Congrats to the latest member of the Jug Brotherhood – Anselm Scipione! The brotherhood is rarefied air, reserved to only those who have taken the challenge to obtain and paint (with excruciating detail) a replica Little Brown Jug for their man shrine. Here’s a look: Nicely done Anselm!
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Holiday Shopping List for Michigan Fans
[Ed. Bonus Giveaway Time! Thanks to the folks at Rivalry Trophy. If you retweet this tweet or like this post on Facebook between today and Monday, I’ll pick one at random and send you a free mini-Little Brown Jug]: Without further ado, Is your better half stuck on what to get you for the holidays? Wondering what to get your Michigan-obsessed cousin? This is the best of the best of the stuff you should be considering – so read on, send and share. Some cool stuff this year: Leading off, I already mentioned the new line of awesome M watches from the mind of Shashi Mara – his new brand of HAIL Timepieces. Nice work Shashi, these are awesome. Check them all out here including some exclusive bundles. My favorite? Got to be the Khaki and Steel. Additional offerings include “Michigan Man” ($349), “Maize and Blue” ($299) and “Special Teams” ($279). Hurry because they are selling fast: Rivalry Trophy features a must-have with their Little Brown Jug replicas. Since it is home in Ann Arbor for while now you must have one in your M shrine or certainly, minimum, on your Christmas tree. That’s coming straight from the universe’s leading Jugologist. Available in ornament/dashboard, mid-size (around a foot) and full size. They also have bundles with ugly Paul Bunyan. …
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Pandora’s Jug
Last football season I got a call from #1000SSS asking me to inspect a few photos of a certain piece of crockery that turned up in Ohio. Based on the pics it appeared to be an early, somewhat haggard replica of the Little Brown Jug. The photos were pretty interesting but I needed to get a closer look to make any proclamations about what we were dealing with. Fast forward to this spring. The owners put the piece up for sale and it was purchased by Ken Magee, a local collector and the owner of Ann Arbor Sports Memorabilia. A few weeks ago I got that closer look: Diane Diller, the ex-wife of the man who has held the jug for over 40 years, says that her husband Steve came into possession of the jug in 1969 when he attended high school in Pandora, Ohio, a small town 15 miles west of Findlay. In her words: The late John Michaels, who was the custodian at Pandora Gilboa High School at the time, was cleaning the auditorium. Mr. Michaels found the jug behind the auditorium curtain. Steve Diller, who was a junior, happened to be in the area at the time and was asked if he wanted to take the jug home. He did, and has had it ever since. Over…
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One Upping the Jug Brotherhood
The Brotherhood of Jugsmen—those who have built replicas of the coveted Little Brown Jug— is becoming long and distinguished. By my count we’re at 7. And as an aside I know someone else sent me some photos last year but I lost track. If you feel worthy of membership by all means, send me your story and some photos. I know there are a few Minnesota fans out that that are rocking replicas in their boat houses—let’s see ‘em. Here’s the current list: Eric Mierzwiak – 2009 post, Not Available in Stores Mark Foster – 2010 post, His Own Little Brown Jug (v2) Dennis Dail – 2011 post, Jug Club +1 Brian Snider – 2011 post The Jug Brotherhood +++ Daniel and his wedding crew – 2011 post, The Eleven Jugsmen T.C. Thorton – 2012 post Joining the Brotherhood of Jugsmen Jil Gordon – Editor’s discretion. She paints the jug fergodsakes. One of the earliest members of Local 1903 is Mark Foster and over the years he’s gradually stepped up his game. Since creating a replica in 2010, Foster built a custom case for the jug and went onto to create subsequent replica jugs. That brings us to reason for this post: Over the past year he decided to take this passion to the next level—building a replica of the…
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Joining the Brotherhood of Jugsmen
Just in time for Minnesota week, I’m happy to welcome the latest member of The Little Brown Jug Club—Mr. T.C. Thorton. He joins these fine gents in the Brotherhood of Jugsmen, Local 1903: Brian Snider – The Jug Brotherhood +++ Eric Mierzwiak – 2009 post, Not Available in Stores Mark Foster – 2010 post, His Own Little Brown Jug (v2) Dennis Dail – 2011 post, Jug Club +1 Daniel and his wedding crew – 2011 post, The Eleven Jugsmen Check out Thorton’s handiwork: Here’s a few words T.C. shared on this life changing experience: Didn’t take long at all, and once you get started, you really look forward to working on it. I had trouble finding an original Red Wing jug that wasn’t the $600+ that antique collectors were asking for it. I ended up have my uncle who is an artist, make a replica out of clay. I ended up speaking to an old high school friend who works with Mark Foster, one of the original jug makers from your site. After emailing him and getting some pointers, I went to town on it. Took me awhile to decide on the perfect colors, probably dwelled on it longer than I should. Biggest trouble came with the Minnesota M. Their M is shorter and more spread out than our Block…
