Straight Wall

Love Field Potteries

Straight Wall Crocks

Are they Crocks, Storage Crocks, or Straight Wall (my own term) Crocks? The answer is... YES!!! I will readily admit that this one of my least favorite items of Love Field Potteries. To me they do not have the sleek lines of a churn nor do they provide the sense of thrill that one gets when locating a good jug or water cooler. To me they are kind of the marsh area of my collection. A place that is nice to visit every once in a while just not a place where I would want to live. My lack of enthusiasm for them might also be the fact that I have so many straight walled crocks already and that most of them are substantially older and much more artistically decorated than those produced by Love Field. The solid Bristol White glaze and the Cobalt Blue stamp does not exactly scream out "ARTISTIC IMPRESSION." But then again; for a mid 20th century piece of utilitarian pottery what do you expect? Well enough said. I will conclude with this; if this happens to be your area of collecting please do not let me discourage you and do not think for a minute that if I come across a good deal on one of these items that I would not snatch it up myself.

The sizes range from 1, 1.5, 2-6, 8, 10,12, 15 and 20 Gallon (s). The most common is the 2-4 gallon crocks. As with most of the Love Field items, I have seen examples of the same sized crock one stamped with the Bi-Plane and another of the same size stamped with the Mono-Plane logo.

Apparently Love Field at some time changed the mould they were using on the 6 gallon crocks or they ran several moulds because there are slight differences in the lips on two of the 6 gallons I own

The first crock pictured has a much more distinct lip than the second crock. The first crock has the usual Mono-Plane stamp while the second crock has an unusual Bi-Plane stamp. What makes this Bi-Plane stamp unusual is that it is much smaller than all the other stamps I have seen. In fact it is almost half the size of all the Love Field stamps I have seen. Was this the same size stamp they used on the Milk Pitcher?

Unmarked 1 gallon crock.

Mr. & Mrs.. J.C. and Pamela Joiner Collection

I ran across this interesting crock (pictured below) up around Weatherford Texas. Not sure if it should go in this category or not because it in fact has handles. Why I don't know. The crock weights over 30 pounds (closer to 40 or 50) and by the time you add 15 gallons of anything total weight would be over 150 pounds. If the handles were intended to be functional I am sure a two person carry was assumed.

These straight walled crocks had many uses. They were used for making pickles or "kraut" as well as storage for may varied food items and product. Lids often do not match in color or style because they were made separate from the crock and were often sold as an optional item. Often lids were made of wood by the economic end user. One can occasionally find what appears to be an undersized wooden lid that actually fits into the crock. These undersized "lids" often had handles and were weighted with a brick to keep items from floating such as needed in the pickling process.

For those interested in submitting pictures or information to be included on this web site please email them to: Lovefieldpottery@aol.com

View My Guestbook
Sign My Guestbook