This fabulous toby jug was found - oddly enough - in a small town in Ontario; so for a hundred years, since this jug was made, it has reminded individuals in a family of a celebrity they wanted to look at every day! Till at last no one was left who cared, and Joe Chamberlain went on the auction block...

Certainly Joe Chamberlain is part of Canada's heritage. Canadian's fought for him in South Africa; Canadian died to keep his family's profits up in the Boer War.

In our day, just think of all the Americans who can proudly say, "My dad died to make the world safe for Dick Cheney and Haliburton!"

When war broke out in South Africa, the Brits thought they could whip the Boers themselves, handily. But they suffered horrible reverses in the first four months of the war, so Joe was open to taking aboard those eager beavers - that's the Canadians who were dying to go, and dying once they got there.

But Joe had wanted Canadians as cannon fodder. He didn't really care to have full blown Canadian units in South Africa or Canadian officers.... He just wanted Prime Minister Laurier to ship over boatloads of privates that could just be plugged into the holes the Boers shot in the British ranks.

But Prime Minister Laurier would have none of it. He thought that if our boys are going to die over there it will be in Canadian units, officered by Canadians, even if, ultimately, they were still inside larger British units.

In an early CDV Joseph looked a bit sophomorish, not quite convincing, even though he forced a stern look onto his boyish face.

There now, that's better; the monocle adds the perfect touch to convince you that here is a man with talent. After all could you walk about squeezing one eye socket shut around a sharp object and carry on a conversation, what with everyone watching to be sure not to miss the moment that it popped out...?

The worries of what problems peace would bring - surely a downturn in his family company's stock valuation as there was no more need for manufacturing war materiel. - are clearly etched on Joe's monocled features.

German generals also liked to wear a monocle, and so did Canadian socialite wartime adventurer Agar Adamson right, recuperating from wounds in England during World War I.

A sampling of other famous toby jugs from the Boer War and Wold War I are featured below.

Tobies ranged from the ultra high quality Wilkinsons and Saareguemines jugs above to the cheaper, run of the mill, unnamed production runs below.