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‘Dr. J. Frank Gardner' once owned this unusual shaving mug decorated with a hand-painted skeleton. Image courtesy Cowan's Auctions.

Cowan’s May 16 sale of shaving mugs reads like a job fair

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf

‘Dr. J. Frank Gardner' once owned this unusual shaving mug decorated with a hand-painted skeleton. Image courtesy Cowan's Auctions.
‘Dr. J. Frank Gardner’ once owned this unusual shaving mug decorated with a hand-painted skeleton. Image courtesy Cowan’s Auctions.
CINCINNATI – “The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker.” Cowan’s auction of occupational shaving mugs May 16 sounds like an early 1900s jobs fair. After the record-setting sale of the Henry Tolman antique shaving mug collection in 2007, Cowan’s Auctions Inc. will sell another extensive collection of occupational shaving mugs May 16. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

William and Phyllis Gilmore of Lancaster, Ohio, are selling their collection, which will be offered in approximately 220 lots. Within the collection is a wide selection representing various trades, including medical, house painters, railroad workers and barbers. Highlights include an unusual doctor’s mug with full hand-painted skeleton and a steamship captain’s mug. Another scarce shaving mug pictures an early motorist behind the wheel of an open touring car on a city street. This German-made mug has a $800-$1,500 estimate. Five mugs depicting various hunting scenes comprise one of the many group lots.  

The second half of the auction will include medical antiques and collectibles, much of them from a broad collection in Portage, Ohio. The collector’s tastes were wide ranging, from leech jars, to surgical kits, dental keys, apothecary jars, and mortars and pestles.

The collection is supplemented by additional consignments from a Cincinnati art institution. Some highlights include identified Ohio surgical kits, bleeders, leech jars and other medical rarities. A number of scientific instruments and collectibles will also be represented, including a grouping of microscopes, pleximeters and other electrical devices. The collection consists of more than 250 individual and group lots.

The auction will be conducted at Cowan’s gallery at 6270 Este Ave. in Cincinnati, beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

Click here to view Cowan’s Auctions, Inc.’s complete catalog.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

This fine blown glass jar was made to hold leaches. Possibly English, the 7 1/4-inch jar has a $1,000-$1,500 estimate. Image courtesy Cowan's Auctions.
This fine blown glass jar was made to hold leaches. Possibly English, the 7 1/4-inch jar has a $1,000-$1,500 estimate. Image courtesy Cowan’s Auctions.
Molded of white earthenware, this Phrenology head was made in England in the second half of the 19th century. It stands about 11 3/8 inches high. Image courtesy Cowan's Auctions.
Molded of white earthenware, this Phrenology head was made in England in the second half of the 19th century. It stands about 11 3/8 inches high. Image courtesy Cowan’s Auctions.
Safety razors hastened the demise of the old-fashioned barbershop shave. This advertising clock. This advertising clock has a $1,000-$1,500 estimate. Image courtesy Cowan's Auctions.
Safety razors hastened the demise of the old-fashioned barbershop shave. This advertising clock. This advertising clock has a $1,000-$1,500 estimate. Image courtesy Cowan’s Auctions.
The captain of a ship once owned this shaving mug, which pictures an ocean-going side-wheel sail steamboat. It carries an $800-$1,000 estimate. Image courtesy Cowan's Auctions.
The captain of a ship once owned this shaving mug, which pictures an ocean-going side-wheel sail steamboat. It carries an $800-$1,000 estimate. Image courtesy Cowan’s Auctions.