Our Tribute to Labor Day

The first Labor Day was observed as a "working man's holiday" on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City. It was moved to the first Monday in September in 1884 and by 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many cities.

This shaving mug once belonged to a brick-layer named F.H. Felix. It sold for $390 at a recent Morphy auction. Shaving mugs featuring pictures of men's jobs were popular from about 1860 through the early 1900s. The personalized mug was kept at his barbershop. Shaving mugs were usually porcelain, shipped "blank" from France or Germany to be painted. Mugs featuring common professions sell for a few hundred dollars. Mugs with rarer professions or more intricate pictures sell in the thousands.

Find more prices of shaving mugs in the free online price guide at kovels.com and in the newly-released Kovels' Antiques & collectibles Price Guide 2012.