This is a large stoneware lidded storage crock or pot. It is an antique piece of Scottish Pottery and was made by Buchan Pottery, which was based at Portobello, near Edinburgh (now closed).
It has a lovely rustic design on the front for the Buttercup Dairy Company on the front - with an image of a diary cow seen from the side. This is an appropriate motif - as this big pot would have stored butter in an old-fashioned grocers. You could also buy the whole crock is you had a business which used a lot of diary products.
It stores 7 lb of butter - as annotated on the side. It also has the impressed mark for Buchan Pottery, as photographed.
The main body of the crock is in excellent damage free condition. The lid is present and in pretty good antique condition. There have been a couple of restored chips on the top edge - you can see the restoration on close-up inspection but on display - these are not evident and it looks fabulous! The lids were often chipped - as they were quite heavy - and were constantly lifted on and off the pot over many years. There are two built in carrying handles to the side - these are intact.
It is a bit of a showstopper as far as these storage containers go - and it would look lovely in a country cottage or farm shop.
The height is just over 9 inches - the diameter at the widest point is nearly 10 inches.
My asking price is a fair one for such a large example complete with lid (displays well despite the restore chips). These are now highly collectable as antique antique advertising items - as well as their interesting history.
HISTORY: The Buttercup Dairy Company was a Scottish dairy products company. It was founded in 1904 and sold condensed milk, eggs, butter and margarine.
There were early branches of the Buttercup Dairy Company in Fife, at Kirkcaldy, Burntisland and Kinghorn. In 1905 the head office moved to the Edinburgh area, at Leith. The Leith depot, comprised of a cold store, warehouse and office. It relocated to a larger site in Easter Road in 1915.
At its peak, in the late 1920s, Buttercup had around 250 branches. It was also one of a chain of shops that experimented with self-service selling just before the Second World War. It opened 14 shops which were named Self Service Stores.
The Great Depression and a devastating fire in 1936 started a down turn in the fortunes of the business. The 1940s wartime shortages and rationing had a further negative impact on the company and sales. Many of the shops subsequently closed down.
The last Buttercup Dairy Company store closes in 1965,
This large crock will have to be sent to you with Parcelforce24 Recorded Delivery. This will be very carefully packed up to keep safe in transit. This will be capped at £10 and applied to your order at the checkout.