Rare Anna Pottery Stoneware Frog Paperweight with Coleslaw-Decorated Base, Signed "Anna, Ills.," Wallace and Cornwall Kirkpatrick, Anna, IL, circa 1875, circular disc of clay with applied extruded clay grass, surmounted by a molded figure of a frog with incised details and impressed eyes. Light traces of paint to surface. Underside incised "Anna Ills" and covered in a rust-colored Albany slip glaze. The use of a smaller-sized molded frog and early-style signature, "Anna, Ills.", indicates this scarce form was made relatively early in the Kirkpatricks' employment of the frog as a decorative element. The use of extruded clay pieces as grass on the base is a very unusual treatment among known Kirpatrick products. This paperweight is the first of its exact style we have seen. Provenance: Recently discovered in England, this paperweight possibly traveled across the Atlantic with its previous owner as an American souvenir. An in-the-firing base chip and some losses to grass, which also appears to be in-the-firing. Diameter 3 3/4".