c1890 Bicycle Racer Occupational Shaving Mug

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Oct. 5th - 12th 2024

THIS WEEKS FEATURE

c1890

OCCUPATIONAL SHAVING MUG

FEATURING TRACK SCENE OF A

BICYCLE RACER

Examples of other sports occupational shaving mugs 19th-early 20th century


Baseball	Basketball	Pole Vault	Rowing	Powerboat	Polo	Boxing

Bicycle Racer Shaving

Mug Now in Carlton's Collection

MY ENTRY INTO THE WORLD OF

OCCUPATIONAL SHAVING MUGS

BY CARLTON HENDRICKS

...So what does that have to do with this mug you ask...Well...it means he lived a long time in

an antiques hot-zone of the united states....New York - New Jersey - Pennsylvania...Let me explain...

n thirty seven years collecting this is the first occupational shaving mug I ever owned…so I’m new to them... just got to the party…over the years I’ve seen sports ones but never took the dive…This one popped up on eBay and I zeroed in…Tom Cardaropoli of Walnutts Antiques was auctioning it…Naturally the racing element had me…as opposed to just a regular bicycle rider …I’ve seen lots of shaving mugs at antiques shows and here and there of every subject…some the artwork looks amateur and sketchy…others very well done with Victorian graphics…I believe I’ve heard of convincing, skillfully painted modern fakes…but the provenance of this one checks out…The illustration is simple without a lot of swirls and enhancements…but the art quality is excellent, better than many...the spokes are drawn precisely…the rider wears traditional athletic garb of singlet, shorts, and shoes…the fence helps identify the scene as a bicycle race track…I did an internet search and found about thirty images of bicycle themed occupational shaving mugs…only a few were racers…in my opinion mine is the most ideal and striking of the racer ones I saw, so after determining that I’m very glad I got it…Honestly I’ve seen many occupational shaving mugs with much more elaborate illustration than mine…but the art quality and characteristic vigor of bicycle racing, and even its simplicity, put it over the finish line…

Other examples of occupational shaving mugs, courtesy fontainesauction.com

OCCUPATIONAL SHAVING MUGS BACKGROUND

I should stop a moment to explain occupational shaving mugs for those not familiar… In the olden days…i.e. later half the nineteenth century to early twentieth century…men would keep these mugs at their barber shop for the barber to shave them with…A small bar of shaving soap went in the bottom and a little water was added….the barber would whip up a foam with a brush and apply it to the face to soften the beard to make it easier to shave.

THE WHO WHAT WHY HOW

Apparently it was a fad of the time to have your mug decorated with your profession or hobby…As I understand, they were commonly purchased blank and the illustration was added…Classic examples are always hand painted, not transfer ware…so each is a unique work of art…The name Harry K. Shrom in old English font appears to be gilt, i.e. real gold...the letters are so perfect I speculate they were applied by a printing process…Same with the pin striping around the rim and what’s left of the base striping…I believe some were ordered semi blank from a barber who got them from a barber supply company…Perhaps they came with the patrons name and basic pin-striping in gold…and the patron would have a local artist add the illustration of the occupation or hobby….Who and where people had them illustrated is a very interesting subject for another time…I couldn’t find much on it…but I did find a photo of makers mark identifying M. Riethmueller as the artist, apparently in St Louis....but that's only one I.D.'d out of many…It’s interesting I’ve never seen one signed in the illustration by the artist…

Left, Makers mark of Charles Field Haviland / Gerard, Dufraisseix, and Morel, on bottom of Carlton's bicycle Racer Shaving Mug. Right, Page from early Charles Field Haviland advertising booklet , Click to read, Courtesy havilandcollectors.com

NOTE: Dufraisseix (French) pronounced "Doo-fray-see"

See this link to an AI generated perspective of this mugs maker...I would reason many companies made blank shaving mugs in the 19th-early 20th century …here in the U.S. and abroad...As for mine…on the bottom is the marking: CFH with a line under, then GDM... This indicates the original blank mug was made by Charles Field Haviland / Gerard, Dufraisseix, and Morel in Limoges, France between 1881 and 1890, based on the succession history of principles of the firm.

CH Field Haviland History Synopsis

Charles Field Haviland left America for Limoges in the early 1850s to work originally for his uncle, David Haviland founder of Haviland and Company and rented a porcelain factory in partnership with his father and brother. Subsequently he opened his own decorating studio for porcelain to export items to the US and in 1868 purchased a porcelain manufacturing company.

He married the granddaughter of Francois Alluaud and later took control of the Alluaud porcelain factory, one of the oldest Limoges factories. Charles Field retired in 1881 and the company became known as Gerard, Dufraisseix and Morel using the white ware mark GDM. The partners changed around 1890 and the company was subsequently called - Gerard and Dufraisseix and eventually Gerard, Dufraisseix and Abbot (mark GDA).

