Miniature Toby Jugs–Toby Jewels

As a child I remember being absolutely enthralled with my mothers collection of Toby Jugs, and the very tiny cuplike miniature jugs that she called Toby Jewels.

Most of them were manufactured by the Royal Doulton Company and were made between 1930 and 1975, give or take a few years.
She’d become pen pals with a woman from the UK who sent them to her, while she sent her back various items from the US, and each of them, both avid collectors of different kinds of glass, were thrilled with their bargain.

On rare ocassions I was permitted to take out and handle her precious jugs, and learned at that point to love the miniature wizened faces and tiny delicate features.
Each of the Royal Doulton Toby Jugs that she had were Royal Doulton and were made after a character from literature.

They included such small gnarled characters as’Sairey Gamp’, the gin-guzzling midwife and nurse from Charles Dickens fame,Martin Chuzzlewit. 
She also Had the Pied Piper, and Athos, one of the three Musketeers featured in Dumas novel, which wore a feathered hat,  and a green tunic.
I think it was from these early memories of the delicate precious little gems she collected that my own love of china and miniatures evolved to become what it is today.

Toby Jugs remain today one of my favorite things to view and to collect. The miniatures are delightful in their detail, though they can be somewhat expensive to gather, but are well worth the price you’re going to pay, just in the pleasure you’re going to get from the collecting.

If you’ve never seen a Toby jug, check them out, and be as impressed as I was with the small but finely detailed little collectibles..and while you’re at it.. share some of that knowledge you have, and your love of the art of glass, with a family member, so that what you know gets passed along.