lot of four original antique 19th century salt glazed stoneware or pottery bottles dug in chicago area excavations. two of the jars have bulbous, cylindrical bodies with curved handles near the spout, and are variously cream colored and dark brown in glaze or finish. two bottles in the lot appear to have been ink jars, with tall, slim profiles, and a reddish-brown glaze. the pottery is overall in good condition with few chips or cracks and surface wear typical of its age. the lot represents an interesting cross-section of antique american stoneware. stoneware is a type of pottery fired to a high temperature. while it originated in the rhineland area of germany around the 1400s, it became the dominant houseware of the united states circa 1780-1890. americans began producing salt-glazed stoneware about 1720 in philadelphia, pennsylvania and yorktown, virginia. there, the crolius and remmey families (two of the most important families in the history of american pottery production) would, by the turn of the 19th century, set the standard for expertly crafted and aesthetically pleasing american stoneware. by the 1770's, the art of salt-glazed stoneware production had spread throughout the united states. american stoneware pottery was usually covered in a salt-glaze and often decorated using cobalt oxide to produce bright blue decorations.while other types of stoneware were concurrently produced in america – such as ironstone, yellowware and various types of china – in common usage of the term, “american stoneware” refers to this specific type of pottery. by 1820, stoneware was being produced in virtually every american urban center, with potters from maryland to kentucky. commercial distilleries in the kentucky’s rural areas were on the rise, as was louisville’s stoneware industry, which produced the jugs used to package the region’s precious bourbon. bourbon was sold to general stores and saloons in wooden barrels. customers brought stoneware jugs to be filled, and the proprietors quickly grabbed onto this marketing opportunity. they had stoneware jugs printed with the name of their establishments for store customers to buy and have filled, and refilled, for the cost of the bourbon.