Topic: Early Whisky Jar?

[Anne]

Kristi, candy wouldn't have been measured in quarts.

[krsilber]

No, but you can't have gradations of weight on something like this to measure candy, either.  Hypothetically speaking, the volume gradations could have serve as approximations for weight when dishing out something like candy.

I haven't seen the cologne dispensers Ivo is talking about, but the glass urns, whiskey barrels, samovars, etc. that I've seen all had taps much smaller than the tube sticking out of this piece, and it seems odd that this one's so big.  Anyone with knowledge of different kinds of taps that might be suitable here?

please do not treat this as a guessing game.

  What is the standard here?  Some guesses are okay and some aren't?  Or is it that some people's guesses are okay, and others' aren't?  What's the problem with suggesting alternatives, even if they end up being wrong?

[Frank]

The best guess appears to be a whisky dispenser used in the brewery trade – any other suggestions?

[krsilber]

Another guess - what if the gradations are used when mixing things, rather than for measuring how much is poured?

[Lustrousstone]

It was something served or sold in half pints. Possibly a soft drink like still lemonade or squash for the ladies. The large aperture may have been so you could give "it" a stir if it settled. Relatively large volume measures, larger tap for faster dispensing. Also, ready mixed cocktails both alcoholic and non-alcoholic were popular in the 1930s. See Silver Jubilee programme for 1935; there were 39 varieties of cocktail. We think alocopops are new(ish)!

I think we can rule out spirits.

Sweets came in large glass glass jars or boxes and were sold by number, weight or paper cone full. I think we can rule out sweets as well.

[Ivo]

http://link.marktplaats.nl/207470584

[Lustrousstone]

Back to the soft drinks thought, that would fit in nicely with a sweetshop. After all you could go to the offsales dept of a pub with a jug for beer and have it filled, the same as you could go to the shop or the icecream man with a bowl for icecream

[Frank]

I would not rule out spirits, gin was certainly sold by the quart into your own containers

[krsilber]

There you go - ready mixed cocktails!   Making them would much easier with gradations on the tank and a large opening to stir the mix.  Or fountain drinks?  Would they have come in concentrate?

This is a pretty piece.  It was made to look good and display the contents nicely.  Being only a gallon, it seems like if it were made to refill pint and quart bottles of liquor on a commercial basis, it would empty pretty quickly.  And why not pour that from the bottle or cask or whatever it came in?

[David E]

Given the history of the item - the enquirer's grandmother's off-licence - it would suggest an alcoholic drink of some sort, but the wide opening to allow the contents to be stirred is a good point, I feel. Surely a liquid dispenser.

On the original forum, an American soda fountain was suggested (here, about half-way down), but was there ever something like that in Britain?

Would identifying the country of manufacture, or the style of glass cutting, be of help?