Western Stoneware Co. Mug Set of Two | WS Maple Leaf Mark | Brown Drip Glaze | Loop Handle | Monmouth Illinois | circa 1960s–1970s | Stoneware | Kitchen Decor

The brown on these goes deep. A warm toffee-to-mahogany stoneware glaze covers the lower two-thirds of each mug, glossy and smooth; the upper third carries a thick foam-white drip that breaks and bleeds into the brown in an irregular line the kiln — not a template — decided. The loop handle is a flat tab with a circular hole punched through it: something to grip with one finger while the rest of the hand stays clear of the heat. These are working mugs. The weight tells you immediately.

Western Stoneware Company formed in Monmouth, Illinois in 1906 from the merger of seven regional pottery operations. Monmouth had been producing utilitarian stoneware since 1894 — crocks, butter churns, jugs, bowls — the full vocabulary of a working American kitchen. When the company reorganized, it kept the maple leaf mark of the original Monmouth Pottery as its own, a symbol of a city known for its maple trees and often called Maple City. That maple leaf, with the initials "W S" beneath it, is impressed into the base of each of these mugs.

These soup mugs belong to Western Stoneware's mid-century kitchenware production — heavy, oven-safe stoneware made for American tables that expected their equipment to outlast the family that bought it. Sold as a matched set of two. Both mugs bear the impressed WS maple leaf mark.

Condition: Both mugs are structurally sound — no chips, cracks, or repairs to either piece. The brown drip glaze boundary shows characteristic kiln firing variation, with brown bleeding through the white at the irregular border; this is authentic to the manufacture. Interiors clean. Loop handles intact on both.

Hunter's Notes

Washington, Michigan garage sale. June 2025. The woman was downsizing. Her husband had given her these mugs — she used them for special occasions up north, around the campfire. She didn't want to part with the story. I can imagine someone carrying it forward. The weight in the hand is exactly right for a cold night and something warm inside.

The Archive Record — JLM-250015

Product Specs