102 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



March, 1913 



sizes from a gill to a gal- 

 lon. One of the most pop- 

 ular of the Sunderland 

 productions was the Frog 

 Mug. This had a band of 

 coloring on the outside and 

 to all appearances was a 

 china mug. Inside, how- 

 ever, was the figure of a 

 frog, bearing the proper 

 coloring, generally crawl- 

 ing up the side, but some- 

 times on the bottom of the 

 inside. These are very 

 Toby mug rare, and one of the best 



specimens is owned by Mrs. David P. Page, of Newbury- 

 port, Massachusetts. 



There was an object in the making of these mugs, for 

 when filled to the brim, the frog was concealed. It was a 

 favorite trick of the innkeeper or of some of the many 

 friends gathered for a convivial drink, to hand one of these 

 mugs, filled, to the innocent victim. Raising the foaming 

 ale to his lips, the unfortunate one would drink deeply only 

 to be startled by the appearance of a frog's head beneath 

 the foam. Sometimes the deception was so real that it 

 was almost an impossibility to make the drinker realize the 

 joke. 



With the revival of cottage ornaments, both old and 

 new, the Toby comes into play. In more elaborate form, 

 it is often a chimney ornament, a reminder of the olden 

 days rather than an actual drinking vessel. Many of them 

 are today as bright in coloring as they were when they 

 came from the Staffordshire potteries so long ago. They 

 are, frankly speaking, drinking mugs, some of them illus- 

 trating bear mugs and jugs and are made in astonishing 

 variety. Few resemble one another enough to make a real 

 pair, and in fact when made in sets, they are often colored 

 differently to give variety. Some of the best specimens 

 are equal to the old colored statuettes. They were made 

 by potters of renown who gave them great care. Among 

 them were prominent the Shepherd Plaid; the Drinking 

 Parson, with his flowing white hair; the Watchman, seated 



with his lantern be- 

 tween his knees; 

 the Sailor, standing 

 by the side of a tree, 

 one bough of which 

 forms the handle, 

 and many other 

 quaint varieties. 



American Tobies were 

 also made. Some of them 

 made at Bennington are of 

 a peculiar mottled brown 

 and are considered very 

 good. The most distin- 

 guished of these show like- 

 nesses of Washington, 

 Ethan Allen and Ben 

 Franklin. The pottery was 

 discontinued in 1849. 



The quaint gay colored 

 bits that were once so pro- 

 fusely made but which, with 

 the lapse of time, have dis- 



Toby mustard-pot 



appeared, are today comparatively few. They stand promi- 

 nently among collectors' interest as the most convivial of all 

 drinking vessels — called "Toby" from the thirsty old soul 

 who invented them. Many of them are most genial in 

 appearance, while others have disagreeable leering faces 

 which should, under ordinary circumstances, dispel the 

 drinker from partaking of his social glass of foaming beer 

 from one of these odd, picturesque old mugs. 



Gabriel Varden, so Dickens tells us, drank out of just such 

 a mug as this, replenished constantly by the hand of Dolly 

 Varden, who sat near him at table. Maybe the jug from 

 which he drark was a Staffordshire one, gay with its red 

 coat and its green trousers, for the Staffordshire jugs show 

 more brilliant coloring than any others. Probably the most 

 prominent of all these makers and designers of Tobies was 

 Ralph Wood, whose colorings, mentioned before, were ex- 

 tremely delicate. Of course there were other potters who 

 took to figure making, which resulted in a deluge of this kind 

 of drinking mug. Commencing with the great Wedgewood 

 himself, who started this work before he fell in love with 

 the Greek school of statuary, we descend to such men as 

 Voyez, Neale, Wood, and Caldwell, Bott and Company, 

 Wilson, Lakin, Poole, and Walton. From many of these 

 men we have marked pieces, although few tobies are thus 

 designated. 



Davenport's name occurs most often on Toby jugs, some 

 of which are shown in rare collections in the museums of 

 all parts of England. 



Tobies representing animals are more rare than those representing human figures 



