Frederick J. Caire, Huntington, L.I. (Long Island) mark is shown below:

Frederick J. Caire, Huntington, L.I. Churn Stoneware Crock from Long Island, NY.  Caire was from Poughkeepsie, N.Y.  He came to Huntington in the 1840’s to work at the pottery. He became manager of the pottery, and in 1854 he became a partner when his father-in-law purchased the pottery works at Huntington. The crock shown below measures 12 1/2 inches; diameter of the mouth opening is 6 5/8″ wide, and the bottom or base is 7 1/2″ in diameter. It sold for $1500 in September 2009.

1/2 Gallon Stoneware Jug/Crock GEO W. JENKS Groceries Shoes & Notions Your Money Back if Not Satisfied Faith, - S.D. sold for $1,000 in September 2009

Having begun working part-time in the retail trade at age 11, Lyman Bloomingdale decided to go out on his own at the age of 31. He teamed up with his brother Joseph to start their own business. By choosing a storefront with two large plate glass windows, the Bloomingdale Brothers opened a 20’ by 75’ store at 938 Third Avenue on a cool, sunny day in April of 1872. Sales at the end of the day totaled $3.68, but they weren’t discouraged. Within a month of opening their store, business had become brisk enough to convert the stockroom into an expanded sales floor. Lyman recognized the value of using the metropolitan dailies to advertise their wares. As the nation entered a depression in September 1873, eighteen months after opening, the Bloomingdale Brothers recognized the need to redirect their merchandising policy to “offer the best possible value for the least possible price”. Three years after the depression began, it finally burned itself out and Bloomingdale Brothers acquired a five-story building with good window space on the corner of 56th Street and Third Avenue. Suddenly, Bloomingdale’s ’had become a department store.This is an old butter churn from the original Bloomingdale’s store in 1872. Marked Bloomingdales Bros 3rd Ave and 59th Street. It has a 4 to indicate four gallon. Also has large blue flower.

This Crock sold for $1,000 in August 2009.

Vernon Owens atarted Jugtown Pottery in 1922 in Seagrove, North Carolina.  Jugtown is still in business today.

This is an example of a 1920’s mark:

The older vases can easily run into the 5 figures.

Another mark from a 4″ vase that sold for $280 in July 2009.

The 4″ vase had burgundy and green glaze and looked like this:

Gustavsberg Ceramics Factory was founded in 1827 near Stockholm, Sweden. Gistavsberg  is known for its twentieth-century artwares, especially a green stoneware with silver inlay called Argenta.

The below example has an inlaid fish  and measures 13 1/2″ tall by 7″ across.  It is signed byWilhelm Kåge and is est. to be worth $2200-$2500.

Gustavsberg Ceramics Factory was founded in 1827 near Stockholm, Sweden. Gistavsberg  is known for its twentieth-century artwares, especially a green stoneware with silver inlay called Argenta.

Wilhelm Kåge (1889-1960) was employed by Gustavsberg as an art director for 32 years. In 1942 he started the legendary Gustavsberg Studio with the mission to create unique artistic pieces. In the 1940’s and 50’s he designed several geometrical, almost cubist, vessels in the “Surrea” series which stands in striking contrast to his soft formed, organic shaped tableware from the same period. Kåge designed more than 30 different dinner services, of particular importance was the inexpensive “workers’ service”, intended for a wider audience. Kåge’s pride, however, was the Farsta series of unique vessels made of heavy stoneware with carved surfaces and earth coloured decorative glazes. The clay was from the Farsta bay area very near the Gustavsberg pottery studio. He began experimenting with the Farsta line of studio ceramics already in the 1920’s. Art historians and collectors today consider the Farsta pieces the culmination of Wilhelm Kåge’s artistic production.

This is an example of his pottery mark:

The Stoneware pig flask made was by the Anna Pottery of Anna, Union County, Ill. Anna Pottery was run by the Cornwall & Wallace Kirkpatrick and was made in 1890.

I don’t collect headbases, but I did a double take when I saw this Royal Crown Headvase marked #3411.  It sold for $3700 … from a starting bid of $60.

Brother Thomas Bezanson (1929-2007) was a Benedictine monk at Weston Priory in Vermont for twenty-five years and has worked as an artist-in-residence with the Benedictine Sisters of Erie since 1985. Brother Thomas works masterfully with porcelain and has created an astounding range of glazes and forms.  His work can fetch from $2000 - $50,000.

This is an example of his mark: