Sold for A$2,255
Tooheys Limited / Trade (Stag) Mark / Sydney. Under Base: Chad. Sample/Miniature Ginger Beer Red/brown top, off white body, black print. Incised signature to base. 2 oz. 123 mm. 1910s-1920s
Excellent. What an amazing piece! The vendor tells us that this was recovered from a roughly first world war era dump some time ago. Prior to this information, when we first saw an ordinary picture of this, we were of the opinion that it was modern. However it is apparent after inspection that it is a dug piece, and certainly a tiny and amazing early 20th century item! There is a scratch to the upper lip, a tiny flake to the lip edge. Tiny nick to glaze on lower front shoulder. A line where the glaze has missed between the front brown top and the shoulder. Left shoulder has a patch of rust stain and a small scratch. Rear shoulder has two short scratches which are dark. The mid right side has a dark scratch over about 8 mm. Between the antlers on the trade mark is a scratch that goes through the glaze, this is not discoloured though. Around the lower quarter of the bottle is some crazing which has discoloured. At the front base edge is a shallow flake just through the glaze. A couple of smaller, quite small nibbles to the right base edge, a bit of discolouration amongst these. The rear base edge has a dark scratch going around it, there is a short section where this goes through the glaze. The front left underside base edge has a scrape like mark over about 10 mm, this may be a sliver flake, or a making mark. Signed by Chad underneath? Was this a potter who had some clay left at the end of the day and decided to whip something up? The bottle is only 40 mm across, the inner lip is only 7 mm across, there is little doubt that this would never have contained ginger beer! Why was it made? A salesman sample maybe? A potter's whimsy? We will probably never know. Unndoubtedly a dug bottle, it has all the hallmarks which cannot be reproduced effectively. It also has all the attributes of an original piece from the era. I will say it again - what an amazing piece! This has been shown around at many shows in prior months, if you are interested, please ask around as you should be able to find someone who has handled this item. Grade: 8.2 Estimate: $1000 - 1500
