American Toby Jug Museum 

Sir Philpot thimble produced by Wood Potters of Burslem of Burslem, England, in 1992. A drinker of excessive quantities of strong ale, Toby Philpot is a merry chap, habitually found occupying his favorite corner at the inn or pub with a foaming pint in his hand. A notorious Yorkshire toper named Henry Elwes was known as Toby Fillpot for having consumed 2,000 gallons of stingo, a strong ale. The name Toby Philpot appeared in a song, "The Brown Jug," written by Francis Fawkes and published in 1761, which told of a jolly toper who excelled at "boozing" and died "full as big as a Dorchester butt," and whose remains were formed into the jug of the title. A mezzotint produced soon thereafter by Bowles and Carver featured the song accompanied by a caricature of a sitting toper with a ruddy complexion and huge belly. Historians theorize that this juxtaposition of song and print coterminous with the development of the ceramic corpulent, seated toper pitcher is the origin of the name Toby Jug. The plaque on the rear of the thimble has the artist's initials and year of production.