Small Vintage Hand Painted Uncle Tom Cobley Artone Character Jug

Small Vintage Hand Painted Uncle Tom Cobley Artone Character Jug.

The jug is beautifully decorated with the face and upper torso of Uncle Tom Cobley. It has a green back stamp.

The jug was manufactured by Artone, based in Burslem, Staffordshire, UK, in the 1940s. Artone was founded by brothers George and Jack Lawton, along with their wives Irene and Frances.They trained at Doulton before the Second World War, and founded the company in 1946 on the Ellgreave Pottery site.

These lovely character jugs are in very good vintage condition with no cracks, chips or restoration.

Approximate Maximum Dimensions:-

• Height- 10cm (4″)
• Width- ~9cm (3.5″) Handle to Spout
• Base width- 5.8cm (2.3″)

Manufacturer’s Marks 

Base

ARTONE

ENGLAND

Hand Painted

Back

Imprinted with ‘UNCLE TOM COBLEY’ and a number, which I can’t decipher.

Handle

Widecombe

Please click on the following link for more vintage character/toby jugs.

Some Trivia For You!

‘Uncle Tom Cobley and all’ is an informal and humorous phrase, used in the U.K, replacing the more formal ‘et al.’ used to avoid writing/ saying a long list of people’s names.

My family often used to use it when sending out invitations and Christmas cards.

“Who are you inviting?”

“Oh, the usual suspects. Uncle Tom Cobley and all!”

The phrase comes from a Devon Folk Song called ‘Widecombe Fair’, which was first recorded, ~1890, by the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould in his book ‘Songs of the West.’ Although it would have been sung by previous generations prior to this recording, hence there are many variations of the lyrics.

This is the first verse of the song:

Tom Pearce, Tom Pearce, lend me your grey mare
All along, down along, out along lee.
For I want to go down to Widecombe Fair
Wi’ Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney,
Peter Davy, Dan’l Whiddon, Harry Hawk,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all