Saturday, March 22, 2014

Thompson Collection: Occupational Shaving Mug: John B. Brasser: Brewer and Bottler: Pabst Blue Ribbon Occupational Shaving Mug


John B. Brasser - Brewer and Bottler - Pabst Blue Ribbon
Occupational Shaving Mug

John B. Brasser - Brewer and Bottler - Pabst Blue Ribbon
Occupational Shaving Mug

John B. Brasser - Brewer and Bottler - Pabst Blue Ribbon
Occupational Shaving Mug

John B. Brasser - Brewer and Bottler - Pabst Blue Ribbon
Occupational Shaving Mug

John B. Brasser - Brewer and Bottler - Pabst Blue Ribbon
Occupational Shaving Mug

John B. Brasser - Brewer and Bottler - Pabst Blue Ribbon
Occupational Shaving Mug

John B. Brasser - Brewer and Bottler - Pabst Blue Ribbon
Occupational Shaving Mug

An outstanding, exceptional porcelain antique occupational shaving mug of the well-known Newark, N.J. beer brewer and bottler, John B. Brasser, written in gilt on the top. 

See additional photos of his bottles and horse-drawn wagons in front of his business in Newark. 

There is a Pabst Blue Ribbon on the front of the mug with "Pabst Milwaukee" well-defined in the circle. There is also cursive writing on the blue ribbon that is slightly faded. And below that in tiny legible block lettering it says, "The Beer of Quality." The mug is banded in deep red. All of the gilt, excepting around the base is crisp and bright. This is one of the finest mugs in the collection with some nice local history attached to it. 







The Thompson Collection: Occupational Shaving Mug: C. L Dow: Train Engineer


C. L Dow - Train Engineer
Occupational Shaving Mug

C. L Dow - Train Engineer
Occupational Shaving Mug

C. L Dow - Train Engineer
Occupational Shaving Mug



The Thompson Collection: Occupational Shaving Mug: Train Engineman: J. E. Dougherty


J. E. Dougherty - Train Engineer
Occupational Shaving Mug
J. E. Dougherty - Train Engineer
Occupational Shaving Mug

J. E. Dougherty - Train Engineer
Occupational Shaving Mug

J. E. Dougherty - Train Engineer
Occupational Shaving Mug

J. E. Dougherty - Train Engineer
Occupational Shaving Mug

Although I have no verifiable connection at this point, I did find an intriguing reference to an Engineman Dougherty in the Locomotive Engineers Journal, Volume 47


The Thompson Collection: Occupational Shaving Mug: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen: B.R.T. Frisco 112

F. C. Murnan - Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen
Occupational Shaving Mug

F. C. Murnan - Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen
Occupational Shaving Mug


F. C. Murnan - Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen
Occupational Shaving Mug

See also on this site: Railroad Brotherhoods History and Their Fraternal Shaving Mugs by Joseph Albanese

RAILROAD BROTHERHOODS

"Along with many other pioneering labor organizations in the nineteenth-century America, organizations of railroad workers took the name "brotherhoods" in token of their partly fraternal purposes. The most powerful of the railroad brotherhoods was those formed in the operating trades-those directly involved with moving trains. These included the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (founded in 1863), the Order of Railway Conductors (1868), the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen (1873), and Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (founded in 1883 as the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen). Sometimes grouped with "the Big Four" was the Switchmen's Union (1894), "who were responsible for making up trains and for controlling the track switches within a yard. Numerous other unions were founded to represent non-operating railroad employees such as the trackmen (1887), railway clerks (1899), and sleeping car porters (1925). Though the operating brotherhoods represented less than one-fifth of all railroad employees, they dominated the history of organized labor in the railroad industry. 
Although rail transportation has declined, the fraternal shaving mugs of these brotherhoods represent a period of our history when railroads were a central part of our daily lives."


Wikipedia: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen

The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (BRT) was a labor organization for railroad employees founded in 1883. It was originally called the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen. Its purpose was to negotiate contracts with railroad management and to provide insurance for members. The BRT grew to become the largest brotherhood of operating railroad employees. In 1969 it merged with three other unions to form the United Transportation Union.


The Thompson Collection: Occupational Shaving Mug: D. J. Dodd L&N Railroad Train Engineer


D. J. Dodd - L&N Railroad
Occupational Shaving Mug


D. J. Dodd - L&N Railroad
Occupational Shaving Mug


D. J. Dodd - L&N Railroad
Occupational Shaving Mug


D. J. Dodd - L&N Railroad
Occupational Shaving Mug




The Louisville and Nashville Railroad (reporting mark LN) was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. 
Chartered by the state of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of the great success stories of American business. Operating under one name continuously for 132 years, it survived civil war and economic depression and several waves of social and technological change. Under Milton H. Smith, president of the company for thirty years, the L&N grew from a road with less than three hundred miles of track to a 6,000-mile system serving thirteen states. As one of the premier Southern railroads, the L&N extended its reach far beyond its namesake cities, stretching to St. Louis, Missouri; Memphis, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; and New Orleans, Louisiana. The railroad was economically strong throughout its lifetime, operating both freight and passenger trains in a manner that earned it the nickname, "The Old Reliable."