American Toby Jug Museum 

Guardsman character jug modeled by David B. Biggs and produced by Royal Doulton of Burslem, England, between 1963-1983. In 1775 Virginia needed guardsmen and soldiers to protect the Capital of Williamsburg from the British. A principal duty of the Williamsburg Guardsman was to protect the magazine in the middle of the city, where the colony stored its gunpowder and weapons. The spark that ignited the American Revolution in Virginia was struck there the night of April 20, 1775, when a squad of Royal Marines stole towards the Capital to empty the arsenal and disable the muskets stored there. Alerted by a Guardsman, the marines fled. A week later, with word of the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord reaching Williamsburg, the Virginia Gazette got out a broadside that said: "The Sword is drawn and God knows when it will be sheathed." A tall pike forms the handle of the jug. The Guardsman character jug was made in three sizes with this being the largest along with small (D6575) and miniature (D6582) sizes.