Panama Canal Occupational Shaving Mug, ca. 1910

Appraised on: June 18, 2011

Appraised in: El Paso, Texas

Appraised by: Matthew Quinn

Category: Pottery & Porcelain

Episode Info: El Paso, Hour 3 (#1612)

Originally Aired: April 9, 2012

IMAGE: 1 of 2  

Appraisal Video: (1:28)

GUEST: This was my grandfather's, and there are 11 men on the pitcher. The steam shovel behind it, they were actually digging the Panama Canal. And my granddad had one cup made for each of his crew members. And it's just always hung around the family.

APPRAISER: What you have is a shaving cup.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: It's a shaving cup, and shaving cups were popular between the latter part of them 19th century until about 1920. There are a lot of them out there, okay? There's all kinds. There's decorative, there's ones from fraternities, there's advertising, there's glass... and then there's the most desirable to collectors, which are the occupational mugs. It's the images of people doing work that was typical from that period.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Now, the Panama Canal completed in 1914. And there was about a ten-year period they were building it. So it is going to date from that time period, obviously, he had them commissioned. So in the picture, your grandfather is the one in the white shirt. And we see that he put his name...

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: On the bottom there. Which is typical, and I'm sure each of the individual men had their names put on them. Now, do you have any idea what it might be worth?

GUEST: Absolutely none.

APPRAISER: If you sold it at auction today, it would not be unreasonable for it to have an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000.

GUEST: Oh! That shocks me. (laughs) Thank you, Matthew.

APPRAISER: So enjoy it.

GUEST: All right.