Rick, a South Dakota collector who prefers anonymity, paid $750 for a 30-gallon Red Wing stoneware crock more than 30 years ago. He stored it in an old granary on his farm, where it sat largely forgotten until he saw photos of a nearly identical crock selling for $32,000 in January. The realization prompted him to drive 400 miles overnight to reach auctioneer Ken Bramer’s driveway by 8 a.m. the next day.
Bramer, who brokered the original $32,000 sale, confirmed Rick’s claim. “He said, ‘That one you sold down there for such big money? I got the twin sister to it,’” Bramer told Cowboy State Daily. The original crock belonged to 91-year-old Lois Jurgens, who had considered selling it for $50 at a garage sale. When the bidding war erupted at the Holdrege auction, Jurgens had to be helped onto the stage after the price soared past her expectations.
Rick’s crock shares the same double-stamp, salt glaze, and hand-painted cobalt butterfly pattern as the famous piece. However, it carries a crack down the back, a flaw Rick acknowledged from the time of his purchase. Red Wing expert Larry Peterson, who has collected the pottery for 55 years, doubts the cracked crock will match the $32,000 figure but predicts strong interest. Peterson noted that only about six of these specific decorated crocks are known to exist.
Both of Rick’s pieces, including a rare 18-inch Red Wing bowl not listed in standard collector guides, are scheduled for auction on April 18 at the Phelps County fairgrounds in Holdrege, the same venue where Jurgens’ crock sold. Bramer has already fielded thousands of inquiries from people hoping to identify valuable pottery in their own homes, responding to only about 250 so far.