Puzzle Jug

Decorated with a variation of the rhyme 'Gentlemen come try your skill, I'll hold you sixpence if you will that you cannot drink unless you spill'. Written in slip. 1845 Made of slipware in Lancashire or Yorkshire.

Puzzle jugs were very popular from the 17th to 19th century. Found in pubs and taverns, where the unsuspecting drinker could be fooled out of sixpiece. They are made up of a number of hollow tubes that feed down the bottom of the vessel and holes that need to be covered up to successfully drink from one of the spouts.