From: Gary Tefft / locustent@aol.com
Location: Menomonee Falls, WI
Date: 04 Jun 1999
Time: 23:42:41
Welcome to the world of Red Wing collecting! The first thing that you are going to learn is that collectors take notice of some very subtle details. The next thing you will learn is that collectors have a name for each of these little details. The collectors name for the swirl beneath the "lazy-8" is "target", or "bull's eye". The raised lettering on the bottom reads, "Minnesota Stoneware Co. (not "100"), Red Wing". While it is possible that the interior of your jar might have been painted black for some reason, when it was made, its interior was glazed with a dark brown glaze. This glaze is sometimes so dark that it might appear black. If it scrapes-off with a knife blade, it is paint; it it is hard as glass, it is glaze (which is, after all, a form of glass). The Minnesota Stoneware Company was formed in 1883 in Red Wing, Minnesota. In the first few years of their existance, all of their jars were turned by hand on a potter's wheel. These did not have lettering on the bottom, but were sometimes indentified as to manufacturer with letters impressed into the side wall by a metal stamp, when the clay was still soft. By the 1890's the jars of 5 or 6-gallons and smaller were molded in plaster molds that sometimes included identification. (By the way, manufacturer's identification on a piece is known to collectors a "signature".) Around 1900 the stoneware potteries in Red Wing turned from the hand-drawn decorations and "salt-glazing" to decorations applied by rubber stamp using ceramic stains as "ink" onto a "white-glazed" surface before firing. Therefore, I would date your jar to the period between about 1887 and 1900.
Your smaller, "unsigned" piece could have been made in Red Wing too, as they made a full line; from 1-pound butter jars to 60-gallon size, as well as churns, jugs, water coolers, flower pots and much more. It could, as well have been made at any of hundreds of other potteries that at one time existed in this country alone.
Your 3-gallon jar with the red wing was made between 1909 and 1936. Depending upon the exact size of the wing, as well as the particular size and style of the stamped signature mark, the date can be refined to within ten years within that span. The company identification actually reads, "Red Wing Union Stoneware Co., Red Wing, Minn. (Not "Red Wing Stoneware") The Red Wing Stoneware Company operated between 1877 and 1906 and did not use the red wing decoration. Thier wares were identical, or at least very similar to the Minnesota Stoneware Company's wares of comparable vintage. The Red Wing Union Stoneware company was formed in 1906 by merger of the Minnesota and Red Wing Stoneware Companies, as well as interests representing the Union Stoneware Company and the defunct North Star Stoneware Company. In 1936 the name of the company was changed to the "Red Wing Pottewries, Inc.", under which name they continued until 1967, when they closed.
I'm just getting warmed-up. To learn more about the history and see over 750 photographs instoneware made at Red Wing, you should obtain a copy of Red Wing Potters & Their Wares. Ordering information can be found on the Reference Page of this website, or at http://members.aol.com/locustent.
-Gary-