AN ENGLISH SILVER MOUNTED BLACKJACK OR 'LEATHERN MUG'

AN ENGLISH SILVER MOUNTED BLACKJACK OR 'LEATHERN MUG', C1700 applied with an escutcheon engraved with a crest, the rim with scalloped leaf engraved border 14cm h, unascribed probably provincial, maker's mark BI (gothic) a crown above only struck in a triard on the rim and once inside Comparative Literature: Baker (O) Black Jacks and Leather Bottells, Stratford on Avon, 1921, several similar examples illustrated. Always know as 'Jacks' or Black Jacks, mug-shaped Black Jacks were often recorded in inventories taken in the 16th and 17th centuries by the alternative name gispen, or simply 'leathern mug', as distinct from large, lipped or pouring vessels, such as the bombard or several forms of flask.