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Contributions
from Toby Jug Collectors.
Have you a contribution
to make to collecting antique toby jugs? Do they inspire
your thoughts of a past generation? Have you memories of
purchasing a special toby or maybe it's the first toby jug
you ever owned?( a photo would be good). Do you own an unrecorded
antique toby that you are willing to show others or was
an older relative a collector?
The "Meet the
Real Collectors" page has had such a nice response
that I'm sure other like minded collectors would like to
read some of the fascinating stories of how you started
your own collection. Many tales were told to me at exhibitions
about a favourite jug or a rare market find, write in at
the contact address and we will print a few of the tales
that have inspired you. If you send in a photo of a single
toby or a collection group please make sure you have copyright
of ownership.
If you have an antique
toby question to ask and its of an interesting subject for
collectors I'll give it a mention.
All info maybe given
in the strictest confidence- names can be withheld if required.
It would just be nice to hear about tobies from different
points of view.
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Story A:
I'll start you off
with us finding at auction our very first genuine Ralph
Wood toby jug, when we first collected Ralph Wood models
were very rare and if dealers did find them they were always
whisked off to collectors of a higher stature in the USA,
this made us all the more determined to source our own jugs
....... It's the very early 1980's..... Sitting in the front
row of Sotheby's is the dealer we had met a couple of days
previously & talked his
head off on toby jugs, propped up against a piano was one
of the most famous Kensington pottery specialists.... we
were going to bid against these people, our hearts were
racing and the concentration was intense. Our lot arrived
& we bid & bid....a now much cherished Ralph Wood
that is remembered very well.
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Story B:
My second tale is
finding a "Roman Nose". During our early collector/dealer
years we both had full time work....Diane was a hairdresser
and all day long saloon conversation would be toby based...the
clients either loved it or chose someone else to style their
hair! A client popped in one day to say she had just seen
a toby with a hefty price tag at the Edgebaston Cricket
Ground Antiques Fair. The reply "she must have read
the price tag wrong as such an expensive jug would never
be exhibited there". The jug wasn't followed up but
over the following weekend Stafford County Showground Antiques
Fair was running and to our delight Ray spotted the jug
across the tables from about fifty feet. Our hearts were
in meltdown.....the dealer had heard about the enthusiastic
Birmingham collectors that purchased toby jugs and was hiking
the said jug all over just to meet us, there was also a
toby friend a "Village Idiot"...you can see him
in the Capt Price book or in Vic's book 3 page 78 and the
"Roman Nose" well he is just a thing that dreams
are made of.....see Vic Schuler page 74 or check them both
out on the group shot at www.rarepottery.com front/home
page group photo. We follow their new homes with great interest.
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Remarks C:
Hi Diane, Good to
see the new site & congratulations. My first memory
of you both was walking into the NEC to be hit by a wall
of toby jugs, it was amazing. Diane had just purchased a
deceased estate and the display was fantastic-you are truly
missed.
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Answer C:
Thanks for you kind
comments.Regards, Diane.
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Story D: The
Ralph Wood Toby Jug family - the musings of a collector
A Christmas book
token in 1987 initiated a passion for antique Toby jugs
that has lasted now for more than 23 years and indeed shows
no sign of diminishing. The book token was converted into
Vic Schuler's classic Toby collector's bible which held
within its pages a telephone number to connect with the
parallel Toby universe of Ray and Diane Ginns. The telephone
number was a footnote to an advert depicting a black and
white image of an early Ralph Wood Toby that had long since
been sold. Yet jugs like the humans they portray do not
stay in the same place for ever. So this old monochrome
image recently came magnificently back to life, via Ray
and Diane, as a stunningly rich and luminously coloured
jug with a saffron and burnt sienna coat, an unusually deep
green waistcoat and lashings of treacly manganese which
also contributes to a dark facial complexion. This jug has
a large hat which contributes significantly to the impact
it makes among its Ralph Wood cousins but surprisingly is
a relatively rare variant along with, albeit to a lesser
extent, its scroll back chair. It
should not be considered a surprise that this remarkably
eye-catching jug caught the discerning eye of Viscount Macintosh
in whose collection it once resided and before him in another
great collection that of F Stacey Hooker. The hope now is
that this magnificent jug, newly acquired and residing on
our shelves can spend another 20 plus years in our collection.
