Item 11723
 
Coming  to you from Doc's Crocks is this wonderful Matchsafe made by the Whites of Utica, N.Y. Pottery.  
 
Dating between 1890 and 1907, this piece is a wonderful example of the skill that the Whites Pottery had gained in molded stoneware during those years. A similar one is featured in Christopher Bensch, The Blue and the Gray: Oneida County Stoneware, p. 54.
 
This is the large size for use on top of bar counters and other public places.  The matches went inside the top and the embossed background provided the striking surface. Because these were used for advertising in public places, few survived the heavy use. 
 
It was made for the "Crystal Springs Brewing Co., Syracuse, N.Y."   
 
This beauty features a Raised Diamond Background with a Beaded Top Border Framed by Cobalt Stripes, and Thick Base with the Advertising Repeated Twice Around Framed by a Top Stripe.  Measures 4 3/4" tall and 6 1/2" wide across the base.
 
Very Good Condition. Two adjacent surface ping lines on the top of the rim with internal surface craze lines (closeups). No base chips, hairlines, cracks, stains, or restoration. 
 
Ships double-boxed, insured, and FREE