Hello- there's a very interesting article, "Tradition and Adaptatin (sic) in Moravian Press-Molded  Earthenware        by Johanna Brown"
       on Moravian press molded ceramics which includes some mention of casters- though not really a specific description of what they are.  Its at http://chipstone.com/publications/CIA/2009/brown/brownindex.html  (this is apparently the online component of the Ceramics In America publication- article is contained in the 2009 edition with other Moravian ceramics articles.)

If you check out the illustrations, #'s 26, 37 and 38 are all listed as casters, including #38- a chicken shaped caster with numerous small holes near the top of the piece.  Brown says that ""Chickens" (fig. 38) and "foxes,"[were] designed for dispensing spices or fine powders".

Item#37's description is also useful (the object is a small press molded figural bottle in the shape of a lady). Brown writes, "It has a cluster of small holes in the back and a single, larger hole
in the bottom, suggesting that this object functioned as a caster."  

 Hope that helps- 
-Leo Demski




> Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2010 11:01:47 -0500
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Moravian casters
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> Hi, castors are sugar shakers, and have a perforated top.  They are
> generally larger than salt or pepper shakers, and were in use much earlier.
> Olive Jones
> 
> 
> 
> From:       Michael Bathrick <[log in to unmask]>
> To:         [log in to unmask]
> Date:       11/06/2010 10:58 PM
> Subject:    Re: Moravian casters
> Sent by:    HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY <[log in to unmask]>
> 
> 
> 
> Possibly a cruet?
> 
> Mike
> 
> On 11/5/2010 8:55 PM, Justin Rego wrote:
> > Hey!
> >
> > Could it just be a colloquial term for cast ceramic objects?
> >
> > On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 7:43 PM, Mark
> Branstner<[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> >
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> Just got back from a ceramics exhibition in Milwaukee that focused on
> >> Moravian ceramics from North Carolina ...
> >>
> >> Very, very good exhibition of slip-decorated and cast objects, including
> >> all those really great figural bottles!
> >>
> >> My question is this ... Some of the smaller ceramic figures were
> described
> >> as "casters" ... What the heck is a caster? A quick internet search
> found
> >> nothing relevant.
> >>
> >> Thanks, Mark
> >> --
> >>
> >> Mark C. Branstner, RPA
> >> Historic Archaeologist
> >>
> >> Illinois State Archaeological Survey
> >> Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability
> >> University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
> >> 209 Nuclear Physics Lab, MC-571
> >> 23 East Stadium Drive
> >> Champaign, IL 61820
> >>
> >> Phone: 217.244.0892
> >> Fax: 217.244.7458
> >> Cell: 517.927.4556
> >> [log in to unmask]
> >>
> >>
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> "A
> >> Day At The Races." If you keep on with "At the Circus," etc., suddenly,
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> >> something a bit more competent, like Chaplinism or Stoogeism"  -
> Anonymous
> >>
> >> "I hope there's pudding" - Luna Lovegood (HP5)
> >>
> >
> >