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Fraternal Shaving Mugs

Fraternal Shaving Mugs are mugs that feature emblems of a Fraternal Organization identifying its owner as a member. There have been many different Fraternal organizations in the US throughout our history and they were a very active and important part of society during the period where shaving mugs were popular. While the term Fraternal refers to these organizations, mugs featuring logos or symbols of trade unions, patriotic organizations, religious societies, or secret societies are also lumped under this term because of the similarity of the subject matter.

As with all mugs, extra detail or a better quality example of the exact same design will be worth more. Fraternal mugs can also be found with multiple emblems or logos on them, or sometimes they are combined with an occupational. A Fraternal with two or three different organizations will be worth a bit more than an average Fraternal, but with four, fix, or six different Fraternal organizations they can rival even nice Occupationals in terms of value.

Here is a list of the most common organizations found and these are the least valuable of Fraternals:
Freemasons, Masonic
Fraternal Order of Eagles
Odd Fellows (three interlocked rings)
Jr. O.U.A.M. (American Mechanics)
Knights of Pythias
Knights of Golden Eagle
Knights of Maccabee
B.P.O.E. (the Elks)
Order of Redmen (Shield Design)
A.O.U.W. (Ancient Order of United Workmen)

These organizations make up the middle tier of Fraternals:
Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)
Patriotic Order of the Sons of America
Woodmen of the World (WoW)
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen
Sons of Veterans
Odd Fellows (Sword over Bible with Eye logo)
the Order of Moose
Knights of Columbus
Knight Templar (Cross and Crown design)
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
Baker’s Union

These organizations are the rarest and most desirable:
Order of Owls
Ancient Order of Hibernians
American Legion
Order of Buffaloes
Knight Templar (man in uniform deisgn)
Ku Klux Klan, KKK, (due to the racist nature of the organization these are avoided by many collectors)
Redmen (Chief design)
Order of Independent Americans
Sons of Italy in America (Lion design)

This list is not exhaustive and there are other organizations you might encounter, additionally some organizations have multiple designs, or one variation that is rarer and more valuable. We can help you establish the value of your Fraternal mug and allow you to accurately figure out all the emblems and meanings, so don’t hesitate to contact us for more information.