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Richey & Hamilton
Palatine, W.Va.
1 Gallon Crock
Item No. 23-046-50
This is wonderful 1 gallon Richey & Hamilton Palatine, W.Va. crock standing 9 ¾” tall with rim lip to rim lip diameter of 6” and a circumference of 21 ½” at its widest point. The stenciling reads “Richey & Hamilton Palatine, W.Va.” with an unusual mirroring of designs separating the manufacturers name and “Palatine, W.Va.” An additional design is found to both the left and the right of “W.Va.” There are no rim chips (inner or outer). There is a number of craze lines due to age and a single extremely tight hairline crows foot that only a very small portion goes through to the inside. There is one “under the glaze" indentation on the design to the left of the W.Va., which was done in the making. From my inspection and to my knowledge, there are no repairs to this crock. This is a wonderful and rare piece of WV stoneware manufacturing history.
Brief History
From the mid 1800’s until the early 1900’s, there were two pottery sites in Palatine, W.Va. One pottery was located between Polk & Ferry Streets adjacent to the Monongahela River, which separated the towns of Palatine and Fairmont, W.Va. until 1843 when Palatine became a part of Fairmont. This location took on a number of owners during its existence including (in chronological order): Knotts & Co.; Boyers, Knotts & Co.; Knotts, Swindler & Co.; Palatine Pottery Co.; Richey & Hamilton; Palatine Queensware Pottery Co.; and Rager Lloyd & Co. Richey & Hamilton operated the pottery from the early to mid 1880’s, which is justified by a listing in the 1880 U.S. Census of Manufacturers under a “Stone & Earthen Ware” category. |
