Very Large Bean Pot or Handled Stoneware selling Jar - Bobby Gaither Alabama Sand Mountain Stoneware Tribute

We can't all afford the $2360 dollars it takes to buy an original Sand Mountain bean pot from a Crocker Farm auction and there aren't enough of them to go around anyways. For the rest of us, Bobby Gaither produces what he calls Sand Mountain look-a-likes. But they are more than that, as he not only produces the original forms, they are made in the same way the Sand Mountain group of potters did in the second half of the 1800's: hand thrown, wood fired, alkaline glazed, and with comb decoration (and more commonalities and secrets I am neither expert enough nor artist enough to be privy to).

This piece looks like a single handled preserve jar or storage jar but apparently is a bean pot, at least according to Crocker Farm, and I'd tend to trust them. At 8" tall and 8" diameter, however, it is the largest bean pot I've ever purchased.

I do not know how many of the attributes of this Alkaline-Glazed Stoneware Bean Pot with Combed Decoration are unique to Sand Mountain and how many are shared with other bean pots of Alabama Origin. Is it the ovoid shape, the applied handle, the flared collar, the rows of incised lines, or the wavy incised combing that sets it apart? Or is it the giant size? Some combination of the above no doubt (actually there's an article about this on sandmountainreporter website, I just haven't fully absorbed it yet). We can only be grateful that an expert such as Mr. Gaither is providing these pieces that are affordable for our home southern pottery or Alabama pottery collections. It looks as though it accepts a lid, but none of the pictures I have seen of original Sand Mountain pieces of this form have had lids, so it seems likely one has never been found and that one was never made for this piece (rather than make it wrong).

Signed on the side with a stamp that says "Bobby Gaither Pottery Selfville ALA" though it is difficult to read. He also has sometimes has marked his pieces BG SV ALA. Bobby Gaither is a well known potter in Blount County, Alabama. You might also see him as being listed in Remlap. I assume one of those places is unincorporated and the other is his proper address

If you are looking at this listing, it is likely you know more than me, but in case you don't Sand Mountain Pottery was made by three families that had intermarried and settled in Belcher's Gap between Sardis City and Crossville on the Old Georgia Road where the settlers came through. As a result, Sand Mountain pottery has been found scattered across the nation.

Has some crazing, and a number of glaze pops. I see on the foot what might look like a chip but is probably where the potter ground away the glaze drips and a bit of the clay so it would sit flat. Given that, I believe this pot is in excellent condition, and displays selling very nicely. Please see photos for best details to make your own judgments.

Careful packing and fully insured shipping are included.