1880's
English Stoneware
Ginger Beer
Crocks
Here is an excellent Old Blue
Top Ginger Beer Bottle or Crock circa 1880. It benefits from having an
excellent strike or imprint which clearly reads – "REGISTERED TRADE
MARK M DAVIES & SON MANCHESTER." Inside a flattened
shield design is the Masonic Square and Compasses. No surprise really as
Mr. Davies was a Freemason and thru his trade mark he let others know it !
This old stone bottle stands 6 3/4 inches tall and is in wonderful condition.
Why the blue top? Supposedly this was an anti-theft device to stop
unscrupulous street vendors from stealing a merchants bottles and refilling
them.
Here are a pair of Victorian Off
White and Honey Glazed Masonic Ginger Beer Crocks that stand 7 inches tall and
have an
under-glazed stencil which reads:- W.S. HAYSWORTH / YE. OLD. FASHIONED.
GINGER. BEER. / CHEMIST, PRESTON. The center bears the Masonic Square and
Compasses with the words TRADE MARK written above and W.S. HAYSWORTH written
below. In each corner of the trade mark, from top left clockwise are the
letters W S H P. The bottle has a Cork Blob Top/Lip.
