Shaving Mugs

neocaligatio · Monday August 31, 2009

Knowing I collect 'old' shaving items, my grandmother recently dropped these in to me:

Mug 1 - some small chips to the spout:

Logo on base:

Mug 2:

Logo:

Mug 3:

Mug 4:

Both 3 & 4 have this design on the back and nothing underneath:

Interesting lot eh? Anyone know anything about them?

Unruhe · Monday August 31, 2009

I can't say I do. However, those are pretty nice finds. As it happens, I'm reading about the first world war at the moment, so the first couple stand out in particular. You must know how everything possible is stamped with somebody's face when it comes to a royal or national event. These probably came from a production line somewhere.

neocaligatio · Monday August 31, 2009

Sounds about right! I'm imagining these were churned out in large volumes at some point - the faces on the top one aren't what I'd call an 'accurate' representation!

Chris

Fido · Tuesday September 1, 2009

To someone like me, this is a dangerous post.

<a class="postlink" href="http://fido-bells.blogspot.com/">http://fido-bells.blogspot.com/</a>

Hmmm....... A collection of shaving mugs. Now there's a thought............

Doctor thinks I have picked up a stress fracture in my foot just two weeks before my league table tennis season begins. It's not helping my sleep either.

Great collection!

I'm off back to bed.

hando · Tuesday September 1, 2009

nice finds and good pictures

i take it there's draining holes in the tops where the soap sits?

neocaligatio · Tuesday September 1, 2009

Yup - draining holes in each.

Oddly enough, my mother is about to big production of the second style above from her own pottery shed. The mould she's using would allow for the holes to be excluded, this making the conventional mug style into a scuttle of sorts.

Watch this space!

Millay · Tuesday September 1, 2009

Well been doing some research on these marks as my mum does this kinda stuff for a living,

St Gorges are still trading. and are in stoke-on-trent.

The crown mark looks modern and I cant find it in any of the research books we have and ive gone through at least 500 different crown marks.. i woner if it is perhaps an overmark but i kinda doubt this.

The ones without markings would need to be compared to pictures of other shaving mugs.

What company was it that had a passion of putting old cars on there shave mugs..

Fido · Friday September 4, 2009

As someone who really enjoys making lather in a bowl and as a collector of various things I know I will soon assemble a SMALL selection of vintage shaving products including old mugs and scuttles. So it was with interest that I came across the National Shaving Mug Collectors Association based in USA.

Here is a link on an introduction to collecting mugs:

<a class="postlink" href="http://nsmca.net/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=33">http://nsmca.net/home/index.php?option= ... &Itemid=33</a>

Arrowhead · Friday September 4, 2009

I suppose I'd quite like one of these, though I've no idea how you're supposed to drink from it.

Fido · Thursday September 17, 2009

Back to these old mugs again was this the routine?

Fill with hot water.

Leave brush to soak in spout.

Lather from puck placed on top of bowl then face lather.

Leave brush on top of puck? While water keeps lather warm?

Or was there something else?

Frederick · Thursday September 17, 2009

Fido said:
Back to these old mugs again was this the routine?

Leave brush on top of puck? While water keeps lather warm?

Or was there something else?

I doubt that would work. The brush would fall off, I imagine. And the water doesn't make contact with the soap puck, so it wouldn't keep the lather hot.
My guess is shavers just put the brush on its handle next to the mug. And as a shave was probably mostly a one pass affair, I don't think many men cared about saving lather for subsequent passes.

I could be wrong, of course.