I have a ceramic (brown) bottle with glazed finish with a logo stamped in it with RHENS & crossed keys?

Question

also stamped below logo is RHEIN:PREUSSEN
Bottle is 11 1/2 inches tall and 3 inches in diameter. Has jug handle at top logo also has cross in it.

Answer 1

Rhine Province, Ger. Rheinprovinz, former province of Prussia, W Germany. The province was also known as Rhenish Prussia and as the Rhineland . The northern section of the former province (which contained part of the industrial Ruhr district) is now included in the state of North.

Rhens is a town and a municipality in the district Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, approx. 10 km south of Koblenz.

So it seems as though this ceramic bottle was made in Rhens vicinity the Rhenish Prussia.

The image of Jesus giving Peter the “Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven” is such a familiar image that just the symbol of two crossed keys has come to represent the office of Peter and his successors, the bishops of Rome.

Is this a jug containing spirits from a local cloister or monastery? Don't know.

Answer 2

Well, it's obviously German -- probably Prussian (an area of Germany). I beleive German ceramics went many places. I think some have been found on colonial American archaeological sites, but yours is probably newer than that.

Answer 3

Sounds like a rum jar...