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From Linda:
 Hello,
I was just looking online for some information on "bestmade extra hard aluminum" products. We found an old discarded coffeepot on my husband's families' property about 11 years ago. It has the same mark on it as your water dipper. Would you happen to know the years or approximate years these products were manufactured? I've always been curious to know.
Thank you,
Linda
Hi Linda,
Thanks for your email. The “BestMade” brand was a line of aluminum products sold exclusively by Sears decades ago. Ol’ Swaphos found a page from a 1936 Sears catalog advertising a whole bunch of pots & pans, etc. A 5-qt dutch oven sold for $3.75 and a 1-qt covered sauce pan sold for $1.79. Holy cow! The ad also showed aluminum coffee pots, tea kettles, pitchers, colanders, water pails, and dippers.
Sears sold at least two types of coffee pots: a “regular” one where the removable coffee basket fit inside the pot, and a “double decker” one where the coffee basket was actually a separate piece that sat on top of the lower serving pot. Both pieces had handles, and I’m assuming after the coffee was made, you took the top piece off and switched its lid to the bottom pot for pouring.
I have no idea when Sears started selling its BestMade line or how long they did so, but obviously these were popular items in the 30’s.
Best wishes,
Miss Kitty
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From Janice:
Greetings from Iowa: I have a Monmouth pot of some sort I would like to identify. It is a golden brown, has a spout and a handle, but has no opening for a lid. About 3/4 up on the ceramic pot is a pattern that looks like old fashioned weaving of sorts. Do you have any idea what it is?
Janice
Hi Janice,
Could you possibly send me a digital photo of your Monmouth pot? I'm quite intrigued by your description: spout and handle, but no lid opening. How extraordinary! Also, could you please tell me the dimensions – height, diameter, etc. – and how it's marked on the bottom. With this information, I'll certainly try to help you identify it. Thanks.
Best wishes,
Miss Kitty
Miss Kitty:
 Please take a look at these and see if you can identify this type of pot. It is without any visible chips, cracks, etc. The bottom has a "sticker" with Monmouth, IL on it and price and number. However they are both unreadable.
Thank you.
Janice
Dear Janice,
Thanks for the pictures. What a beautiful pot! Being 6-1/2” tall, it would be a teapot for sure if it had a lid, but since it doesn’t, it’s probably a syrup or honey jug. That’s speculation on my part, but I found several stoneware “pots” similar in size and shape to yours (but not the same pattern) for sale online listed as syrup jugs. They were selling for between $20 and $60.
Given your pot’s Monmouth sticker on the bottom, it was undoubtedly made by Western Stoneware. As you may know, seven potteries in the Monmouth, IL region merged in 1906 to become Western Stoneware. Many, but not all, of their pottery pieces are marked on the bottom with the maple leaf logo, Monmouth being known as the “Maple City.” Since your pot has a sticker on the bottom instead of an incised mark, I would guess that your pot was probably made no earlier than the 1950's.
Western Stoneware is still in business today, having celebrated its centennial in 2006. Sadly, the plant closed the same year, falling victim to foreign competition, particularly China. However, three long-time former employees purchased the equipment to continue operations, and became the company’s new owners. The Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce site shows a picture of a 12-oz crock they say is a First Anniversary Piece (8/9/07) in a planned series of five annual crocks. Hopefully that means this historic American company will remain in business for many years to come!
Hope the above information helps. Thanks again for your emails and photos.
Best wishes,
Miss Kitty
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From Patrice:
 I saw your jar while searching for information on some jars that I already own. I have several of these same jars, but I was wondering if you could answer a question for me. ALL of my jars, and I have 20 of these, have what you would think was a crack across the bottom of the jar. When looking at the jar it seems to be a crack, but when you move your hand across it you can not feel it. It is very unlikely (to me anyway) that all of my jars would have cracked in the exacted same way. This leads me to believe that it was a manufacturing defect. All of my jars came from my grandmother’s general store which she ran until the mid 70’s, she used them to put candies in them on the counter. I know your description says there are no cracks, but I was wondering (just out of curiosity) if this blemish was noticeable on your jar. Thanks so much for your time and effort in advance.
Patrice
Hi Patrice,
 Ol' Swaphos forwarded your email to me. I checked our apothecary jar you asked about, and no, it doesn't have a "crack" on the bottom such as you describe on your set of jars. I just scanned the bottom of our jar and am attaching the picture. There's a slightly indented 2-1/4" diameter circle in the center, surrounded by a textured (sort of pebbly) border. There are two tiny marks on the rim of the circle I never noticed before and can't make out, even under a magnifying glass. The one in the bottom right of the photo appears to be an H and the one in the top left appears to be an S.
I agree with you that it's virtually impossible for all of your jars to have "cracked" in exactly the same way. The first thing that comes to mind is that you may be looking at a mold line, but usually you can feel mold lines and they also continue up the sides of the jar. So you're probably correct that these cracks are manufacturing flaws. If your grandmother bought them all at once for use in her general store, she may have gotten a bad lot, but since the flaws didn't affect the jars' usage, it was more trouble than it was worth to return them.
By the way, I also checked all of our other apothecary jars and none of them has a "crack" on the bottom either. I've put your question on the latest email page of our site. Maybe one of our site visitors will have further information.
Best wishes,
Miss Kitty
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Trading Post
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We get many wonderful emails from our Trading Post visitors and thought you might enjoy reading some of them, too. Click here!
