Expert: Leisha Hiester - 9/4/2010

Question
I have an old ceramic pitcher that I put water in and put in
the frig. 3 days later the pitchers is "leaking" or "sweating"
this brown liquid. What could that be? Will it stop? Is it
safe to use? on the bottom of the pitcher it says USA then a
symbol that looks like L A with 2 check marks

Answer
Cynthia,
Do you have a photo of the pitcher? It sounds like the glaze has cracked or crackled over the years from the inside and out. You may want to stop using it. The brown liquid could be any number of things, but is most likely caused by the water seeping through the cracks, could be dirt, old clay, old glaze. Better safe than sorry. You could have it clear glazed inside and out and refired to seal it, but if it is old and valuable you may want to preserve it.

Leisha