Red Wing, Minnesota. The "Bullseye" or "Target" decoration was not only used by Red Wing, but several other stoneware potteries in the same time period. The pieces from the Red Wing factories are sometimes found with a molded-in company "signature" on the bottom. Minnesota Stoneware Company signatures are the most frequently found; Red Wing Stoneware Company signatures are existant, but rare; no North Star signed pieces are known. Your description of the background glaze on your piece is interesting. If it is an opaque white-glaze, like that used on later pieces, where the decorations were applied by rubber stamp, rather than drawn by hand, you have a rare "Transition Piece". It would be much more common to find this piece with a glossy, trancparent glaze that shows the color of the body clay. This type of glaze is called "Salt-Glaze" and it often has an "orange peel" texture. The interior would be glazed brown on a salt-glazed piece.
The book Red Wing Potters & Their Wares explains the history of the the Red Wing stoneware industry and shows many examples of the ware. Ordering information can be found on the Referance page of this website.
-Gary-