Western Stoneware (Monmouth) Pottery bean pot

This bean pot by Western Stoneware Pottery of Monmouth, IL is 6.5" high minus the lid and 7.5" in diameter minus the handles and weighs in at 4 lbs empty and 9 lbs when filled with the 10 cups of water it holds. It is marked "USA" on the bottom. This is a big pot.

Even though the company has been called Western Stone ware for decades it is still often referred to as Monmouth pottery. Monmouth Pottery used a variety of marks, a maple leaf, "USA", "Monmouth Pottery" or no mark at all. I have seen this bean pot marked all of these ways.

The lid on this pot fits really poorly, not resting flat into the recessed top of the pot regardless of how it is turned. It may be that it has never been used. I think that to use it as a bean pot the lid would have to be fitted to the pot by sanding or filing the edge to fit. I used it as a cookie jar for some years, but the fact that the lid did not seal makes it a bad cookie jar for loose cookies. The lid appears to be original to this pot, matching other Monmouth pots and with identical colored glaze to the body. The quality, in general, appears to be very good, so I do not know why the fit of the lid is so poor. It is way too large for me to ever use to make a bean dish in unless I froze most of it.

Historically, until recent times, every American home had one or more of these pots. They were the "Crock pot" of their time. Posting this one as a contrast to the small, antique pot that I recently posted.

Not sure if the link below is correct, or not, that this pottery is still functioning in some capacity.

https://web.extension.illinois.edu/buildingec/stories.cfm?categoryid=9707