Best of the Web and unearthing collections

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I’m still in the throes of re-discovering my belongings newly released from storage. I spent years traipsing around flea markets and junk shops assembling various collections.

Like this army of vintage Scottie dog planters.

Who have now been given back their sentry duty atop my kitchen cupboards (I have boards on top of the cupboards so that the dogs are sitting level with the top edge of the cupboard.)

And this phalanx of miniature ceramic “head jugs” -- 22 of them. They are sort of like moon faces, which is probably why I started collecting them in the first place.

Some are creepier than others.

Copyright Replacements, Ltd.I believe they were based on the character jug, John Barleycorn, produced by the English pottery, Royal Doulton, and  introduced in 1934.

My head jugs were sold as novelty souvenirs, available at a number of tourist sites. Three of the jugs have the name of the sites: Old Orchard Beach, Maine; Twin Lakes Lodge, Fernleigh (Ontario); and Prince Edward Island. The jugs marked with the Canadian sites also have the manufacturer’s name on the underside. They are stamped “McMaster Canada” for the McMaster pottery (1938-1988) in Ontario, Canada. These two also have similar glazes, one is brown with splashes of green on the rim and the other is green with splashes of brown on the rim.

I’m not sure if all of them were made by McMasters. The unmarked ones were perhaps made by a pottery in the U.S. I purchased all of these jugs in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire.

Copyright: Replacements, Ltd.In the U.S., the Taunton, Massachusetts, silver company Reed & Barton produced a silver version, called “Sunny Jim,” in the early to mid-20th century.

If anyone has more info on these ceramic "head jugs" please let me know!