So, I posted this green pottery vessel in the Flickr group awhile back. As of yet, I haven’t been able to confirm which California company made it - or for that matter whether it’s from a Calif pottery at all. The signs seem to point to it, however, I’ve been wrong many times previously which is why I’m being a little cautious.

We picked this up on our trip to Monterey at a tiny thrift shop. I originally thought it could be a Bauer Pottery item, but I had no idea what kind of item it might be. In addition, the fact that the bottom was unglazed, unmarked and showed a different looking yellow clay gave me a lot of pause.

Later at home, I took a look at Jack Chipman’s Bauer book and saw what looked like a similar item on page 36, under Plain Ware. The bottle shown had a cork stopper and came with a tumbler. The two pieces together were sold as a “Tumble-up set”.

Even though there is a striking similarity, including the slight banded ring around the base of the neck, I’m still very doubtfull. For one thing, it would likely mean this is a Matt Carlton handthrown item. And I don’t want to be one of those people who claim every single unmarked piece of handthrown pottery is a Matt Carlton item. The shape seems to be approximately right, as is the size. The one in the book is listed at 7 inches, while my bottle is 7.5 inches. The color seems very different, but as I mentioned before, the green glaze is similar to a Bauer spice jar that I have.

Of course, I’m certainly hoping that it is what it looks like - because if it is, the list price in the book is $500 plus! As of yet, I haven’t been able to say one way or the other. Hmm.. maybe I’ll bring it to the Los Angeles Pottery Show like we did this year and see if I can’t get David Rago or Suzanne Perrault to take a look.

More pictures, including a comparison with a known Bauer spice jar in the same color glaze can be found in the Unknowns gallery, Item #A0023.