Rarity is a word thrown around often in this industry, perhaps too much, diluting its meaning, and yet it applies to a slip-decorated redware molded pig bottle, stamped D.P. SHENFELDER / READING, PA, in Crocker Farms current online sale. The term applies in full force. It is the third known Shenfelder pig bottle and is estimated $8,000-$12,000. The sale closes Friday, Dec. 4. At 9.25 inches long, the ca. 1870 molded bottle in the form of a reclining hog with corked drinking spout at rear was dipped in yellowish slip, decorated with dripped spots of copper and manganese slip, and covered in a clear lead glaze. One side of the pig is fashioned with a raised oval slab of clay and impressed with the mark of Daniel Peter Shenfelder of Reading, Pa., the same distinctive stamp commonly used on the potters stoneware pieces. Interestingly, a 1 1/2 cent postage stamp of Martha Washington, dating ca. 1938-39, is affixed to the front of the bottle, indicating it was possibly shipped in the distant past. Signed Shenfelder redware of any form is very uncommon. A stamped Shenfelder pig bottle sold through Sothebys in 1982 on the York Fairgrounds for the late Pauline Heilman of York, Pa. An incredible collection of ceramics including important figural Pennsylvania redware, the ex. Heilman pig bottle realized $4,000, selling to the late Harry Hartman. It was later owned by the late Lester Breininger, dealer Greg Kramer, and is currently in a Pennsylvania private collection. The glaze scheme had a more splashed green and yellowish slip over an orange ground. The example at Crocker Farm has spotted droplets of slip and less large splotches and is over a yellow-slip ground. The use of dripping slip to produce spots is uncommon in American redware and possibly a creative attempt at mimicking the coat of a spotted breed of pig. The second example, quite similiar to the Crocker Farm one in glaze treatment, is also in a Pennsylvania private collection. The example at Crocker Farm is a recent discovery to the collecting community in good overall condition, with edge wear, two minor surface flakes to pigs back, and an in-the-firing contact mark to opposite side of pig. For additional information, call 410-472-2016. To visit the online catalog (pig bottle is Lot #200A), visit www.crockerfarm.com.