> Does anyone know if a pattern with a bird, a leaf, an ax, an ox yolk and a > pair of log rolling tongs means anything. This on is on a shaving mug above > the name W. D. Williams. the cup is ca1920s and seems pretty elaborate for a > depression era family to own unless it is from some sort of organization. Earlier in the twentieth century, here in the United States, men would have their own shaving mug at the neighborhood barber shop. The mugs could either be one the man brought himself or one bought through the barber. Mugs ranged from very plain marked just to identify the owner or elaborately decorated with name and illustrations depicting employment, hometown, or fraternal emblems. The tongs, yoke and ax are associated with lumbering. The bird and the leaf may have been chosen to differentiate between W. D. Williams' mug and any other lumberman. (Being able to read may not have been a requirement of the barbering profession of the time.) Go to http://www.google.com and type in shaving mugs -- you'll find links to books and organizations which may allow you to identify all the symbols on your mug. (I have an ancestor who was a brick mason -- his mug has a picture of an arched brick bridge on it.)