From: gary Tefft / locustent@aol.com
Location: Menomonee Falls, WI
Date: 10 Jan 1999
Time: 00:40:50
After Red Wing stopped making hand-decorated, salt-glazed stoneware at the turn of the century, but before they incorporated the red wing decoration, they used leaves for decoration. Actually, there were two styles of leaves. One was a pair of broad, out-turned leaves, like basswood, or linden. The other was a pair of more tapered leaves, like yellow birch. Collectors call the out-turned style, "elephant ear leaves" and the tapered style, "birch leaves". They were applied by a rubber stamp which had a single pair of leaves. Sometimes, on larger pieces, more than a single pair was stamped on the piece.
Each style of leaf began use at the same time, but the broad, out-turned, "elephant ear" leaves seems to have been discontinued before 1906. The narrow, "birch leaves" continued in use until replaced by the red wing around 1909. If your piece has a company trademark oval that reads "Union Stoneware Company: Red Wing Minnesota" or "Minnesota Stoneware Company: Red Wing, Minnesota", it was made between roughly 1900 and 1906. If the oval reads, "Red Wing Union Stoneware Company; Red Wing, Minnesota", it was made between the 1906 company name change and the 1909 beginning of the wing decoration.
The handles on jars of this period were made from strips of clay applied in an arc below the rim to serve as a hand-hold. In the pottery trade they are called, "applied handles" or, "ear handles".
Red Wing Potters & Their Wares will give you many hours of good reading on this type of information. See the reference section for ordering information, or check the website at http://members.aol.com/locustent
-Gary-