Stoneware Race Cars

Note the raised head of a driver in a one-of-a-kind car

Iron Mountain Stoneware was located in Laurel Bloomery, Tennessee.  Many of the pieces of the stoneware wound up in private collections in nearby towns and small cities.  One such piece, this vehicle sculpture was artist signed by Kaneko--Jim Kaneko.  The auction company which dispersed articles from a Jonesborough, Tennessee estate sold this piece at auction.  Jim Kaneko was a professor from American River College in California and often tooks breaks to come visit as a guest artist with IMS.  The auction company listed this piece as depicting a man in a racing car with unusual Japanese style glaze decoration.  The car was 9" in length and 4.5" high. 

Note the artist's signature--"Kaneko" on the bottom 

Drinking Vessels

There are different sizes of the vessels line of stoneware that Iron Mountain Stoneware created. There has been much confusion about their purpose and often they are all listed as being used for the same purpose--candlestick holders!  When you see these for sale on eBay or in antique stores, there were actually four sizes.  The largest was intended to be a water goblet, the next smaller size was for white wine, and the next for red wine.  The most shallow of the four was actually intended to be a candleholder--but the other three were for serving either water or wine.  Of course, you can use them for any purpose you wish and the catch-all name of vessels does not limit you to how you use them.  I took a photo of the four sizes today of random ones from my personal collection to help you see them when side-by-side.  Hope that helps some of you with identifying what you currently have or identify the ones you might wish to seek out.

l to r: Roan Mountain water goblet, Ice white wine, Blue Ridge red wine, Whispering Pines candleholder, Freedom Blue candleholder