Question:
I was wondering if you could help me value the lid I have that I believe is Red Wing. It is a 50 gallon pedal lid that I believe is salt glaze. It has the bail handle that is in excellent condition. It was my mothers and she just loved it! It is 24” in diameter and in great condition with only 2 very surface chips on the underside rim of the lid. It also has a straw mark that is impressed in the underside of the rim which I show in my picture. It is not a crack. The underside is not brown. Is it true that these lids are only salt glaze if they have the underside in the brown Albany slip? It has the number 50 impressed in the pedal design. Any help you could give me would be appreciated. I have the Red Wing catalogue but it says that the larger ones are hard to find. Thanks! Nina Goss mng825nc@aol.com, 716-773-1224.

Answer: Nina your Mother’s 50 gallon Red Wing is not salt glaze. It is a zinc glazed lid that was on top of the pile that captured the salt flumes from the lining of the kiln from the salt glaze days. You are correct that the under side would have the Albany slip if it were indeed salt glaze. Now 50 gallon lids are tough to find in good shape. The salty top will reduce it’s value as the top of the lid would not match the sides of the zinc glazed crock it sits on. Normally a nice 50 gallon lid would fetch between $1200 to $1500. Your mother’s crock because of the salty top would fetch about half of this. Al Kohlman