HISTORY:
A nice piece of "Australiana" which was sent to us in the 1990's as a gift ("thought you might like this") but the trouble is, we do not drink wine! Besides that small detail, we didn't really have anywhere to display it ... it doesn't really "sit well" with my wife's fabulous late 19th/early 20th Century fine bone china from England so now it is time to find a new home for this flagon.
So this is basically unused but checked before advertising as it has been sitting in a dark cupboard for well on 30 years now!
Please read on if flagons are your "thing" ...
OLD BALLARAT POTTERY AUSTRALIA - Small Wine Flagon (With Side Tap)
Circa early 1990's
Ceramic - Earthernware
Handcrafted in Victoria
UNUSED
All ceramic except the top bung and surrounding the tap, these are natural cork.
The tap is all metal and looks to be Brass
Top carry handle and sensibly placed so that when the flagon is lifted, it remains balanced
Top cork bung is not stained nor tainted (no smells!)
DIMENSIONS:
240mm height x 155mm diameter main body
The tap extends outwards a further 80mm on one side
WEIGHT (Empty): 1.8Kg
FLUID CAPACITY:
Using water, I can tell you that the comfortable FULL capacity is 2.75L, any more and the liquid is going up the neck of the flagon.
The tap operates (when the flagon is on a level surface) at around 700mL, any less liquid and the flagon will need to be tilted to extract the elixir of the grapes
Labelling is primarily on the side of the flagon, a ceramic badge and next to it is a paper stick on label and on the other side of the ceramic badge is one of the old "Australian made" Green/Gold stickers.
Underneath there is nothing stamped into the ceramic but instead there is yet another paper label which identifies this as their product K49 plus a barcode
COSMETIC CONDITION:
OLD but not used for the partaking of wines (or other liquids)!
NO cracks
NO chips
NO crazing observed to the outside of the flagon and I don't believe there is any inside (it's a bit tough to look around inside with a light!)
NO discolouration to the main speckled creamy White body or the top Olive Green colouring.
The Brass tap moves properly and is a dull Gold colour, I did give it a little "rub up" but then stopped as I was worried this would spoil the overall image of the flagon.
The cork top bung is not flaky or deteriorating at all - not rock solid hard either, it feels nice. No discolouration observed and no "old wine" smells, as you would expect
The metal side tap is embedded within a cork plug, this is also not discoloured and looks sound.
During my liquid measurement tests above, I carefully checked for a leaking tap and if it was not functioning properly - everything is fine, no drips ... nice and dry
SPECIAL NOTE:
Worried about the cost of shipping? My website offers discounted shipping based on the order value and the first discount begins at A$30 so if you add anything else to your order (costing more than $1) then the shipping Australia wide is fixed at $9 but wait there's more ... add a few more things so the order exceeds $75 in total and the shipping is absolutely FREE (only within Australia)