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From Carolyn:
 I was browsing your site and noticed the green wine bottle. I think it is older than you think. I have one exactly like it that has a cork in the top and also the spout. And I can remember it as a kid being on the top shelf in the pantry except it had like straw netting around it that has since deteriorated and is gone. I am 59 years old now. I always thought it came from Mexico since I live in south Texas by Corpus Christi. It was my parents’ bottle, both dead now, so I can’t ask them where it came from, but it is still on the top shelf in the pantry where it has always been in their old house I live in now.
 It was really fascinating to see something on your site I have seen since I was a kid. Not only that, but I also have a vase like you have for sale that was my mother’s.
Love browsing your site!
Carolyn
Hi Carolyn,
Thanks so much for your info on the green wine bottle. That’s what’s so great about eyewitness accounts from people who remember seeing various family treasures in their parents’ home as kids. Your memory is much more reliable than that story I found from an unknown seller who apparently didn’t know what he/she was talking about. By the way, I was always skeptical about his/her story that these decanters were Princess House hostess gifts. Like I said, our decanter belonged to Ol’ Swaphos’ mama, and she most definitely was NOT the type to go to home parties, let alone host one! Heaven knows when or where she got her decanter, but it really did make a wonderful vase!
Thanks to you we now know that these bottles were being produced well before the 1970's and originally came with corks and netting. Were they made in Mexico? Your location and your logic certainly make sense for that conclusion. That’s what I love about being the proprietress of Santa Fe Trading Post. Thanks to emails from our visitors, we can all learn together!
And talk about a real family treasure – now you know that you mother’s vase is a true antique made by Bryce Higbee & Co. sometime between 1879-1900. That probably doesn’t increase its sentimental value for you, but it’s always nice to know that a beloved heirloom has monetary value as well!
Glad you enjoy our site. I love researching our treasures and greatly appreciate the additional information our visitors provide. You may be sure I’ve added yours to our site:
Thanks again for your email.
Best wishes,
Miss Kitty
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From Dennis:
Hi Miss Kitty,
I came across your fantastic website while attempting to investigate two items recently given to me. My hope is that you can provide some information on these items and, hopefully, a value as I hope to sell them to someone who will value and enjoy them.
  The first item is a black ceramic pot made by Oscar G. Quizada. It is approximately 7" in height and 8" in diameter. Enclosed are photos. It was given to a family member in Alamogordo who passed it on to me.
  The second item is a ceramic jug with a bluish stamped logo made up of two circles around an Indian head and seven stars. It is approximately 17" in height and 12" in diameter. As you can see from the photos, it has some accumulated dirt but I don't want to try to clean it and reduce the value.
Can you provide any information on these? Many thanks in advance.
Warmest regards,
Dennis
Hi Dennis,
Ol' Swaphos forwarded your email to me. OH WOW!!!!! As soon as I saw your breathtaking black pot I knew it had to be a Mata Ortiz olla. Sure enough, it is! Not only that, but Oscar G Guezada is the oldest son of Consolacion Quezada, whose brother, Juan Quezada, started the whole Mata Ortiz movement back in the 1970s! You have an incredible treasure!
Go to this page on our site to learn the Mata Ortiz story:
www.santafetradingpost.com/mexican_pottery.html
 Then google Oscar G Guezada (that's an E, not an I, in his name). You'll find site after site with information about him and his beautiful pottery, including photos. His ollas (Spanish for "pot") appear to be selling in the $200 - $300 range, but the two black ones I found that are similar to yours were already sold, so I don't know if the black ones sell for more, less, or the same as his other colors. My personal opinion is that his black ones are by far the most beautiful.
I'll research your jug and get back to you with whatever I find out. But I was so excited about your Mata Ortiz olla that I just had to answer your email right away!
I'm glad you enjoy our SFTP site. We really do try awfully hard to help folks find out more about the items they have. And believe me, it's emails from people like you that are the best part of my "job!" You really made my day with your gorgeous olla!
Best wishes,
Miss Kitty
Hello again Dennis,
As promised, here’s the information I discovered about your 5-gallon jug with the Indian head logo. It was made by the Louisville Pottery Company, the predecessor of Louisville Stoneware. A man by the name of S.O. Snyder bought an existing pottery works, the John Bauer Pottery Co., from Mr. Bauer in 1905 and renamed the company Louisville Pottery Company. Mr. Bauer had been making pickle crocks and butter churns since 1889 and the renamed company continued to produce these and additional utilitarian stoneware pieces as part of its Cherokee line of products whose logo was an Indian brave surrounded by a double blue circle with stars inside. So your jug may have been produced as early as 1905, making it a true antique. The Cherokee line was produced until at least 1930, with some sources saying 1950. The Louisville Pottery Company was sold to John M. Robertson in 1970, becoming the Louisville Stoneware Co., and resold in 1970 to Christina Lee Brown, who ran it until her retirement in 2007 when it was sold to Two Stone, Inc., a Louisville investor group. Louisville Stoneware is still in business today.
Cherokee 5-gallon jugs appear to be selling for between $125 and $175, with smaller ones somewhat less and larger ones somewhat more. I think you’re right to leave your jug “as is” without cleaning. A little accumulated dirt on these wonderful old jugs certainly is no big deal ans some of us think it even adds character!
Thanks again for your email and photos. I’ve added them to our emails page so other site visitors can also enjoy your treasurers.
Best wishes,
Miss Kitty
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