Antique pot served costly chocolate to Victorian ladies.
This chocolate pot, still in excellent condition, was a gift to my grandmother years ago. There’s a faded six-star marking on the bottom. Can you tell me more?
—G.C., Council Bluffs, Iowa
What’s it Worth?
Today we like to serve hot chocolate to children. During the Victorian era, though, cocoa was very expensive, so it was a ladies’ beverage—children saw precious little of it! You can tell this is a chocolate pot, rather than a coffeepot, demitasse pot or lemonade pot, because of the height and shape. Chocolate pots stand 8 to 13 inches tall, and accompanying cups are tall and narrow. The pot’s spout is an integral part of the top rim. Some finials could be removed to insert a stirring rod to whip the chocolate to a froth before serving, much as in today’s specialty coffee drinks.
The finial and handle were molded separately. Here, bigger is better—an oversized handle is easier to grip. This octagonal, fluted design is especially nice, with moss-green decorations on every other panel. Any gilt would have been applied over the glaze. Pots were sold singly, and cups with saucers were sold in pairs. That’s why you see chocolate pot sets with such widely varying numbers of cups. (Of course, breakage is also a factor.)
The faint back stamp marking appears to be the mark for E. Leber & Son, Stern Porcelain Manufactory, Tiefenfurt, Silesia, Germany. Your exquisite chocolate pot is in beautiful condition, a delight to see. It’s worth about $350.
—Barbara J. Eash (Country Woman Magazine’s Antiques Expert)