This pewter tankard is something I would never buy and yet I just have.
In a neighbours shop in Lillie Rd we idly discussed its unusual spout, it belonged perhaps to some old cove, a right handed invalid?
Turning it over, as any dealer compulsively will, I was astonished to read engraved in beautiful copperplate "J Moore. The Duke of Wellington Balls Pond Road". My very own Local!
Suddenly this somewhat underwhelming relic takes on a new aspect, bringing back to life a Dickensian figure, checked trousers, whiskers, greasy bowler and all. Puffing on his clay pipe and glugging his beer in our Local a hundred and fifty years ago. Jonathan Lee.