Rodney for ever

I love novelty mugs. My roommate and I have a pretty hefty collection.


And I love looking at other people's mugs when I'm in their kitchen. It's not as good as snooping in their bookshelves, of course--but then, what is?

A Lily Among Thorns has a scene where my hero makes hot chocolate for my heroine after she wakes up from a nightmare.  I knew if Solomon were living today, he'd be one of those guys who owns six mismatched plates and four mugs, all of which were given him by his family ("Team Jacob" from his little sister, "Chemists do it on a table periodically" from his uncle, and a Moulin Rouge souvenir mug from his twin brother's semester in Paris).  But I wasn't sure what the Regency equivalent would be.  Turns out the Regency equivalent is novelty mugs!  Consumer impulses haven't changed much at all.  There were commemorative mugs, mugs with political cartoons on, souvenir mugs from places...

I ended up giving Solomon one that said "A Present from Swansea" (he's from Cheshire, which borders Wales), and one with Nelson's portrait on it. I took the first one directly from this lovely plate in the Swansea Museum:


It's from 1855, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I'm a little in love with this plate, to be honest.

Nelson memorabilia was a huge thing. You can see lots more of it in this Molly Joyful blog post and this auction website, but here's one of my favorites (from that second link), a Staffordshire jug with Nelson on one side and Hardy on the other. The site gives it a tentative date of 1810, but all the other similar ones I've seen were released closer to Trafalgar, so who knows. (Any Nelson/Hardy 'shippers in the house? If you haven't seen this Kate Beaton comic, you definitely should.)



Amazingly, I found another example of the EXACT SAME JUG, only painted to say "Captain Berry"!  I like to imagine that it was common for girls to ask each other, "Are you Team Hardy or Team Berry?"

Here are a few of my favorites from Martyn Edgell Antiques, a great resource for these. This one was apparently put out for an election. The caption says, "Sir Philip Musgrave was elected M.P. for Westmoreland."

Neatly painted blue-and-white plate reading 'Sir Philip Musgrave Bart. and the Constitution' over crossed flags

Why don't politicians do this now? Or do they and I just don't know about it?

 Here's one that I almost want to leave without any context because it's so amazing:


Rodney for ever! You can see some more angles and the outside of the bowl at the site, here, which says "Pearlware bowl commemorating Lord Rodney, circa 1790." Turns out he's another British naval hero. My favorite line of his Wikipedia entry is probably, "In London he suggested to Lord George Germain that George Washington could 'certainly be bought--honours will do it.'" (But the whole thing is really interesting!)

I'll end with a couple of cool Queen Caroline mugs:

Short round white mug with a wide painted red rim and a black-and-white design. In the center is a faded portrait of Queen Caroline surrounded by the text 'If you wish, to know a Bright Star of the Morn, That cheers a whole nation, all lost and forlorn, 'Tis that Feminine Planet long may she shine, Heaven protect her, our QUEEN CAROLINE'


The site says this is to commemorate her death in 1821.

mug with a metallic rim, missing handle, and black and white portrait of the queen with 'God save Queen Caroline' written below it

This one's in the Museum of London. Apparently the other side reads:

As for the Green-Bag crew 
Justice will have its due 
God Save the Queen! 
Confound their politicks 
Frustrate their knavish tricks 
On HER our hopes we fix 
God Save the Queen! 

("Green-Bag crew" is a reference to the royal divorce trial, when George IV submitted the alleged evidence of his wife's adultery to the House of Lords in two green bags.)

Tell me about your favorite mug!

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