Four-Gallon Stoneware Jar with Cobalt Floral Decoration, Stamped "A.E. SMITH & SONS, / MANUFACTURERS, / 38 Peck Slip, N.Y.," circa 1860. Applied ear handles, cobalt decoration, Albany slip interior. Good condition. Measures 11"x11"x14 1/2". Weight 14 pds. PROVENANCE: A Private Charleston SC Estate. Ceramic firms Smith & Day, A. E. Smith and Sons, A. E. Smith's Sons, A. E. Smith's Sons' Pottery Co., and The Norwalk Pottery Co. all worked out of the Smith Pottery in Norwalk, Connecticut. In 1812, A. E. Smith (1798-1880) was apprenticed to his uncle, Absalom Day. Smith was in partnership with Noah Selleck, as Selleck & Smith, from 1837 to 1843. The business was continued briefly under the name Smith & Day (1843 to before 1848). For a time Smith worked alone, but in 1848, his son Theodore Smith, who had managed the firm's New York store at 38 Peck Slip, became a partner in A. E. Smith & Son. Still later, Smith's sons Asa and Howard Hobart joined the firm as A. E. Smith & Sons (about 1850 to 1860). Sometime between 1860 and 1864, A. E. Smith retired from active management of the pottery, and the firm name became A. E. Smith's Sons. In 1874 the sons announced the formation of a corporation under the name A. E. Smith's Sons Pottery Co. In 1887, the A. E. Smith's Sons Pottery Co. became insolvent. After the collapse, Theodore's son Wilfred conducted the pottery for one year, before selling to the Norwalk Pottery Company in 1888. Wilfred continued in the business at 38 Peck Slip in New York City.

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