Vintage Williamsburg Hand Made Pottery Flower Frog Jug Attributed C C Cole North Carolina Art Pottery

This petite vintage flower frog jug bears the early “Williamsburg Hand Made Pottery” stamp and belongs to a fascinating chapter of Southern American art pottery history. Although marketed through the Williamsburg name in Virginia, published North Carolina pottery research documents small tourist wares sold under the Williamsburg Hand Made Pottery identity, while the North Carolina Pottery Center collection includes a multiglazed pitcher carrying this same stamp cataloged under C. C. Cole. Based on the documented mark association, period tourist-ware production, form and glaze characteristics, this piece is conservatively attributed to C. C. Cole Pottery of North Carolina, circa 1940s–1950s.

The rounded hand-worked form incorporates six individual flower-stem openings around the shoulder plus a larger central neck opening, creating a functional miniature flower arranger in the form of an old-fashioned handled jug. Its glaze is especially appealing: warm cream and amber mingle with dense reddish brown and burgundy mottling, streaking and speckling across the body. Close examination around the rim and pierced openings shows considerable color variation and glaze interaction from firing. This is consistent with the multiglaze tradition documented in North Carolina tourist pottery; published research specifically describes C. C. Cole workers applying a whitish body glaze followed by additional colors that could run and blend during firing.

Measuring approximately 3¾ inches tall, the jug retains its “WILLIAMSBURG HAND MADE POTTERY” ink stamp on the underside. No chips or cracks were observed. Irregularities around the hand-worked openings, glaze variation, crazing and other firing characteristics are consistent with the handmade nature and age of the piece. An unusual survivor appealing not only to Williamsburg collectors, but also to collectors of C. C. Cole, Seagrove and North Carolina art pottery, Southern folk pottery, vintage flower frogs, tourist pottery and early American-inspired ceramics.