Rare Holy Grail Antique John Wedderburn Stoneware Crock Whiskey Jug Washington

  
Don't miss this one you may never get a chance to own this magnificent piece. Please view pictures for condition. In the District of Columbia during the pre-Prohibition era John Wedderburn, a self-ordained patent attorney and liquor dealer, peddled dreams of wealth to would-be inventors nationwide and booze to Washingtonians. His legal work got him disbarred; his whiskey made him rich.

This is the Wedderburn file. The Wedderburns are an old and distinguished family with roots in Scotland and England. The heritage includes a bountiful list of lords, knights and clan chiefs. The family motto is an unusual one in its negative tone.

In Latin it reads Non Degenor, meaning Not Degenerate. It remains to be seen if John Wedderburn lived up to this less-than-lofty standard. He was born in Washington, D.

To George Chase and Virginia Mary Lawrence Wedderburn in 1869, not long after the Civil War. Of his early life and education, little is known other than by some means he obtained a license to practice law. When about 23 years old he married Beulah Fox, a woman only 17 at the time of their marriage who had been born in Missouri. They had one daughter, Virginia, born about 1891.

Wedderburn first emerged in the public record during the mid-1880s when barely out of his teens. Obviously a very canny lawyer and one looking to make a fast buck, he established the John Wedderburn Company with the apparent intent of using the Patent Office as his personal cash drawer. He was able to tout his services, as shown in the ad above, to a nationwide audience. They contended that far from helping his clients become wealthy he was milking them for all he could get. Handled, that is, by Wedderburn. It did not take long for Federal Patent Office authorities to react to Wedderburns scheme. In an exhaustive report, their investigator was unsparing in his opinion of this Honor Roll Letter: There probably could not be a more unblushing fraud perpetrated by the use of the same number of words than crops out of this communication. Found guilty of gross misconduct by the Commissioner of Patents in 1897, Wedderburn was disbarred from doing business with the Patent Office.

But the patent business was not the only gambit that Wedderburn had going from his offices at 618 F Street NW in the District. In 1891, the San Francisco Examiner newspaper announced it was establishing in Washington an Examiner Bureau of Claims.

The owner of the Examiner was William Randolph Hearst, one of Americas most powerful publishers. He promised that the Bureau would handle claims before the U. To head this seemingly philanthropic effort Hearst chose none other than John Wedderburn, hailed as a man who had ferreted out gigantic contract frauds at a California Naval Yard for the Secretary of the Navy. Before long, however, Hearst would regret his decision. In 1894 he went to court asking that the Examiner Bureau of Claims be declared bankrupt and asking that Wedderburn be restrained from further intermeddling with its affairs. The 1900 census found Wedderburn living at 2208 Ruskin Avenue in Baltimore, with his his wife, Beulah, and their daughter. No occupation was recorded for John, now 33 years old and apparently out of work. That would change within the next several years as Wedderburn, despite being disbarred and disgraced, decided to enter the DC liquor business, setting up John Wedderburns Pure Wines & Liquors at his old F Street address. He made no pretense that they were straight bourbons, merchandising them as a modern improved whiskey made from pure grain distillates.

It is clear he was operating as a rectifier, that is, compounding and blending raw whiskeys with grain alcohol to achieve more mellow flavor. In addition to hisWedderburn brands of whiskey and rye, he also featured other proprietary labels, including Hallmark, Karlan Club, Over - Wood, The J. As a patent attorney (disbarred) he saw the benefit of trademarks, registering Wedderburn in 1904 and the others about a decade later. Wedderburn also made use of ceramic jugs for his products, chiefly for wholesale.

Liquor dealers did, he gave away pottery mini-jugs to favored customers, each holding several swallows of his whiskey. He also furnished saloon carrying his brands with thin-walled etched shot glasses.

On many of his ads and giveaways, Wedderburn emphasized the word pure. His, he claimed, was the Pure Food Liquor House. His wines and liquors were... ALL guaranteed under the Pure Food & Drugs Act of June 30, 1906.

In matter of fact, they were nothing of the sort. Unlike proprietary drugs, the Act exempted most wines and liquors.

State purity laws obtained for them but because the District of Columbia was a federal city, there were none. What Wedderburn was putting into his products is anybodys guess. For all his notoriety Wedderburn apparently knew how to job the political system in the Nations Capitol. Probably because of his largesse he was said to have many friends and acquaintances among congressmen and senators. Political connections may also be the reason that in 1915 Wedderburns ability to practice patent law was restored.

Business directories as a liquor dealer first in 1906, Wedderburn apparently had just a little over a decade to operate and flourish before Congress in 1917 declared D. During that period, however, he marketed a number of brands and left behind hundreds of bottles, jugs and giveaway items. The coming of Prohibition seems to have ended Wedderburns entrepreneurship. The 1920 census found him living in the District of Columbia at 810 North Carolina Avenue. Although still only 51 years old, no occupation was listed for him.

Wedderburn does not show up in the 1930 Census. He died on March 15, 1932, at the age of 64. He was laid to rest in Plot B of Washingtons historic Rock Creek Cemetery. There he shares a gravestone with his wife, Beulah, and their daughter Virginia, while other Wedderburn relatives are buried nearby.

Wedderburn probably did live up to his family motto. He may have more than earned other negative words heaped on him during his lifetime, however, such as fraud and charlatan (Commissioner of Patents) or a man lacking in integrity and honesty (Hearst). It is unfortunate that he did not leave a memoir. My hunch is that John Wedderburn had many more tales to tell. The photographs of bottles and jugs shown here were provided by Dr.

Richard Lilienthal, a leading collector of DC bottles. The item "Rare Holy Grail Antique John Wedderburn Stoneware Crock Whiskey Jug Washington" is in sale since Thursday, May 18, 2017. This item is in the category "Antiques\Decorative Arts\Ceramics & Porcelain\Jugs".

The seller is "retrojp83" and is located in Blackwood, New Jersey. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, South africa, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Russian federation, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi arabia, Ukraine, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa rica, Panama, Trinidad and tobago, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica.

• Type: Jug
• Primary Material: Stoneware
• Age: 1850-1899
• Original/Reproduction: Original
• Style: Americana
• Country/Region of Origin: United States