Topic: Intro and my collection

[Barmy]

Hi
My name is Barry and I live in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.  I joined this forum a couple of years back and really have only been an observer.    My small collection started about 4 years ago at a local antique show when I found a small glass, what I assumed was vase with an etched line on it.  As I found out, it was a Whisky Measure.  A few years later, this is what I now have:

http://s170.photobucket.com/albums/u242/barmy1/Whisky%20Measure/

After deciding I would limit myself to Whisky Measures, I have only found them in the U.K.  Therefore shipping costs have limited my numbers to what you see.  Let me know what you think?

Barry

[Anne]

Hello Barry (great name! my OH is a Barry too and welcome to the board. I'm moving your post from British as although some of your collection is British, it's more of a general GLASS theme, as some of it could well have been made elsewhere in Europe and imported into the UK. We find loads of imported glass here. Whisky measures are something I know nothing about so it's interesting to see your collection, thanks for sharing.

[keith]

Interesting,I like what goes in the measures,single malts mmmm

[Paul S.]

Very interesting Barry, and good looking collection - have to admit I've succumbed to collecting the odd one or two.         These things pop up in the most odd place - often with Sellers not knowing what they are.
We've had one or two relevant posts on the Board in recent times - which you'll find if you use the Board's search facility - although they seem to have a limited fan club.
Literature is rather meagre - there's Stephen Parry (1981) or Brian Brooks (2000)?         I can't speak of the Parry volume, and Brook's offering is really only a 33 page booklet - by very interesting and worth having if you can find a copy  -  most other books - for example Hajdamach - tend to have the odd page only.
Most do seem to be either Scottish or English  -  shows what a bunch of 'lushes' we are in the U.K. I guess - but like you I think they are very interesting pieces of real history - and some go back as far as c. 1800.          Some of the notch indicators can be difficult to see unless you know what to look for, and the lead seal marks need detective work to interpret.
Somewhere on the Board we have a link that gives the identification of these details  -  if I can find it I'll post the link.    Bit busy today.

Ref.   'Miniature Decanters and Whisky Measures'  -  Stephen Parry  -  1981
         'Whisky Dispensers and Mesures'  -  Brian Brooks  -  2000.

[Paul S.]

here is the link providing the UV (forgotten what the U stands for) data for verification marks re Weights & Measures capacity seals etc.   ................   http://www.antique-metalware.co.uk/verification.html   ...          very kindly provided by Chris Cooper.

[Barmy]

Thanks for the reply Paul.  It's nice to know there is someone else that appreciates the history that these Measures represent.  I have a copy of the Brooks booklet and have been using it as a guideline in my collecting.  I found out too late that he but up his collection for auction August 2012.  He certainly had I few pieces I would have been interested in.

By-the-by did you know that the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill" is all about these measures?

If you ever come by a Measure that your interested in selling let me know.

Barry

[Paul S.]

hello Barry  -  must admit I had no idea there was a connection between the nursery rhyme and these measures  -  had never occured to me to think that this guy Jack - instead of going up the hill with some sheila called Jill, was in fact staggering up a one in ten clasping a gill measure full of the amber nectar.       Since when historians have mis-understood and thought the lad was really speaking of his girlfriend.
Mind you, think I'd have rather gone up the hill with Sheila  -  whereas now I'm just over the hill. 

will certainly let you know if I sell any of my massive collection of four pieces

[Barmy]

This nursery rhyme dates back to James I who decided he needed to increase taxes on spirits, and instead of increasing the dollar amount tax, he decreased the size of a "jack pot" which in essence increased the tax revenue on a barrel of spirits.  The Gill measurement at that time was based on a Jackpot.  So the volume of a gill decreased the same percent.  Since the crown (King James) made the Jack (pot) fall down (decrease in volume) the Gill came tumbling after.

[Barmy]

Just thought you find this interesting:

http://wiki.xtronics.com/index.php/Jack_and_Jill

[Paul S.]

very interesting Barry - thanks  -  you just never know what's lurking behind those innocent sounding nursery rhymes.