American Toby Jug Museum 

Little Mester Museum Piece character jug modeled by Stanley J. Taylor and produced by Royal Doulton of Burslem, England, in a 1998 special edition of 3,500 by retailer John Sinclair of Sheffield. Sheffield, England, is famous for producing steel and cutlery. The local name for the one-man artisan industries responsible for these products is Little Mester. Once there were hundreds of these craftsmen working in small workshops all over the city, but only a handful exist today. Men making a knife from start to finish have worked in Sheffield from the twelfth century, but over the centuries specialized craftsmen such as grinders and blade forgers replaced them. In the Victorian era these specialists found work with the new master manufacturers. One of the most famous of these, George Wostenholm, is said to have made a set of Bowie knives for the U.S. frontiersman, Colonel James Bowie, and one of these knives was found on Bowie's body at the Battle of Alamo in 1836. The knives have come to symbolize the Sheffield cutlery trade and are still made by Little Mesters such as Roland Swinden on whom this jug is based. A Bowie knife and grinding wheel form the handle of this jug.