Lot 178: Usher's O.V.G and Special Reserve Whisky Match Striker

An Usher’s Whisky spherical ceramic match striker featuring cream-coloured pottery with an unglazed, textured striker surface. The body is decorated with monochrome sepia transfer print, including an illustration of a British soldier in khaki uniform holding a rifle. The vessel bears the full text of Rudyard Kipling’s 1899 poem The Absent-Minded Beggar, with readable lines including The Absent-Minded Beggar, when you’ve shouted Rule Britannia-, when you’ve finished killing Kruger with your mouth-, and will you kindly drop a shilling in my little tambourine. One side is printed USHER’S O.V.G WHISKY, EDINBURGH. and the other side USHER’S SPECIAL RESERVE WHISKY, EDINBURGH. A facsimile signature for Rudyard Kipling is printed near the base. The base features a printed mark for Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd of London, consisting of a painter’s easel with the intertwined letters R S in a cartouche, surrounded by the text RAPHAEL TUCK & SONS LTD, ARTISTIC SERIES, TRADE MARK, LONDON. An impressed number 4 is visible to the left of the mark.