mackintosh quality toby jug collector

Harold Vincent Mackintosh 1891-1964

The Rt. Honorable Lord Mackintosh of Halifax:- On the 28th January 1935 he was made a Baronet of Halifax, the 6th February 1948 he became Lord Mackintosh of Halifax & on the 10th July 1957, Viscount Mackintosh of Halifax.

An avid collector of toby jugs which sold through Sotheby's in various auction sales starting on 2nd May 1967, the first part of his collecting years was logged in his book Early English Figure Pottery ( Chapman & Hall 1938).

We were first introduced to Mackintosh when we began collecting toby jugs. The catalogue of his first sale was very impressive consisting of mainly running glaze jugs, many from the Wood factory.... enamel tobies were lacking probably because they were then considered to be later in date. A Lord Mackintosh quote which we refer back to constantly when describing Ralph Wood toby jugs is that when in a row their colours are as wonderful as looking at stained glass windows. We also learned a little about the man when an old collector/friend, (sadly not with us any more) told us about his meetings with him at out of the way country auctions in their quest for finding rare pottery & toby jugs, these sales were hit and miss affairs which are sadly a thing of the past.

His collection consisted of some real rarities, Rodney jugs, two fine King Hal's, a Tipsy-Man and two Welshmen, the majority of the other fine models are those we all aspire to own. Bygone collectors lived with the fact that figures have damage, this has its merits as what you see is what you get. Over time several well documented toby jugs have passed through our hands, some good and some not so good but there has always been an enthusiastic appetite to own pieces from this famous collection

Another major roll in his life was as a confectioner and in 1936 he conceived the company's Quality Street product, these were an assortment of seventeen brightly wrapped toffees and chocolates, some packaged in tins and we have one illustrated below, its design showing part of Lord Mackintosh's toby collection. The "Quality Street" brand is still popular today and thank goodness so are the toby jugs!

Mackintosh's Quality Street tin showing some of his toby jug collection.

A good Mackintosh toby jug in perfect condition.

The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford has some of the Lord Mackintosh tobies originally purchased by Lloyd-.Maxwell.

The Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia) link below tells the story of the man whose toby jugs are as famous throughout the world as the confectionary he made.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Mackintosh,_1st_Viscount_Mackintosh_of_Halifax