It is a classified of which Monty Python might be proud.
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“Neville wishes to buy electric jug with man’s face,” it reads.
And day in, day out, Neville’s ‘classie’ appears in the back pages of the Bendigo Advertiser.
But his hunt is not as random as it may seem – the Kyneton-based, retired second-hand dealer says the jugs were once made in Bendigo and are now a collector’s item which can go for more than $500.
In fact, it is part of a state-wide classified campaign which has already borne fruit – in the form of a ceramic jug shaped in the likeness of an ordinary looking, middle-aged man’s face.
Neville* recently nabbed a face-shaped jug from an ad placed in a Melbourne paper for several hundred dollars.
And that’s just given him the taste for more.
“They come in all different colour variations,” Neville said.
“But they all have the same hairlines, with those sideburns, ears and nose just like the face in the picture.
“I’m trying to get all the different colours that I can.”
Story goes, according to Neville, the face belonged to none other than J.T. Barkley, manager of Sunshine Lectrix which manufactured the jugs during the 1930s and ‘40s.
“When they were made, they were a luxury item,” Neville said.
“They were a status symbol, only the well-to-do bought them and they had tea parties just to show them off.”
But the era of the ceramic jug did not survive the 50s. Though perhaps the fault lay with the Melbourne electricians, not the Bendigo potters.
“When they first brought out the jugs, they were dangerous as they hadn’t perfected them...people were getting electrocuted,” Neville said.
“They’d put their hands in while it was still boiling to feel the water and they’d get zapped.”
Despite his collection of one, Neville’s passion for the face jug spans decades.
“I originally had a few back in the ‘80s as part of my collections of jugs – but then I had to sell them,” he said.
“At that time, I was out of work and ends weren't meeting, so I had to sell them to keep food on table.
“But if I had the time again, I would’ve kept them all.”
Now back on firmer financial ground, the Kyneton man is hoping to build his collection back up to a dozen.
“I want to get 10 or 12 different colour variations to put on shelf, because they look so good together,” he said.
“Most jug collector’s face jugs are their most treasured, because they’re just so quirky and eccentric.”
And Neville’s treasures span a lifetime.
“I’ve been a collector since I was four-years-old,” he said.
“I used to take stamps off letters, every time we got a letter I’d take the stamp of it and put it in my collection – since then I’ve been hooked on something or other.
“It’s the thrill of the chase and then, when you get your hands on it and you put on a shelf, you go and chase something else.”
But with so many variations on old J.T. Barkley’s mug, Neville might be chasing face jugs for a while yet.
“Apparently there are over 20 colour variations, with different coloured spots on different jugs -- the blues might come in four or five different shades of blue and the green in four or five different shades of green,” he said.
“There would be hundreds of them out there, I know collectors who have 10, 15, 20 of them!”
And despite the fluctuations in the market for face jugs, Neville said he’d keep on collecting regardless of the price.
“It’s the visual appeal,” he said.
“No, they don't always hold their value, and every now and then the bottom falls out and they go for half the price.
“But they are pretty much in vogue at moment.”
If you have an electric jug with a man’s face you wish to sell contact Neville on 5422 6330.
*Neville requested his surname not be used