Hard to read potters mark on a spongeware apple

[RubyKazoo]

Hi, I found this apple at a local thrift store and searched all day online trying to find out (with no luck) what brand it is. The apple is not perfectly round but the lid fits fairly well in it. The sides are about 1/8 in (0.3175 cm) thick and the whole piece about 5 in (12.7 cm) tall from base to stem. The mark on the bottom is difficult for me to decipher but could be an L or an H or maybe a U above a C in a circle. I think it might be stoneware but I don't have to much experience in that area. I hope I have given you enough information. Any help will be greatly appreciated and thank you!

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[bradyboy]

your calling it sponge ware
is the sponge imprint fired into the glaze or is it just a surface ink decoration?
Brady

 

[RubyKazoo]

I belive it's fired into the glaze. While searching earlier I found some pottery with a similar design to my apple that was called spongeware, I hadn't heard that term before.

 

[bradyboy]

looks commercial to me, Imo
brady

 

[RubyKazoo]

Yeah that would make sense. Still I wish I could figure out what brand it is.

 

[Red-Coat]

Just tidying up some blasts from the past (including some very ancient ones), largely for the benefit of anyone searching the site for information.

Spongeware is simply the term for pottery that has been decorated by applying pigment with a sponge rather than a brush (before glazing and firing). It was at its most popular between c.1840 – c.1875 and among the cheapest of painted wares available because the decoration could be applied rapidly by workers with no artistic skill.

It’s obviously not that old though, and there are multiple examples of apples like yours on eBay, Etsy etc. said to be from the 1970s or 1980s. They’re usually sold as trinket jars, but I have seen them described as sugar jars. I don’t think either is correct because I have seen an identical one with what appeared to be its original content… fragranced coloured wax and a wick. Not a removable candle, but one produced by pouring molten wax into the apple.

I don’t know the maker and the picture of the mark here is terrible, but below is an enhancement of the mark taken from an identical apple which I’ve converted to a negative for clarity. It looks to be the letters ‘L’ and ‘i’ joined together, with a copyright symbol (©) below.