They still trade today as Porcelaine GDA-Royal Limoges but of course the CH Field Haviland mark now belongs to Robert Haviland and C. Parlon

Courtesy: elegance2003.com

PROVENANCE
Also on the bottom is an adhesive sticker inscribed: “J.W. Carpenter Collection”…I had never heard of the J.W. Carpenter collection but based on his obituary I believe he was an advanced collector and apparently was knowledgeable on them…Part of the J.W. Carpenter occupational mug collection was auctioned by Freeman's | Hindman in 2023…This mug was not in it so obviously it escaped and made its way to eBay…

WHO OWNED IT

And now we come to the really interesting part…I found a 1908 obituary for a Harry K. Shrom who died at age 33 in 1908 of Miliary tuberculosis …I could not find another “Harry K. Shrom” from the turn of the 19th century so believe him to be the same Harry K. Shrom on my mug…He was the owner and editor of the Newport Ledger newspaper in Newport Pennsylvania…So…I searched the internet hard for a reference to Harry K. Shrom involved in bicycle racing…but couldn’t find anything… A bicycle racer on his shaving mug implies it was meaningful to him….I would speculate that the mug was given to him or acquired somehow in his younger years…say in his early twenties when perhaps he participated in bicycle racing to some degree…but may have not had the time and energy to pursue it to notoriety because of the demands of his job and involvement in politics. His obituary says as much that he attended public schools and learned the printing business from his father who owned the Newport Ledger. Also it speaks of him as very involved in politics, and as a candidate for the Republican nomination for State Assembly, which he lost. Also it states he served as assistant doorkeeper of the state senate (Pennsylvania) in 1907, only a year before he died…so it’s clear he was very active in Pennsylvania state politics, and learning his way around it. I would speculate his run at Republican nominee for state assembly was a sign he may have had even bigger aspirations.

Getting elected to a political office and fulfilling its responsibilities requires much focus… Becoming a notable bicycle racer requires much focus…Typically a person would need to choose one or the other…I would speculate politics held more fascination to him and bicycle racing fell by the wayside, but he kept the mug out of sentiment…

HISTORY SPECULATED

I'm always very curious where the things I buy have come from...So where has this mug been the last 116 years...Based on the J.W. Carpenter sticker on the bottom...the first place we know of was Montague New Jersey where Mr. Carpenter lived...His obituary makes it clear he was very active in that community, involved in many civic organizations there. It even says he was "the last surviving member of the original 12 that founded the Montague Township Volunteer Fire Department"...So what does that have to do with this mug you ask...Well...it means he lived a long time in an antiques hot-zone of the united states....New York - New Jersey - Pennsylvania...Let me explain...Adamstown Pennsylvania would be considered....or at least was considered back in the day...one of the best antiques hunting grounds on the east coast...and Montague New Jersey would be within striking distance; being about a 2hr 20min drive...Please understand to a serious antiques collector two and a half hours is not a big deal...Before the internet...which, given his age, would have been when J.W. Carpenter would have been active...collectors flocked to Adamstown from that Tri-State area...A serious collector friend from Sayreville New Jersey, now long passed, used to tell me amazing stories what it was like in Adamstown before the internet...He said Shups Grove...which was one of three big antiques markets in Adamstown...was so great for antiques he had to park a mile away and walk in...So I get it....I know the collecting climate of that area...at least what it once was...I've done I think two or three stories on my visits to Adamstown...(see this one)...Naturally I'm speculating J.W. shopped Adamstown...but point is...Montague was a very good place to be if you collected Americana such as this mug...north, south, east, west...In California back in the late 1980's and 1990's...typically you would be lucky to find a strong antiques venue once a month...In the Montague region?...try every weekend take your choice which way you wanted to go...there would be like four shows within driving distance....not counting the fleas...Of course we'll never know for sure where J.W. got it but there's my educated speculation...

HARRY KENOWER SHROM, DEC 15TH 1874 - AUG 24TH 1908

The next sighting we have is in the hands of renown eBay seller Tom Cardaropoli, eBay handle Walnutts, in Brewster Massachusetts...and from there flew gently into the hands of yours truly....Harry K. Shrom's obituary says he was unmarried and seems to indicate he was close to his sister Lorena Shrom...That's all we have...so we'll role play a scenario...Harry passed at age 33...no wife no kids...Sister Lorena appears closest to him...I would speculate she took possession of the mug...perhaps it reminded her of him in his youth...that would have been about September 1908...Lorena married in 1912 and moved to Los Angeles...Perhaps she gave it to one of her siblings...and was passed down to family members until sold to an antiques dealer in the 1940's...and was passed around collections and auctions until Tom got it...It's safe to say we'll never know for sure...