A wonderful hand-made item attributed to one Joshua T. Ricketts of the 143rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Wish I knew the full story behind this unique relic. I can only speculate – but the tree must have some meaningful commemorative value related to service. Written around the bottom of the base in pencil (common amongst many wood relics and ephemera) it reads “J.T. RICKETTS, 143rd ILLINOIS VOLs. INF.” Near the center of the base is drawn a small oval with the letters “US.”, resembling a belt plate. (Research shows that Ricketts served in the 143rd, a 100 days regiment serving in Arkansas and Tennessee during 1864, info included, it is possible that he reenlisted at the end or at a later date as many did – worthy of further research) Why the mug was chosen to commemorate his service with the 143rd is unknown. At first glance this looked like trench\/camp art but the top of the mouth and the interior of the tankard body is turned so it seems it was made with some tools available. The business part of the vessel is cut from a birch tree with the bark still attached. The handle is made of bent green branch which appears to me to be cherry wood. The lid hinges from the top of the handle and is also made from birch cut from the side of tree so the white bark is on top. It is an ingenious production. Solid and has some heft – not a mere decoration or whimsy – this was made to use. I would love to know if the woods used had any significance to the service and if there was possibly more of them made for other members as well. Was it made by Ricketts, a fellow soldier, or purchased in a lot for veterans of the regiment? A reunion piece? It seems like those could all be viable possibilities. The piece has fantastic patina and character. I bought this decades ago and it has been a much-loved resident in my personal collection for many, many years. I have offered it several times then pulled it again when I looked at it another day. I hate to see it go but it is time for it to move on to another appreciative soul.\u00a0 I bought this from a dealer who had a bunch of drinking steins. It immediately spoke to me as something different altogether. As a handmade vintage tankard it had good value in that genre alone, and as that, worth this price. It is more than that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A wonderful hand-made item attributed to one Joshua T. Ricketts of the 143rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Wish I knew the full story behind this unique relic. I can only speculate – but the tree must have some meaningful commemorative value related to service. Written around the bottom of the base in pencil (common amongst many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[39],"product_tag":[],"giftcard-category":[],"class_list":["post-14218","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-original-artifacts","first","instock","sale","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sutleroffortscott.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/14218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sutleroffortscott.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sutleroffortscott.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sutleroffortscott.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sutleroffortscott.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sutleroffortscott.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sutleroffortscott.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=14218"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sutleroffortscott.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=14218"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sutleroffortscott.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=14218"},{"taxonomy":"giftcard-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sutleroffortscott.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/giftcard-category?post=14218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}