Sure enough, it was: the project for a ceramics class at Churchill High School in Eugene, Ore., characterized as a unique art piece from the Mid-Atlantic coast of 19th-century America. Fletcher ...

But his joy was short-lived. The handmade piece, covered in straw and chicken droppings when Barr bought it, turned out to be a high school art project made in 1973 by Betsy Soule in Oregon.

Sure enough, it was: the project for a ceramics class at Churchill High School in Eugene, Ore., characterized as a unique art piece from the Mid-Atlantic coast of 19th-century America. Fletcher ...