Featured Need some info on an old Toby Jug

Johnny,

I suspected it was around 5" so I was close! It is more like a stein but is still called a toby jug with a hinged lid.

So what you have is a 19th Century English Bacchus Toby Stein Jug. With the flaws in the stoneware it will diminish the value because they are quite visible. You also have pitting in the stoneware and a chip in the base and the seam on the right side I'm not sure but may have a problem. Again, not sure, so I'll leave that out of my assessment. But even with these flaws this is a desirable jug. Being a stein makes this a bit more rare. So it has some plus and some minuses. But with that said, I still think you can get a desirable amount for the jug. Now if it was perfect, it would be worth much more. Other than the chip in the bottom rim, all the rest occurred in the process of making the jug and not much you can do about that. It seems to me the clay was not kneaded enough to get tiny bubbles out, it was rushed! Thus causing cracks where bubbles exploded in the kiln and pitting in the surface. Many jugs like this were mass produced in their day. But sadly most don't survive and few are around today.

Since I'm in the US, I will give an estimate in US dollars and you can convert to British Pounds. So with all that I've said about the jug and the condition, I would value this jug between $150‐$175. Now keep in mind, this jug has no makers mark, so it would be more with that but without a maker you have no idea who made it. If this was in perfect condition and I would value this around $350.

I am a collector of miniature toby jugs. He's certainly within the height range of tobys that I collect and I like him very much. But let me make something perfectly clear. I never give an assessment of a toby based on whether I'm interested or not. That is not ethical. I base my opinion on my years of study and experience. I've studied toby jugs many years and I've seen just about every toby out there, but there are still a few nuggets such as this that still surprise me! And that's exciting and makes what's fun about the continued search. I've recently acquired 2 expensive tobys so it's hard when you have to fold as they say in a card game! Lol!

I hope you got what you need now to be able to put this jug up for sale! Good luck!
Dana

 

Wonderful information, Dana. I would just like to add that the value could be different in the UK.

 

Hi, I buy many jugs from the UK or from all over the world for that matter. I have not found that to be the case. Just convert to Bitish Pounds. I was generous in my assessment and feel Johnny will be able to find himself a buyer! Thanks for your reply, good concern!

 

Thank you For your wonderful assessment Dana.

 

I'd be boggled if it got anywhere near that here. I sold a Ridgways 1835 sprigged jug, pewter lid, and it got a whole ten pounds. Tobys are way out of fashion my side of the pond. Even relatively rare Beswick and Doulton ones are £30 to £50.

Best bet is have a look on Ebay UK - or even talk to a local auction house. I'd not expect him to to go much more than £20.

 

Sorry to here you didn't have luck with your jug Ownerbybear. But UK toby jugs are much more popular than you think. I buy all the time from the UK and see a lot of tobys way out of my league in value. It's an acquired taste as they say. For people who collect, and there are many of us, finding the right jug, the rare jug, the one I've been looking for a long time jug can be a tremendous find! It's like anything that someone collects. But those of us who collect toby jugs are a rare breed ourselves. It's an old art form. Even if some have been made in more recent years, it still started in the 1750s. And character jugs, just the heads, didn't come in until sometime in the 1800s. So it's not like we collect Coca Cola items. But once you've been bitten by the toby jug bug, it's not something that you tend to buy just one of. I have somewhere between 400-600 jugs. It's been too long since I've counted and so I'd say it's probably over 500 at least. And I really need to invest in a much larger cabinet! Cause I've outgrown what I'm in now! But I can say, no one I know collects them. And anytime I mention to anyone what I collect, no one knows what they are. But I live in the southern US and it's not tremendously popular here. So when I say I tend to buy from all over the world, I do. I buy where they are more popular and the UK is one of those places because let's face it, England is the birthplace of the Toby Jug!