However I harbour another hope. This jug shares its distinctive
large hat with the ever elusive Roman Nose model whose aquiline
features appear only very rarely indeed on Toby radar. Twice
I have forsaken the opportunity to acquire this iconic model.
However with patience and with jugs willing to sacrifice
their place in our collection hopefully another 23 years
of waiting will not be necessary before being able to acquire
an example of this most desirable of jugs. It can then sit
alongside other limited output early Ralph Wood models that,
based on a sparse pattern of survival, must have failed
to be considered for what might pass as eighteenth century
"mass production" of the more standard models
i.e. usually described as the ordinary model and the raised
cup model .
Possibly Ray or Diane can shed light on why the standard
ordinary and raised cup jugs which are so much more widely
available should have dominated production within the Ralph
Wood pantheon of Toby jugs. This seems to have been to the
exclusion of such utterly delightful variations that add
so much excitement to Toby collecting and is exemplified
wonderfully by the attached illustration.
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Answer
D: Nice to know you really like the saffron coated toby
and consider him rarer than the ordinary Ralph Wood models
but with 23 years of collecting it becomes difficult to
find that special toby that is a little different from the
average. We all aspire to pieces we don't have and that's
what keeps us collecting, although to obtain the six ordinary
traditional model variants by R.Wood from scratch is quite
a task. In the 1980's you would only see one or two R.Wood
raised cups for sale per year, a few Roman Nose tobies over
the decade, but the toby never to be seen was the Sharp-Face.
As time has moved on, collections come back on to the market
and tastes change, what was once rare now becomes easier
to obtain. For most collectors to aspire to a Ralph Wood
in any model is their dream so let's keep looking for that
elusive jug.
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(Story
D): This toby on the left is the Collectors "Mac"
Collection saffron & burnt sienna coat. A Ralph
Wood model Late c18th. who smokes a pipe.
On
the right is a similar model toby that was a feature
in the Jug of the Month for November 11 at www.rarepottery.com
Toby has a pipe at the back of his little jug resting
across his tummy. Ralph Wood circa late 18th century.
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Story E: Bilbao.
(I am before the computer with the firm intention of
writing my story. I do not know how to start but I will
go ahead).
My collection sticker
tells "A G .Toby Jug Collection. Basque Country. Ref.n.…
" It's not easy to explain how I became a toby jug
enthusiast. My deep passion began with a long relationship
between Bilbao, where I've spent my life, and England. Antique
deals have given me many examples of British furniture and
pottery, and in my home town it's easy to see Masons, Royal
Doulton tableware and decorative pieces.
As it usually happens my wife had a big influence on my
collecting, looking forward to accompanying her to purchase
pottery we especially liked Imari colours and patterns.
Additional items were purchased from my business trips to
England and this has now extended into a good collection
of early Masons and Royal Doulton and she's also a member
of the Collectors Club. It's easy to understand were my
passions started as I have been identifying in my mind British
pottery and jugs, from Imari to commemoratives. But my ideas
"jumped" when seeing my first Toby whilst on a
trip to Jersey, it was unforgettable and it just had to
be mine. Looking at him now the realization is of a poor
Victorian example with small, if any, attractive details
but he did awaken my collecting passion.
From this first experience started a long pilgrimage looking
for information and books about tobies as a guide for a
good collection. I was dedicated but it was very difficult,
the references on the Internet are scarce and not alive,
really disappointing! A web page was down loaded with wider
information that gave me the first insight into the Toby's
fabulous world, emailed for some details but no one replied.
Now, three years later, the web remains in the same situation,
this is a big problem for new collectors. I think that the
initiative of Diane and Ray is an extraordinary help for
bridging this gap and I'll do the best from my side to help
them.
