Sold for A$290
Summerby's / Wine & Spirit Vaults / Grantham. No potters mark. Wine Stoneware Slab sealed wine. 1 Quart. 224 mm. 1840s
Very Good. Tiny glaze nick to rear upper neck. Small glaze flake to rear upper body. A few tiny base edge nicks. Hairline to the glaze starts at front shoulder and goes about half way through slab seal. From this above the seal one comes across to the right and curves across the shoulder and down the rear edge about 40 mm. Couple of fine hairlines to the glaze coming from the bottom of the slab seal also. Crazing throughout, some of these marks join up with the crazing, may well be from making. A great historical flask. The business was run by three generations of the Summerby family between 1839 and 1877. Richard Summerby was born in 1791 in Lincolnshire. Was landlord of the Blue Pig public house, Vine Street, Grantham in 1824. Trading as a Wine & Spirit Merchant by 1839. It is possible he took over the long established Wine & Spirit Merchants business of James Ferguson. Ferguson had been trading from the 1790s firstly at Walkergate and from 1822 in Vine Street, Grantham. On the 13th January, 1827 James Ferguson placed a notice in the local paper stating that he had entered into a partnership with William Thomas Nunn. But on 27th January, 1827 a second notice stated the partnership had been dissolved! Ferguson & Richardson maintained a somewhat longer partnership from 1835 until 1837 when John C. Howson took over the business. The last reference found to Howson is an 1839 advertisement. Richard Summerby continued as publican at the Blue Pig while running the Vine Street Wine & Spirit business. He was probably assisted by his son William (b.1821) who took over the family business after his father’s death in 1845. In 1851 William’s residence was 31 Mount Pleasant, Little Gonersby, Grantham. In 1854 William built a new house in Market Place, Grantham and the business continued from this address. In 1869 William Summerby died and his son William George Summerby (b.1847) continued the business as William George Summerby & Co, Wholesale & Retail Wine & Spirit Merchants until 1877. In that year the business was sold to Mr. George Frederick Prickett of The Angel & Royal Hotel in Grantham. Many thanks to Mike Squires and Alan Austin for compiling this information. This item is part of the James Lerk collection. Grade: 7.5 Estimate: $300 - 400
