From: Gary Tefft / locustent@aol.com
Location: Menomonee Falls, WI
Date: 26 Mar 1999
Time: 22:48:00
With no markings there is not much that any book can tell you to identify your jug, I'm afraid. If the top is of an extremly unique and distinctice shape you might narrow your suspicion, but there are really only a few variations (conical, spherical and "ogee" curved) to choose from. Our book, Red Wing Potters & Their Wares includes a section on the technology of clay and pottery and heavily follows the history of the companies of Red Wing, Minnesota. By gaining a background into manufacturing methods and the history of the pottery industry in the U.S. there are a few things that can be said about a molded, three-gallon salt-glazed jug. Salt-glazing was replaced pretty much universally at the turn of the century. The use of molds to produce large jugs came rather late in the century. Earlier, such jugs would have been hand-turned. I'd imagine that it took a fairly large factory to invest in the equipment to mold ware this large. They would have had a large output to recoup the capitol investment. All that said, there were an awful lot of potteries that would have fit that description. Red Wing, of course, comes to mind, but Monmouth, Macomb, Alexis, Fort Dodge and a host of others do too.
-Gary-