 

Johnny,

I would like to add that Ownedbybear may have one thing right. But it's not the price. There are places to sell online and Ebay is certainly one of them. I often visit eBay UK. All it takes is turning off auto location and changing my location from the United States to the United Kingdom. Sometimes a seller is willing to ship to the US. The reason I do this is the quality of jugs in the UK is much better than most of what I find in eBay in the US. Occasionally I find some really great stuff. But its constant searching to find the nuggets here in the US. Another is a site here in the US called Etsy. It has all kinds of things and yes I find tobys there. Let's just say you were willing to ship to the US, and I would let the buyer pay shipping, and with your rare jug you would be on the higher end of most of the quality of jugs out there. The reasons, most jugs are from Japan or poor quality or mass produced. But if you are not interested in setting up with PayPal and paying online fees with them then antique stores would be a place to try. But keep in mind, they want it cheap so they can mark it up! And they will make you think it's not worth much just so they can buy low and sell high. Selling online has it's pros and cons. You get to set your own price. But you also have to remember the cost of shipping, the cost & and fees of using PayPal. And you can't use eBay or Etsy without having a PayPal account. The account is free but the fees and their charges do take away from your net results. Many people will say free shipping and add that into the price of the item. But be sure you know where your willing to ship to. Otherwise, let the buyer incur the cost. But many like that "free shipping". I've taken a course on how to sell on Ebay and that's one thing they pushed, add that into your selling price and offer free shipping that way, the buyer knows exactly what their buying and they think their getting something for free. Just a little free advise. Hope this helps. You may know of popular sites in the UK if you only want to ship to the UK. But even if you use eBay UK you can limit the shipping to just the United Kingdom and that's where I'd use the free shipping. Not to the US or worldwide.

If you do sell online be sure to mention that it's rare. I don't if mind if you mention that you had a 40 yr toby collector see it and they had never seen one like this before. Toby steins are not commonplace and even online, I don't see them very often. It's not like I've never seen one but they don't come around to see them frequently.

Again good luck!
Dana

 

Hi Dana.
I'm actually in Australia.

To be honest, I think that it's worth more to my family in sentimental value than monetarily. Maybe we can hand it down a couple more generations. Who knows?
I'll see what my mum thinks.

 

My value idea is based on auctions here, antique fairs here, malls here and online venues here, including Facebok marketplace and Etsy. Not just Ebay, where I don't sell over much if I can help it. I do best selling to dealers, private collectors and shops, mind you.

Free shipping in the UK would mean making no money at all on things like this. They simply aren't in fashion here.

I'd hang on to it, anyhow.

 

Johnny,

I've checked out eBay Australia, there are over 1000 tobys listed. Mind you that most people don't know the difference between character jugs and toby jugs so they all seem to get lumped into the same category. I searched All categories and here's my search: toby +(mug,mugs,jug,jugs,pitcher,pitchers) this seems to work well for me on eBay. Now I'd say there's probably about 50 items on Australia's eBay that aren't tobys but when I went to try and limit using the category I lost most of the jugs so 50 is not bad. But you'll also see jewelry and this is not a mistake. There are toby jug charms. So with all that said, I didn't find any toby jug steins. So I only checked in case you decide to sell. There are many sellers from Australia but I noticed other sellers selling there.

But keeping it in the family does sound like a wonderful idea. I bought a collection this year of French toby jugs. The owner was an 80 yr old man who finally decided to downsize his collections but this one was special to him and he wanted the right person to get it. His grandmother had bought the first one a 100 years ago. And it was passed to his mother, then down to him. He called it a pitcher. He liked it because it had a unique expression on its face. One day while visiting France, he went into an Antique Shop. And there was another similar to his with a different expression. He loved the eyebrows, eyes, eyelashes, nose, mouth etc. Just every part that made up the face. If it was different he began to look for more but there was two hitches, they all had to be the same molded toby and been created from the same potter and therefore region of France. And so they were. He collected for many, many years and he finally had 8. He collected so long, he no longer remembered which one was the one his grandmother had bought. And he never realized he had forgotten until I asked him. Thru age and time, that memory had been lost. But he decided to put them up for sale on eBay. He lives in the US and I happen to be the lucky person to find them. He wanted a pretty penny for them but what was worth it to me was not just the tobys, but the story that came with them. And the love he had collecting them which is the same passion I have. He soon found out, I was the person he was looking for to take care of them and would cherish them and enjoy them. Everyday I wake up and see them and I love it! But it's this way with many I own!

So if you have a story with this jug, write it down, roll it up and put it inside and keep the jug in the family. Because someday you might not remember the details that your daughter, son, granddaughter, grandson or whomever down the line might want to know!

Dana