American Toby Jug Museum 

Queen Anne Boleyn toby jug produced by Staffordshire Fine Ceramics of Tunstall, England, in a 1980 limited edition of 1,000. The second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn (1502-1536) was educated in France and came to the English Court around 1521. The King, anxious about the succession and with no hope of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, providing the longed-for son, turned to Anne to fulfill this desire. Spirited and vivacious, Anne was wed to Henry upon the nullification of his first marriage. The birth of a daughter, the future Elizabeth I, was Anne's first setback and relations between King and Queen began to deteriorate steadily. Anne's fate was finally sealed when, in 1536, she miscarried a son. Henry, still in need of an heir, resorted to extreme measures. Accused of adultery with her own brother, Lord Rochford, and four commoners, Anne was convicted of high treason and beheaded on Tower Green. A large feather forms the handle of the jug.