Not giving up: An art (paintings) collector friend advised
me to search through eBay. Fortunately it helped send me
in the right direction (never again seen on eBay anything
of interest) to find a very nice early creamware toby, the
first serious example in my collection. What was more important
it introduced me to a good dealer that advised me and has
provided very important tobies, he's become a good friend
and what an emotional moment when the first packages sent
were opened. A "Thin Man" and later "The
Squire"…many others followed and from then my
collection was to have two themes, very special tobies and
Ralph Wood.
Can't forget my first correspondence with Diane, I asked
about a toby and she wondered about me as a collector. After
that first email I have much to thank her for, it was a
lucky meeting for me. She helped to delve deeper into my
tobies with many articles and documentation. The enjoyment
Diane's excellent tobies have given me whilst they sit on
my shelves, my memories when remembering their own stories.
My favourite is a Prattware Martha Gunn with her kiln defect
in the base, I was not convinced but Diane told me of her
merits and fortunately I agreed.
The collection is now rather important, this gives me hours
of pleasure and I must confess that these persons are responsible
for giving me a passionate and enjoyable collecting experience...
( Find A.G's favourite in the Martha article group photo,
top right, corner of her base glazed over in firing)
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Story F:
Canada.
My collecting
story doesn't cover my best or rarest or most expensive
toby, but, my first and still my most favourite toby.
I started my collecting by buying Beswicks, Doultons,
and other unmarked tobies but had no luck finding
antique English examples until 1980 when a large antique
market which included 15 or 20 american dealers came
to Toronto for three days.
I walked the entire show and found only one Staffordshire
toby and it was marked "Ralph Wood type circa
1840" by the dealer. I went back to the booth
a number of times to look at it and finally I called
my wife to tell her about the toby that I was so excited
about.
I described a toby like I'd never seen before: beautifully
modelled, well glazed, and you could even look down
the spout and see the fingerprints of the man who
made it!
In spite of being very nervous about the price I bought
the toby and so began a 30 year education in early
English tobies.
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Story G: UK.
Starting to collect
Toby jugs in the 1980s……………….
It has been great to see Diane and Ray's antique Toby web-site
start to become established. It promises to be a mine of
useful information. Even though I have had an interest in
Toby jugs going back around
30 years, I have already acquired new knowledge and understanding
from the site.
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I was
particularly struck by the piece about Leonard and Jean
Russell and the accompanying black and white photograph
of the early stock. I first visited Leonard and Jean
in 1982 in the company of my late parents, both of whom
were ceramics enthusiasts. My father, who was already
in possession of two or three 19th century Toby jugs,
was very keen to see some earlier examples. We were
all just amazed at the variety of Toby models on display;
two of us in particular (my father and I) were completely
hooked as a result (I still am). When we left after
that visit, there were three extra passengers in the
car, a floreat base jug and two Pratt ware ordinary
models. The latter jugs are shown in the image below,
scanned from a photograph supplied by Leonard at the
time, and both can be seen on the shelves behind Leonard
in the photograph accompanying Diane's piece. The jug
with the orange and blue coat, which has a great glaze,
was my first Toby purchase and this jug and the blue
coated model (bought by my father) are still in my possession
- the floreat base one went to the auction house just
a few years ago, following the purchase of another floreat
base jug, this time a more desirable collier model.
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Two further trips
to Leonard and Jean in that same year led to the purchase
of four more jugs, including a Walton factory Sinner model
and a Wood factory raised hand model with a dark green coat
and extensive gilding on the hat. The latter jug we were
told had also been of interest to two collectors from Birmingham
(Diane and Ray), who we were not to meet until a few years
later.......
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Story H:
As you know, I only
started collecting about two years ago with my granddaughter
in mind. I wanted her to have something handed down that
was really very British and toby jugs came to mind. My intention
was to purchase "one or two" nice pieces only.
Well, the inevitable happened and I got hooked. Now, here
I am two years later just starting to fill cabinet No. 5.
Thanks to helpful people like yourself, I am having a blast.
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Copyright
© 2011 : All rights reserved Ray and Diane Ginns www.antiquetobyjugs.com
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