Question:
I collect 2 gallon Red Wing crocks and I have one that is very old salt glazed, hand turned crock. On the front, stamped in the clay it says "J. STOECKERT NEW ULM MINN. 2" The J. Stoeckert is top line New Ulm 2nd line and the "2" is the 3rd Line. Is this Red Wing? or does anyone know anything about this marking? Thanks

Answer: Your 2 gallon crock was not produced by the Red Wing Stoneware Company. It was most likely produced by John Stoeckert’s company in New Ulm, MN. I have copied the information below from a Google Search on J. Stoeckert from New Ulm, MN.

"The other major brickyard in town was owned by John Stoeckert. He began the City Pottery in 1871, which sold “all kinds of earthenware, fire bricks, tombstones, clay pipes, and other articles.” Stoeckert was born in Bavaria, emigrating first to Milwaukee in 1854, then to New Ulm in 1857. He had previously been a partner in a similar business with Christian Dauffenbach and Frank Friedmann.

In the 1880s, the firm expanded its brick production, acquiring land at Sixteen South and Minnesota Streets. By 1887, Stoeckert, now joined by his sons, offered press brick for sale. Among other buildings, the company supplied the brick for the third Turner Hall (1900) and the Brown County Courthouse. The Stoeckerts closed their yard in 1902, following the retirement of the founder, and sold its stock to an Iowa brick maker. Stoeckert died three years later.

To compare the two firms, in 1892, a typical year, the Aufderheide yard employed some forty workers to produce 2,800,000 common bricks and 30,000 fire-bricks. Stoeckert manufactured 350,000 bricks and some 20,000 feet of pipe". Hope this helps. Al Kohlman