Extremely Rare Half-Gallon Stoneware Pitcher with Cobalt "1838" Date and Floral Decoration, Baltimore, MD origin, 1838, ovoid pitcher with tooled rim, the front decorated with double-stemmed flowering plant bearing fan and tassel shaped blossoms, flanking the underscored date "1838". Collar decorated with brushed swags. Cobalt highlights to handle terminals. One of a few known Baltimore pitchers of this style bearing a cobalt date. Among the earliest dated examples of Baltimore stoneware known with a double-stemmed floral design, a motif that would predominate the city's stoneware aesthetic for several subsequent decades. Missing handle. Four cracks from rim, the longest measuring 5 1/2". One of these cracks includes a small, slivered chip at rim. A hairline on underside. H 9".